Neville Longbottom and the Harry Potter
by December Morning Owl
Summary: Reformatted!Neville continues to try and fix the magical world,uncover new aspects of magic,reintroduce minor characters, weaving ambiguous relationships between the cast,and generally just expressing what he thinks about the books.Now in 4th yr!
1. Prologue

Disclaimers: This is a work of fan-fiction belonging to December Morning Owl for non-commercial and non-profitable purposes. Harry Potter and related materials are the property of J.K Rowling. Do not distribute this story in any form without consent.

Prologue – Space-time rift or just magic?

Closing the book and his eyes to rest from the marathon Ness had spontaneously taken up for his last high school summer, he swirled inside his mind the aftertaste of the seven books that had undeniably imprinted a mark in literature through the Millennium Generation. He was not going to be any English major next year, quite the opposite, but he understood why it made such waves back in the day, and all those speculations and anticipation after each book's release.

Just as the series had its end, as did the youth of its original readers. That was probably the reason why he decided to reread all seven books of Harry Potter before entering university – some sort of empathy to himself leaving one of the most colourful periods of his life. Although he was still young relative to the global population, it still saddened him to never be called a high-schooler again. That title was not enjoyed for its correlation with the schooling system though.

If only high schools were like Hogwarts, with all its magic and adventures every year, though maybe it was only applicable for Harry – that lucky four-eyed cockroach. Ness did not hate the protagonist, especially in the earlier books, but there were some points in the books that he seriously snarled at while reading.

For example, how could some semi-qualified teenager duel a legendary dark lord? That was like telling the guy who sat behind him in physics to challenge Albert Einstein to solve equations on relativity. Ness also remembered all that heated media about 'who is going to die in the next book' going on every year, and he wondered if J.K just killed characters off to meet some PA purposes: Snape and Dumbledore were arguably reasonable becauseor their deaths' contributions to the plot; but trivial for Mad-Eye; and even extreme for Cedric, who did not really deserve a death in his eyes – unless it was just an excuse to pile on the angst for the next book or obliterate a love rival. That whole love affair with Cho was just headshake-invoking to the max. About that Epilogue? He considered ripping those pages out before returning this book to the library.

Ness opened his eyes and exited his room, ready to throw on a raincoat and return the old books now that he was done. He was not the author or editor, and for the details he did not like, those fan-fiction writers could deal with it. Stepping out of the front door, he jogged down the street, the tattered pages of worn paper lifted above his head. He still felt soaked though, and just as he was about to mutter about having such an uncomforting raincoat, everything went white. Then black.

Basic physics. Light travels faster than sound,explaining how Ness did not hear the thunder afterwards.

0

0

0

" Oh! He is finally awake!" Augusta Longbottom shrilled and grabbed hold of a small child on the bed in a bear hug sort of way.

" Hey! What?" The child impulsively tried to push the old woman away but was unsuccessful.

First, a puzzled expression emerged on his chubby face as he thought to himself how he must hit the gym if he was even weaker than this frail woman. Then surfaced an expression of suspicion as to why he was being hugged by this stranger anyway. Then bewilderment as to how he could be enveloped by her thin arms. Then finally, absolute mind-numbing shock as he realised the body he was moving in, the voice he was screaming with, or even the brain he was using to think was all alien to him.

" Who the hell am I!" The child, in shock from these extreme changes, managed to shove Augusta away. He stood on his prior-occupied bed, holding his hands out to ogle disbelievingly at their size. Then he felt his legs, slapped his cheeks, and screamed again when he saw his face in the mirror hanging on the wall.

Blonde hair, an absolute mess as he was frantically pulling at it. Plump cheeks, seemingly still to lose its baby-fat, red from his slaps. His height was probably just a bit over one meter compared with the window behind him. Falling down on his butt on the bed again, fully-stretched eyes continued to bore back from the mirror in their unfamiliar deep shade of azure.

By this time Augusta was crying in her hands. She thought: Why did Algie have to throw him off that damned pier? We were on holiday at Blackpool, not training him to be the next Merlin! At that moment, she only prayed for her grandson to be safe and healthy, Squib or not! Her other relatives had all rushed to the room following the commotion, Algie Longbottom being the first one to reach the door.

" Can our Neville do magic now? Is that what the scream was about?" Algie asked with a proud tone, thinking his method really worked.

" Magic nothing! Look what you've done! He can't even recognise me now! He's the only heir to the Longbottom family! How could anything happen to him?" Augusta abruptly sprung up from the floor and shook Algie until he saw birds and stars.

" Neville Longbottom?" The child screamed, both hands covering his mouth. Neville, magic, Blackpool pier, Longbottom… Usually, no one would be able to make such a quick and unbelievable connection, but for someone who had just finished a Harry Potter marathon, Ness knew he was no longer Ness.

Ness was Neville Longbottom.

If only he was more immature or a few years younger before meeting this fate, Ness would immediately adapt into this new life with excitement. Though thinking realistically, Ness in effect just learnt the news of his own death. For most of the whole week after 'Neville' woke up, he had been lying flat on his bed staring wide-eyed at the ceiling in that tiny body, trying to accept the facts he faced.

He was never going to see his family and friends again. Everything he possessed or built up in his previous life were lost. He was in an unfamiliar world where everyone was a stranger and even the laws of physics were deformed by Magic that apparently existed. Ness had an average life in an average family, average social standing amongst peers and some might even consider a prosperous future. How could anyone with half an ounce of mature thought be happy about such a predicament without a period of time to accept the things he had lost and would never get back?

The only way out was self-hypnosis, as he tried to reason with himself the new opportunities opened to him. He was in a world with magic! One on the verge of going into the Second War with Voldemort! He even knew the limited future! There could be numerous possibilities lying ahead for him to snatch up with as much ease as raising an arm! Famous Quidditch player, Head Auror, even Minister of Magic!

He was even put into the body of Neville Longbottom, one of the characters that he knew was a fair man in the books. As clumsy and seemingly talent-less as he seemed initially, he proved to be a true Gryffindor – leading the DA and slaying Nagini as a few examples. The most respected quality was how he never boasted about his heroic parents or his pure-blood heritage – modest, compassionate and relentless at the face of failure or social pressure.

The more Ness thought about it, the more he felt pity for Neville. He had not been recognised for much of the book, bar comic relief purposes, and now he was practically dead with Ness occupying his body. His relatives really were responsible to that head-bowing personality of his, especially that great uncle Algie who literally killed him now.

Keeping on that track, Ness decided that the only way to repay Neville for lengthening his life from whatever it was death had for him in the original world was to change the fate of Neville as he knew it. Sure, Neville was a good person, but as they said – nice guys finished last. Neville could have amounted to a lot more than Herbology teacher of Hogwarts. According to J.K, Harry Potter hated his fame with Voldemort eh? Well, Neville, being a potential prophecy candidate, would help to lessen his burden in a few years. J.K said in some interview that Neville ended up with Hannah Abbot, who Ness never remembered reading as a beauty really. If not stealing Ginny or Hermione, described to have been quite attractive, at least he could find some random part-Veela bombshell instead. At the very least, even if he could not achieve any of the above, he would never let Neville make a total prat of himself for the first few years.

After all, being truthfully selfish, Neville was himself now. There was no way he could tolerate being laughed at for being a clumsy fool! He was definitely not going to have Harry thought of him as just some 'round-faced boy' who lost his toad at their first meeting. They were at least equals, though maybe like two faces of a single coin.

Acceptances, a sense of direction, and eventually the excitement of experiencing magic and adventures in the future, the new Neville Longbottom threw the sheets off his body and jumped off the bed – only to have his toe clipping the bedside table. Ness wondered if clumsiness was just in the body's DNA as he cursed.

0

0

0

Algie Longbottom sat in the drawing room of the ancient Longbottom manor, moaning to his wife, Enid, about his discomfort with the recent changes to their relatives. That Augusta, who had always been on the same anarchic side as him when it came to bringing out Neville's magical powers, seemed to have made a one-eighty turn. That was why he had to make his way out here now to have a good long discussion about that laid-back attitude she adapted ever since the trip to Blackpool. Sure, Neville had a few sips of seawater, and laid on the bed for a week, and it was understandable to go easy on him for a bit. It had been months now and Augusta still had not once sent him an owl regarding schemes to put Neville in a position where his powers can awaken! Baffled at why she had not recovered by now, he contacted her yesterday in the fireplace, but she replied with "we should just leave Neville to it, Algie"!

Enid sighed, knowing her husband loved Neville and was worried about the Longbottom family – especially after what happened after the war. She had been frowning at the ascending dangerous nature of his 'methods' and was never on his side. She was secretly a little glad that Augusta saw it now as well. It was probably because of the accident that almost drowned the boy – that really was a little too far.

The drawing room doors opened and Augusta came in with a greeting, giving her relatives a hug and a kiss on the cheeks. While Enid returned with endearments, Algie merely sustained a frown.

" I guess you know why I am here," Algie tapped his foot. " Now where is Neville? Chasing worms in the garden again? Call him back in so I can see him."

" Neville is presently not at home Algie." Augusta mentioned without facing Algie, gesturing for the house elf that just came in to leave the tray of tea stuffs on the table.

" Well, where is he? He is already eight years old for god's sakes! He can't just go around on a toy broom all day! Wait – he can't even fly a toy broom!" Algie crossed his arms, even more annoyed.

" Neville took up jujitsu lessons at the local –" Although Augusta replied calmly, offering Enid a biscuit in the process in fact, Algie's plump face grew as red as a hot kettle.

He shouted in a volume that even people at the front porch could hear him, " You sent him to play some muggle games? Are you out of your mind? Why would you even let him near muggles? What if his latent magic powers gets rubbed off on them and then what will happen to the Longbottom family line? How will you answer your dear deceased husband if his last sole grandson turned out to be a Squib?"

" I am not a Squib… great uncle Algie." Neville, hearing the familiar voice, knew his childhood nemesis was here. Ness remembered that Neville first showed magical abilities when this old man dropped him out of a window. Neville might have survived, but who knew if Ness would. Ness fully understood the butterfly effect, and his consciousness arriving in this world might have already changed this version of the future already – Ness would not risk Neville's life that way_. _

_It is all for the original Neville, honest._ Ness reasoned with himself.

" Neville!" Algie ignored his great nephew's jutted greeting, putting a smile on his wrinkled face and advanced. " What is fun about some muggle games? Come here and let great uncle Algie see how much you've grown."

The original Neville would have shied away, knowing Algie was up to no good again. Ness also saw through that false smile, and he really did not have a good impression of Algie. He might have plotted to kill Algie in revenge for Neville if he was crueller, but he remembered the toad and supposedly rare plant Neville received from Algie in the books and dismissed the idea. Not taking revenge however did not mean he was going to just follow the flow of history.

Algie abruptly swept his leg sideways at Neville, planning to trip Neville over and Neville can magically avoid it or something. By the next second though, Algie found himself surprisingly flat on his back on the drawing room floor, staring up at the ceiling. This was one of the reasons Neville wanted to learn a martial art instead of some random sports.

" If you will excuse me, I have some reading left to finish. It is great to see you too great aunt Enid." Neville nodded, almost bowed, and sauntered out of the room. A moment later, the two old women burst out in laughter at the still shocked Algie. After he embarrassingly sat down again, Augusta offered an explanation.

" After coming back from Blackpool, I really don't know what came over Neville. Instead of taking a nap or water plants around the house, he would search around in the study's old books or practice his jujitsu in the garden. Not only that, but you should hear some of the things he says! It is definitely not something a typical eight year-old would normally reason with! I guess people really do mature after a near-death experience …"

" But… he still can't use magic?" Algie hopefully asked, but only to be disappointed when Augusta sighed shaking her head.

" Algie… maybe we were too hard on poor Neville. When magic comes around, that would be wonderful. But if doesn't… Well, as long as he grows to be healthy and happy, that is the most important thing."

Even Ness himself was surprised with the apparent freedom granted to him from his 'Gran', contrary to what he expected from the books. In the books' world, Augusta would have recovered just as Algie expected and be the strict disciplinarian again not long after Blackpool. However, since the 'soul-switching' made Neville's drowning seemed much more severe, she realised nothing was worth risking her grandson's health, considering her now insane son. Not only that, but the original motive for her spurring Neville to develop magic was because he was always clumsy and made a mess of everything. She was worried that he would grow up to be an absolutely useless person – and magic seemed to be the only and clearest way for him to make something of himself. Now that he seemed to have developed a more reliable personality, the worry in her heart started to disappear, and magic no longer seemed important anymore since she knew her grandson would grow to be a fine young man – in the muggle world if that had to be the case.

Leaving the drawing room, and staying composed until he closed the doors of the study, Neville jumped and pumped his fist in the air right after closing the door, as cheeky as any eight year old. _This ought to have taken revenge for Neville! See you try anything smart now Algie!_

Ness was kind of lucky that he found Neville's picture-diary left in his room and filled himself in with how he should behave and some early memories. Using this, Ness tried his best to forge himself as only having disoriented memory instead of total memory lost, which was practically the case. Not having a TV or Internet, and the wizard radio could not be used without magic, it was only the Daily Prophet and the left-over books in the study that he could really get into grips with 1988 wizarding England. Heck, he would not have much recognition of the normal 1988 England just after seeing the muggle hairstyles.

Setting off to work closer to his aims immediately after settling into the Longbottom manor, he sought out old school books left by relatives. After all, that underage wizard law was a real pain for Harry and he only had three years before it was in place on him as well. Since one of the reasons why he was bullied at Hogwarts was his academic incompetence, he aimed to be at least on par with Hermione, though not geekily so, when it came to starting first year.

" _Expecto Patronum_! _Expelliarmus_! _Accio_! _Lumos_!" Ness had panted an afternoon away, from the most difficult to the easiest spells he could remember and find, but not even a single spark emitted from the wand he was graciously passed down earlier than the original timeline.

It must have been the fault of Frank Longbottom's wand, although Gran had been rambling on about how powerful it was, and proceeded to boast about her once courageous son. No wonder Neville never got anything right at school, remembering all that stuff about wand ownership in the last book. Neville did not have ownership of the mismatched wand, and for a beginning wizard, it was just an excess barrier of difficulty to overcome. Ness was now surprised that Neville got those OWL results and felt an inch friendlier to the wand-sharing Ron.

Moaning and muttering aside, Ness determined that Neville's body would be awakened to magic at eight years old anyway, he delayed his magic-improvement plans and switched focus, applying for jujitsu lessons. Another reason Neville was bullied was probably because he was chubby, and most likely physically weak. Being short was probably in the family DNA, but Ness was definitely going to change the other undesirable qualities. Sure, he could have taken other forms of sports to get fit, but being able to handle enemies without magic would probably prove invaluable in the long run – if not for Algie, just Crabbe and Goyle.

There was not much else a kid could have done at that moment. This was an opportune moment to destroy Voldemort once and for all when he was weak, knowing about the Horcruxes. The trick was finding them. Ness really did not have that great a memory and doubted he could even remember what all the Horcruxes were, never mind where. At this time, he really disbelieved that J.K had released the books for his reference – and she probably never would in this world.

Time continued to past as Neville continued with jujitsu training and waving what was seemingly just a stick of wood to him everyday. Ness had always been more logically inclined and even though he continued his wand work, he was getting impatient at the lack of results, and decided to actually try to dig into the source of magic. How did spells work? Did you need MP? Did all magic originate from one same root?

The more de dived, the more questions he had, and although he never liked to study, when it came to materials he was interested in, like game strategy guides or historic battles, he had an uncanny level of concentration. Coupled with the fact that he had now the memory power of a growing child and the logical reasoning of an adult, his learning rate was extraordinary to a point that he had understood, in the field of general spells theory anyway, beyond the NEWT level.

The basic mechanics of conventional magic was quite simple really. This world had magic in every corner of it, unlike the original world. For wizards, they all had certain amounts of magic powers inside of their bodies, and by wand movements and incantations as a medium, a wizard's inner power could be transformed into spells effecting the surrounding magic. If this world was a factory, the wizard's inner magic powers would be fuel, the wand was the machine, the incantations were the instructions, and the surrounding magic are the ingredients.

As simple as all that sounded in a summary, there were exceptions and differences between different categories of magic that ate up Neville's time tremendously. So much in fact that his ninth and tenth birthday passed without events… In the original timeline, the day Ness threw Algie to the ground in the drawing room was actually when Neville would have bounced from the fall out of the window.

0

0

0

A/N: Got a bit like an instruction booklet at the end but this chapter is generally explaining the situation, and why I chose to name this the prologue. This fic is a personal enjoyment/remembrance project first started as the anniversary of the last book's release. I disliked some parts of the book, and figured this may be a fun idea.

I plan to follow info from the seven books that I've read and selective materials J.K gave, then possibly some stuffs around the internet. The protagonist, like most readers, only remembers here and there instead of every tiny immaculate detail. Most importantly, whatever J.K says never overrules whatever I put in this fanfic (unless it is printed in her series in black and white). My sources are mostly from the Harry Potter Lexicon if you're interested. If you think I have inaccurate information, source from books only thanks.

The protagonist will most certainly not do drastic things to the levels of killing Voldemort (or Harry) at eleven years old, or know the location of Ravenclaw's dormitories now. I will try my best to keep this story relatively realistic and mature. Mature does not equal smut, or dark themes even, and there will be no graphical descriptions of anything of that sort.

When it comes to those ship battles, I will follow cannon part - or all - of the way. Criticism and random eye-rolls are fine and welcomed, but flames about how Ginny should not end up with Crabbe (not gonna happen by the way) or trivial details like Harry has to pick his nose at a specific time mentioned on page x of book x should just be saved for a trashcan.

Lastly, this project is purely continued on a whim and updates could be sporadic. I'd written some of it, and decided to put it up now instead of just stowing away the chapters to let it cover dust. Details of progress can be found in my profile.

Now, great if you feel like offering me some ideas. Wonderful if you just want a chat. Bring tea and biscuits… God, I feel old…


	2. Book 1 Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Who do you have to kill to get some magic here? …Oh wait.

The date was 30th June, 1991, a month before Neville's eleventh birthday. He could not remember when Harry started receiving letters, but from his Gran, he knew the deadline for confirming attendance of Hogwarts was the last day of July. Even with a gradual, and recently rapid, increase in wand flicking exercises, Neville was unable to emit even a puff of smoke from the wooden stick.

" Albus Dumbledore! Where are you? I'm going to win that Elder Wand right now!" Scratching his head with both hands, Neville screamed after taking his eyes off the thick book about wands. " The wand is a medium and if only mines were more powerful… or if I just had ownership over it!"

He was still sore about not having a personally-tailored wand, and he was not prepared to go Dudley-style over it to ruin that perfect image Gran seemed to have developed of him. He was human after all, and being so abruptly warped into an unfamiliar world, and living with Gran for almost three years, he could not help but succumb to her new surprisingly gentle personality for her grandson. Gran was helplessly proud of that auror son of hers, and it would be more than a dash to her spirits if her grandson looked down on his wand.

A knock on the door. " Neville my boy! Are you in here again?"

" Hello, great uncle Algie." Neville opened the door and managed a smile at the jolly man. He still did not like Algie very much, even after Algie had given up putting him in mortal peril to scare magic out of him – he did throw the man onto the ground at least ten times flat for trying. Neville did show him proper etiquette and even sporadic tinges of warmth since he knew, badly expressed as it was, Algie loved him as family – probably enough to write him in his will. He was counting on old Al for whatever new broomstick he might need in the future to match a Firebolt.

" A young man can't be stuck inside on a sunny day like this! I have a fun place to take you today!" Algie had felt his great nephew distancing himself ever since the trip to Blackpool, and had been trying his best to reconcile the relationship. Though he still could not stop being anxious about the lack of magic the boy showed for the sake of the Longbottom family. " You know what? Let's make a day out of it! Just the two of us! We can have a man-to-man adventure!"

" We're not going to Blackpool are we?" Neville let that slip out because he was not looking forward to the prospects of spending any time near Algie at all.

Algie blatantly ignored the remark and hoisted Neville to sit on his shoulder. Neville could never accept how old Algie really was with his physical strength. " Let's go! Let's go! I even brought a portkey so we can leave right away!"

" Thank you great uncle Algie." Neville suppressed a sigh. He guessed there was nothing he could do to suddenly become 'magical' today anyway, unless he tried throwing himself out the window.

After touching a mud-covered tennis ball, and had the world swirling about him, Neville's ears were sudden filled with an explosion of noise. Neville had used a portkey before, but never having landed amidst a mass of moving people . Staring in the direction they were heading, Neville's eyes blinked once, and then deducted their situation calmly – much to the dismay of old Al, who thought any young boy would be jumping in excitement at watching his first live Quidditch game.

Algie did not let this get him down though, and started introducing the day he had blatantly planned. " This is a Quidditch match Neville! It's the Chudley Cannons versus Puddlemere United! Did you hear about the Puddlemere's chaser, Wilda Griffiths? They spent a fortune getting her to transfer to their team! "

Neville tried his best to look interested at the info that obviously he would never need again. Even in his prior life as Ness, he did not care for those football matches and those hooligans. It was all very tiring. Sports were nice, for fun. When 'team loyalties' came to extremes though – that was just baseless prejudice. At least he could use this opportunity to see with his very eyes the amazing made-up sport that he might build his future career on.

" Algie? Algie Longbottom!" A friendly voice called from behind them. " I haven't seen you at a Quidditch stadium for decades! Ever since that wild bludger accident if my memories still serves me right."

The wizard in front of Neville could not mask his age even with the 'modern artistic' feel of his blue and mud coloured team robes, but upon a glance at his eyes, one would lessen the first predicted age because of the bright twinkles in them. Then again, instead of his eyes, one's gaze would more likely be gravitated to that absurdly crooked nose that could only have resulted from losing a serious boxing match. Outrageously long silver hair and beard covered most of his face, but they were at least in neat order to prevent him from looking like a caveman.

" Albus! I can't believe a busy man like you would have the time to come to a Quidditch match!" Old Al greeted his friend in pleasant surprise, but did not get further than this.

" You're Albus Dumbledore!" Neville jumped, his brain once again making that light-speed connection. This was the man Harry looked up to almost as a god. To be frank though, Neville felt almost the same way for the first few books. After finding out his history when he was younger though, that hero figure faded, but was replaced by a closer and more homely impression. Making Dumbledore fallible actually turned him into a dearer and more likable character for Neville.

Finally seeing something that spurred such a dramatic reaction from his great nephew, old Al lowered him to the ground and proceeded to introduce his friend proudly. " I guess you must know him from those books huh? He is the wizard who defeated Grindelwald, discovered the twelve uses of dragon blood, chief-warlock of –"

Cutting Algie from what he thought was a detailed and desired introduction, Neville finished him off heartlessly, " The headmaster of Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry." _The owner of the Elder Wand! One mad swing and we'll see magic!_

Dumbledore, who looked on in a quiet smile until now, nodded and connected his eyes with the burning Neville. " Yes, I am the headmaster. I haven't seen you at Hogwarts young man, but I am sure you won't be far off from turning eleven, yes?"

" Ah yes," Algie hurriedly put his hands on Neville's shoulder. " He is my great nephew, Neville. He will be turning eleven next month actually… but I am not sure if he will make it to Hogwarts this year… maybe the next…"

" Well as long as his birthday is before the end of August, he should be admitted for this year." Dumbledore continued to look at Neville's eyes, which started to make him feel quite uncomfortable. At the notion of looking away however, Neville simply failed to do so.

" Ah yes… there is another thing… you see Neville here… he… he… doesn't seem to show very much… _talents_ when it comes to… expressing his magic." Algie was putting this in the most round about way as possible, and Dumbledore just kept that smiling poker face unchanged.

" No need to worry." Dumbledore lifted his eye-contact, and it felt Neville was able to breathe again. The same feeling as just having finished an exam. " You see, there is a book kept at Hogwarts where a magical quill notes down the names of every born child with magical abilities eligible for schooling. It is Minerva who is in charge of checking the book every year for the names though, so I can not tell you if young Neville is on that book."

" Dum – Mr Dumbledore… Does the names in the book ever… disappear?" This was probably the first time Neville had spoken in such a timid tone since he arrived in this world. _Who said Dumbledore was a warm, securing figure?_

With a twinkle in his eyes, Dumbledore's usual unreadable smile seemed to have raised a little. " No Neville. Once born a wizard, you will always be a wizard. No need to worry."

_Legilimency! That was definitely Legilimency!_ Neville took a step back in alarm, immediately dropping his eyes to the ground. Maybe it was out of good intentions, with him just wanting to know a child's problem and solve it, but there was nothing scarier than having one's mind invaded. _Did Dumbledore see my memories as Ness? No, that could not be possible, or else even he would have went bonkers._ _Damn that old fox! I have to be more careful around him from now on._

Dumbledore, at first sight due to his wisdom, saw Neville as something 'special'. It was rude of him, and mostly he would not use Legilimency at a first meeting with a stranger, but Neville was just a small child and if there were deeds Dumbledore had ever considered difficult, it was resisting his curiosity and trying to help others. The reason he did not find out anything remotely regarding Ness and his 'knowledge of the future' was because he did not nearly dive far enough – after all he was already being rude and had only skimmed the surface of Neville's mind.

" But Albus… what if he arrives at Hogwarts without being able to do magic?" Algie's anxiety was very apparent now, " I have yet to hear a squeak from his wand in all these years."

_Old Al has a point here…_ Neville started to sweat. Being on that Hogwarts register book was one thing, but not knowing magic at Hogwarts would be hellish. It was not impossible for his sleeping powers to never awaken. After all those efforts before, he would probably get even more bullying for this alone than what he received from the original books put together! A Squib at Hogwarts? Only if he was training to be the next Filch! If that were the case, he should replace that future toad Trevor with Crookshanks!

" Mr Dumbledore!" Neville was faced with panic now, infected by Algie, sensing how grave his situation might develop. Whenever Harry saw Dumbledore, he would be able to get his problems solved or get a helping hand. But just at this first meeting with the old wizard, Neville was made to soak disgracefully in cold sweat. " I-is there a way for my magic powers to awaken. Now."

This time Neville learned not to look into Dumbledore's eyes, avoiding his mind reading, knowing his un-penetrable smile would give away no easy answers anyway. Thinking that though, Neville had missed one of Dumbledore's eyebrow twitch at what he had apparently gave away – why would Neville be so sure he had powers to awaken just from what he asked before? Dumbledore did not dwell on the issue though and answered, " Well… there is none. You just have to be patient young Neville. I am sure I will see you again very soon."

Dumbledore patted Neville on the shoulder, and after leaving pleasantries with a disappointed Algie, disappeared amongst the crowd. Neville finally lifted his head, wondering if Occlumency was really as difficult to learn as Harry made it out to be. The possibility of taking the Elder Wand from that fox? Only if he could first curse his right hand, weaken him with some magical potion, fix a vanishing cabinet, and send a bunch of powerful dark wizards to storm his castle.

Recovering from the disappointments quickly, this ability owed to Neville's jujitsu on him through the years, old Al resumed his enthusiastic chat about the upcoming match. However, all of Neville's expectations and curiosity for the sport was extinguished by that short meeting. What did Quidditch have to do with him if he could not even float a toy broom?

" Great uncle Algie? May I go to the bathroom?" The two of them had entered the stadium building, and was just making their way towards their seats by climbing the stairs in the interior of the stadium.

" Okay, I'll take you there, it should this way," old Al stretched his neck to see if there were any signs.

" I should be fine on my own," Neville said, his back already turned. Truth was, he just wanted to be alone for a bit, which was a habit from his previous life whenever he was upset or needed to think.

" Very well," Algie had developed a sort of habit to avoid confrontation with the seemingly young boy, even at these little things. Algie always questioned if it was due to trust or just intimidation – falling on his back at his age was not fun. " Be careful okay? The game is about to start soon so come back quickly."

" Yes great uncle Algie." With a nod, Neville headed down a corridor, now relatively empty due to most people already being in their seats.

Neville's original plan of having a head start in spells was ruined by his magic lock, and would even be at a disadvantage if it was not somehow lifted before Hogwarts started. Granted, he could work on it again during the first three or even four years before Voldemort came back, but he had also wanted to learn some different attack spells during that time. To be frank, he thought most duels in the books were too bland, and all magic battles should be more like the one done in the Ministry between Dumbledore and Voldemort.

At the thought of Dumbledore again, Neville shook his head and sighed. That old fox was really too cunning to be around too much – after all, even piling the age of his previous life, Neville was still out-lived by over a hundred years. He did not get that secure feeling Harry expressed at Dumbledore's presence as he thought he would while reading the books. He did not really dislike Dumbledore, but the wizard was just too powerful and intimidating that he was sure the old fox would dab a hand in to hinder, or ruin, all his plans – after all, there were selfish intentions amongst them.

" It's not fair mum! How come Ron gets to come to a Quidditch match?" A little girl's voice woke Neville from his thoughts. He looked up to find that he was at the West stands again, groaning at the fact that he had walked one full circle around the stadium already. Old Al was probably in his seat by now munching a hot dog.

" Well you're here too ain't you?" A boy's voice countered the girl's.

" Fred and George and Percy are all out with dad because of Hogwarts stuffs, and Ron is going this year, so I don't see why he's not with them." The girl's voice harrumphed.

" I saved up my eleventh birthday present for this match didn't I?" the boy presented his case.

" Ron, Ginny, the both of you. If you two don't stop bickering and hurry up we can go home right now. Heavens knows if it's already started. If it isn't for Arthur and that fiasco with the table lamp as we left the door…"

_Could this be?_ Neville hurried in the direction of the voices. _Will I see the legendary Weasley family even before Hogwarts? Heck, forget the family, where is that main love interest? She was probably the top three most beautiful girls in the series – though maybe biased by Harry's opinion. Either way, the protagonist's girl could never be 'ugly'._

" Ouf!"

" What?" Neville spun round a corner and a hard knock came to his chin. Of course he remained standing, he was no longer that balance-challenged Neville from the books, but he still rubbed the sore spot.

" Oh, I'm terribly sorry dear," a round woman with red hair immediately apologised, but also simultaneously pulled a little girl up and checked for injuries. If that sort of behaviour did not guarantee her to be Molly Weasley, then her children did. Mrs Weasley's hair was auburn, but Neville thought Ron and Ginny looked as if hot lava were spilling from the top of their heads.

Especially little Ginny, since she had long hair worn in a sort of wild mane around her. _Still to start feeling conscious about her looks I see._ The freckles on her cheeks made her look even younger than she was, but seeing her rub her forehead, Neville was just glad she was going to be a short Weasley, unlike lanky Ron, or he might have to 'look up' to her in the future. _Damn that shorty Longbottom DNA._

" I am horribly sorry, it was entirely my fault. Are you hurt?" _Mr George Clooney, I thank your future self for teaching me this debonair smile… even if you have still to manage one as perfect in 1991 now._

Although the lack of height was a curse, Neville did not hang around staying chubby. With his plans involving magic not going well, he spent extended efforts to make himself look less of a git than the original early-days Neville. That round face was chiselled to a stereotypical masculine jaw line, along with training the other fat concentration zones over his body. Thanking to that formerly denounced DNA, Neville was actually quite a looker, in his own narcissistic opinion.

Why were most princesses pretty? Well the higher class and rich people, who had power and money, would obviously consider handsome or beautiful spouses before ugly commoners. Not saying that artificial outer shell was everything in love, but the science of physical attraction suggested that attractive looking people went down a lot easier in the minds of people at least. Now since Neville was of rare pureblood heritage, one that even a 'noble and most ancient house of Black' had married into and kept in their family tree, it was pretty much certain he carried these 'beauty' genes.

Just as Neville was pleasantly pleased and full of himself internally, Ginny burst that inflated bubble with an inhibited comment, " You have a hard chin!"

_My jawline can be described as 'stereotypically masculine', thank you!_ Neville swallowed the un-screamed words. _Wasn't Ginny supposed to be some timid girl that would shy behind her mother? Oh, wait – that was only for Harry Potter._ On the whole, if being in Gryffindor did not say enough, everyone apart from Harry saw her as confident, smart and popular in the books. _I forgot how she chewed and spat out old Michael and Dean._

" I apologise little girl, and what would your name be?" Even if Ginny did reach his chin, he was still taller by almost a head and bent down patronisingly. He knew what got on her nerves, especially being the only child left at the Burrow this year for being too young to attend Hogwarts.

_Well, it'll take a couple of years before she's worth the time to look at – I mean just look at that childish scowl at my words! As long as I beat that idolisation with Harry out of her, it's all good._

" I am not little!" Jujitsu or not, the wrath of an angered Weasley seemed to be more un-blockable than the Killing Curse. A good hard stomp flattened Neville's foot.

" Ginny! Apologise right now!" Mrs Weasley bellowed.

" Sorry…" Ginny immediately bent under her mother's authority and Neville was mentally too old to take offence with such a small kid. Plus, Ginny would probably just stick her tongue out at him from behind her mother's back anyway.

" No, no, it's okay." Neville waved it off.

" What great manners you have, you two should learn a thing or two." The expected tongue was given as Ginny hid half of herself behind her talking mother. _Just wait a few years and I'll make sure I teach you to use that tongue properly._ " I am Molly Weasley, this is Ron and Ginny. What is your name?"

" Nice to meet you, I am Neville Longbottom. I believe you knew my parents from the Order of Phoenix." Neville exchanged a smile and a nod with Ron as he answered. It seemed they had a mutual liking for each other at first sight: Neville liked his character from the books originally and Ron liked anyone who could make his sister mad.

" Y-you know about the Order?" Neville froze, suddenly realising he let on too much. Fortunately, Mrs Weasley was not the suspicious sort. Instead, she showed him a pitying expression and patted his head affectionately. " Of course… You must have visited Frank and Alice in the hospital… No wonder you are such a mature boy for your age… You must be about Ron's age now, are you going to Hogwarts this year?"

" Um… I don't know." Neville seized the moment and exploited Mrs Weasley's weakness. Let her deduce why he knew about the Order, she would never get anywhere near the truth anyway. Through these years though, shameless as it was, being stuck in a kid's body meant cuteness became one of his weapons. Lowering his head and rubbing an eye with his tiny balled fist, Neville put on the kid voice, " I… I still can't use magic…"

" Ha! I already managed to enlarge a caterpillar!" Ginny very timely interjected, wanting to get one back for earlier.

" Uncontrolled and to the size of my bedroom!" Ron effectively protected Neville, just to be on his sister's opposing side, instead of being sensitive of what would be Neville's feelings.

Mrs Weasley however, was hook, line and sinker. " Oh, you poor boy! Here, where is your ticket? Let me bring you back to your par – I mean, whoever you came here with."

It turned out they were sitting next to each other in the stands anyway, and they quickly made their way into the opened area of the stadium centre. Neville added a mental note to himself for the next time he met Dumbledore to avoid his eyes and to shut up - after slipping up this much already with the Weasleys. Ron quickly took up conversation with him, trying to convince him to support the Chudley Cannons upon hearing he did not support any teams while Ginny continued to throw dark looks at him on Ron's other side. Enjoying the conversation with the primary supporting character of the books, Neville completely forgot their first meeting was supposed to be on the Hogwarts Express, a month later. If Neville had not changed in personality, Algie would not have brought him to the match, and this meeting would never have happened.

Quidditch chapters in the books were commonly said to be one of the most enjoyable parts. Neville enjoyed them also, and even played one of its video games once. What he did not expect was the speed that those brooms said they had were all true, and at tense moments of the match, the players were almost like blurs, let alone the balls. Ron was cheering and booing along with the rest of the crowd next to him with a pair of tattered omnioculars, dials loose and looked as if smoke was about to come out of it. Nevertheless, Ron still explained in tongue-twisting speed to the newbie Neville about what was going on, even better than the lousy stadium commentator, and even Neville started to get caught up in the atmosphere.

" Oh look! Galvin Gudgeon's seen the snitch! Come on! You've got to get it this time! You fell off your broom avoiding a bumblebee last time for god's sakes!" Ron, along with the rest of the stadium, stood up on their feet. _Damn me being short!_ Neville relied only on Ron and the commentary as he sunk in the shadows with Ginny, looking just as sour beside him for the same reason. With a contact of their eyes, through this shared pain, they had came to a mutual silent understanding and ceasefire. " Oh! He's accelerating! It's coming this way! He's going faster! That snitch is just a few feet away now! And… and… Ouch!"

Though Neville could not see, even over the noise of the spectators, he heard the ramming sound of impact. A bludger was effectively sent to stop the seeker, which he skilfully dodged – but the dodged bludger hit the other oncoming bludger and deflected back to smash him on the head. Losing consciousness, the seeker immediately fell off his broom – the broom that still flew and maintained its maximum speed towards the stands.

" Watch out!" The commentator only managed to get those two syllables out before the broomstick reached the seating region of the stadium. Wizards as they were, the first human reaction was of course to duck or dodge out of the way. Flying up the rows of seats and the dodging wizards, not one of them had thought of stopping the broom by magic.

As long as that sounded, it was only a second or two before the audiences in front of Ginny parted to one side – the broom zooming in a direct line towards the small girl whose eyes did not even have time to widen. In this situation, only Dumbledore would be able to draw his wand quick enough to use any spells, but with the fact that he was in the guest box on the opposite side of the field, it would be too late by the time a spell got to Ginny.

Fortunately for the girl, there was an inner-muggle right beside her. Concentrating on the broom and remembering the spirits from jujitsu on diverting an object's force for his own use, Neville leapt from his seat, both hands grappling onto the handle of the broom and brought it upwards. Ginny felt a graze by the side of her face, and the hair on her left blew up into the air – but she was safe.

Neville on the other hand was flying perpendicular to the ground like a rocket heading for the moon. Not only that, but the roof overhanging the stands as a shelter was fast approaching. _There is nothing else I could do._ Left hand still gripping the broom handle, his right hand dug inside his pocket and pulled out the wand that never left his side.

A wizard's latent magical powers were like water behind a dam, the dam being the block for him to use magic. In the original timeline, at the moment of the Neville's fall, the life-saving notion he conjured was like firing a high pressured jet of water into the dam, making a hole that allowed the magic to leak through. In proceeding years and through training, the entire dam would eventually break away and the wizard would be able to use all his powers without hindrance. In the present case however, Neville had been practising magic for an extra two years, and rigorously. This was like adding pressure, or more water, into pushing the dam. His dam was already buckling, but with this final big push, the entire dam was obliterated at once.

" _Confringo_!" With an explosion that was uncontrolled and far exceeded the expectations of every gaping mouth that was starring at the young boy, at least a quarter of the stadium roof above the West stand was effectively turned into dust.

Feeling the sudden surge in magical energy that Neville had mistaken as just a sign of relief, he looked back at the disappearing stadium below him. He could use magic! He gradually stopped the broom from its rapid ascent and marvelled the view about him high in the thin air – something he thought impossible in his previous life.

Being able to survive high falls was neat, but saving a damsel in distress would make a much more gallant story at the opening feast.

0

0

0

A/N: The main character isn't Harry, but this chapter doesn't just equal a Neville/Ginny ship. A Neville/Ginny ship is probably just as likely as a Norbert/Mrs Norris ship at this point. Now about the magic thing, if anyone understands a bit of high school physics, the dam thing should be pretty clear. However, if you're in a mood to discuss the material properties of said dam and problems relating to ratchetting failure, you can save it for class. I just wanted a reasonably simple analogy to express what I had in mind for why wizards can't use magic at a young age. If enough people genuinely did not understand, I'll probably change it later.

We will actually start the first book next chapter!


	3. Book 1 Chapter 2

Synopsis: After being struck by lightning, Harry Potter fan, Ness, was transferred from the real world into the world of the books. He found himself occupying the body of Neville Longbottom, and decided to change the future of himself as he knows it.

From an accident during a Quidditch match, through saving Ginny Weasley, Neville's magic lock is broken. Finally, he was going to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Chapter 2 – How I met our Potter.

" _Diffindo_! _Diffindo_! _DIFFINDO_!" Neville screamed and fell back onto the couch, glaring at the piece of firewood that was still in one piece. After he came back from the Quidditch match, for the past two months or so he had been practicing magic almost none stop to try and catch up with his previous plans.

To his dismay, the Blasting Curses he later performed as practices never had strength even close to his first. The spell back at the stadium only had that drastic effect because at the point the lock on his magic broke, all the pent-up magical energy through the years were released all at once – like an explosion. It was like the difference between flicking someone's forehead to just touching them with a finger.

To his utter frustration, most of the spells he had practiced before did not work. He had been in a frantic panic, half believing his magic powers fell asleep again, when he could not even perform a simple _Wingardium Leviosa_. Bar Beethoven, a deaf person practicing viola would not be able to improve on a melody's tuning regardless of the times he practiced. Neville's wand work was in the same predicament, and worst. Since he had trained his body to remember the flawed movements relating to the spells, it was even harder to change his habits and do the correct moves.

" Neville? Are you ready to go?" asked a stuffed vulture around the door. It was actually just his Gran's usual going-out hat. She had that whole get-up consisting of a long green dress, the old fox scarf and an alarmingly bright red handbag, unchanged even after changing to her new mellower personality.

" Yes Gran," Neville worn much more normal muggle clothes. From Neville's previous life reading the books, not once had he come upon a Hogwarts student wearing a tie, let alone a full set of school uniform. It was just a load of film rubbish to him. He was currently wearing a pair of many-pockets combats and a navy mid-sleeve high-neck tee, which had a zip from his chest to the collar. Neville found his get-up very practical and would probably still wear something like this for school, only with robes on top.

_It'll be a day in hell before I wear that godforsaken witch hat!_ Neville shuddered. _Those hats only had uses for witches in cosplay parties._

" Have you got your wand? Your hat? Where is your trunk?" Gran's torrent of questions clucked on like a mother hen and Neville was made to check his inventory again.

Old Al was certainly a dear after the stadium incident, branding him as a pride of the Longbottom family. He was so proud of his great nephew that he ordered dozens of extra copies of the next day's Daily Prophet reporting the incident to give away. Now in old Al's living room, atop the fireplace, was a picture frame with the newspaper cutting photo of a flustered Neville, wondering if he should feel proud at the wrecked stadium in his background. The good thing that came out of it was that old Al was ready to accept any material requests Neville proposed – well, it was more like he begged Neville to waste away his fortune.

There was absolutely no way Neville would get a frog as the original timeline had. Harry's first impression of him was one of the top entries in his 'to-change' list – he would never be 'lost-amphibian boy'. Neville, out of the limited list of allowable pets at Hogwarts, told old Al if he really needed to buy him a pet, get an owl since it was the only one of any practical use. A day later, old Al came back with an endangered species, the Blakiston's Fish-owl. If Neville was like Harry and carried Hedwig in the open, muggle police would arrest him sooner or later.

Unforeseeably, after spending time with what was likely the largest breed of owl in existence, Neville grew a liking to him. Huge as his body was, and even if he had wings, he followed Neville around at almost waist height with a walk similar to penguins. This seriously struck a spot with how Neville had never been allowed a dog in the previous life. Not only that, but that clumsy waddle seemed to make the owl look fatter than he was, coupling with two long horizontal ear-tufts that looked like stray bits of hair upon waking up, Neville admitted a shameful defeat and succumbed unmanly on the grounds of cuteness. The brown and white feather-bag was named Trevor, in respects for the original toad that probably archived its freedom now after the many times it obviously tried to escape the original Neville.

Neville, being the type of guy that never let by free pens at conventions, would not pass upon the chance to let old Al go with just an owl – expensive as it must have been. The essential Hogwarts equipments notwithstanding, a lot of thought were put on possible gadgets that he might need for the quests Harry would blindly rush into for the duration of the year.

A gadget he never took off since acquiring it was an armband for holding his wand, which covered the length of his forearm and elbow: it was more secure than being in a pocket and had various magic charms on it for extra features. Next was a device that looked like one of those home espresso or juice squashing machines: it packs potions into transparent capsules, each one containing a single dose of said potion and the user would just bite a capsule, bursting the edible outer coating to consume. It was mostly for the practical purposes of carrying the Temporary Invisibility Potion, which was particularly expensive, but Neville planned on brewing other handy potions later. The last purchase was an anti-burglar buzzer for his money bag – almost overflowing with galleons. Neville really needed to enchant that buzzer for safety. _Oh and possibly do something to repay old Al, who worn that sunny smile on his face until the end of the painful shopping trip._

Gran and Neville headed for King's Cross Station using the Floo Network, then switching to a taxi, Neville all the while distracting the driver from the massive covered-up cage. Funny the effects of little small talks as a diversion – and money-maker since his Gran was so impressed with Neville's apparently extensive muggle knowledge that she gave him a galleon for snacks on the train later. Neville, at this point, was starting to feel a little too shameless for ripping off the elderly.

" Hey, Ron!" Neville called out, spotting a moving map of volcanoes above the crowds. With the excess luggage of the present Neville, it seemed as if he arrived at the same time as the Weasleys instead of earlier as in the books.

" Neville! Good to see ya again!" Ronald 'Orangutan-Limbs' Weasley, left his other family members behind to greet Neville. " What've you been up to?"

" You know, getting ready for school." Neville would have seen him before now if only he had given him the Burrow's Floo-network address. Neville had asked to join him and his family, Ginny included of course, to shop for supplies at Diagon Alley, but was softly rejected by Ron's excuse, 'we have a large family and hasn't got a planned date yet'.

_To think I thought he'll make a good wingman for hitting the bars with one day when he can't even take the hint that I was indirectly asking for Ginny's number._ Neville screamed at Ron silently, _" Are you really that opposed to me dating your little sister?"_

In truth, Ron's thought path never got that far, and was merely trying to hide his family's poverty the same way he treated Harry at first.

" So, you're Ginny's little knight in shinning armour then?" One of the twins asked as they followed Ron. The other twin was right beside him, with the same freckles and flaming hair, and they both looked more like Ginny than Ron. Mrs Weasley had already began pleasantries with Gran and at the back, Percy, evident by his look of disapproval and prefect badge, was looking towards the direction of the platforms. _Just because his highness Weatherby wants to see his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater – wait, they were still to start dating at this stage right?_ Neville began counting their age difference.

" He's Neville, not a knight!" Ginny piped up reflexively to her brothers, but upon contact with Neville's eyes, tweeted like a bird and started to blush. " Um… but still thank you for the other day."

" No problem," Neville saved his George Clooney smile this time. The kid was even too young to fawn and exclaim lovingly, 'You've saved my life! How can I ever repay you?', even on that day right after the incident. _I don't see you protesting about Harry not being a knight after he saved your ass from the Chamber of Secrets!. Gratitude should be shown by actions damn it! _

" Hi, my name is George, this is Fred," the twins shook Neville's hands respectively. He was a little hesitant in front of the pranksters, hoping they did not hide any buzzers in their palms. " So how did you do it? That Blasting Curse was probably as powerful as Alberta Toothill when he won the duelling championship! And they said it was your first spell! That's amazing!"

Neville returned a few humble words to dodge their questions, but was quite surprised. Since the incident, being only in contact with the muggle world through jujitsu, and the wizarding world from his relatives, and Gran's friend Griselda Marchbanks a few times at tea, he merely thought the praises he got from doting elders were exaggerations. _I thought the Daily Prophet only exaggerates truths._

The twins had to be wised-up with the latest trends to have been that successful at their future joke shop. They continued to recite the media they had gathered, " …and they even rated you in the Wizards of the Future column! …Oh, that's the Daily Prophet column about children entering Hogwarts this year… but guess what? They rated you just behind Harry Potter!"

Neville jumped at the name – quite coincidentally with the small figure a few feet away, who had been watching them intently since a while ago. Neville remembered then about the method Harry used to get onto the Hogwarts Express– by stalking Ginny.

_Having that sort of hobby at such a young age…_ Neville mentally shook his head, _I would've never gotten caught by the twins. Those two must have noticed or else they wouldn't just coincidentally come up to help Harry with his trunk on the train. They were probably planning to prank him before noticing that famous scar._

Logical deductions aside, it really was a sore sight to see the books' hero at that moment. Harry, though left in peace for the last month at Dursleys, displayed very much of the hard life he lived so far. Neville did not have that many muscles – an eleven year old with bulging biceps would be disgusting – but Harry was as thin as a skeleton. His glasses were heavily sellotaped, deformed and was a plain ugly style to begin with. The only saving grace under the bush of black hair and sunken pale cheeks were his brilliant green eyes – but even they were shifting like a frightened rabbit at that moment from the mention of his name.

Percy interjected quite timely, in an irritated voice, " If we don't get on the platform, we'll all miss the train."

" Oh, you are quite right Percy," Mrs Weasley clapped her. " Okay Percy, you go through first."

Not really taking notice of the procedure, _it was after all just walking into a wall_, Neville decided he really needed to lend the distressed hero a hand in his feeble state. A stalker that Harry was, Neville recognised that Harry had never cried because of fear or challenges throughout the book. Sure he cried when Sirius died and other incidents as that; but for situations like when he was left alone in a tent, waiting to face a dragon for the Triwizard Tournament, no matter how scared he was he never shed a tear. It was a typical hero quality that Neville admired.

" Hey! You look like you're going to Hogwarts too!" Neville shouted, making Harry jump seemingly out of his pale skin. Hedwig was startled and would have knocked the cage over if Ron, closest to her, did not hold her cage steady.

" Thanks," Harry took the cage from Ron with a blush. " Yes… I plan to go to Hogwarts as well."

" My name is Ron, this is Neville, what is your name?" Neville internally cursed Ron as he asked, the master at saying the wrong things at the worst moments.

Before Harry could answer, Neville swiftly interjected. " You know what? Let's go through together next up. You saw the others, it's just a matter of running towards the barrier."

" Ah… Okay." Harry took another look at the boy who spoke, and would have thought he was insane to suggest the idea a month or two ago. Harry felt pretty fortunately someone offered to lead the way without him even asking. However he was still a little unsure about the idea, glancing back at the station guard nearby.

" Gran, we're going in first." Neville got the nod of approval, and gave a last backwards look towards Ginny. _Revealing Harry's identity in front of her? How much smoother would things go between them if she made a significant impression on him now instead of a whole year later?_ _One wrong step and Harry could miss that crush on Cho and fall for Ginny the Admirer right away._ Neville convinced himself it was for the good of historical integrity to retain certain facts.

" See you inside Ron!" Not giving Harry a chance to think again, and to get him away from Ginny as fast as possible, Neville spared one hand to accelerate Harry's trolley to a run, much to the little boy's horror. Before Harry can scream though, the duo whooshed past the magical barrier as if entering through a tunnel, and he was too busy soaking in the sight of the Hogwarts Express and passengers to care about Neville.

" Come on Harry, let's go search for a compartment somewhere, all the front ones seems to be taken." Neville pulled him along, trying to get away before Ginny and Ron followed.

" How do you know my name is Harry?" Once again, our hero was like a deer caught in headlights. Neville sighed and pulled him along despite his futile resistance.

" You're Harry Potter. Everyone will recognise who you are just from that scar on your forehead." The boy quickly patted his hair down. Neville understood totally about the hassle of fame. Just look at all those celebrity scandals on the magazines – just imagine the different public reactions from a nobody picking his nose publicly, and Brad Pitt doing the same right next to him. " Just relax and use your fame to… maybe not like Lockhart – but you'll probably get a good impression at the first start for the practical exams."

" But… but I don't even know any magic…" Harry bowed his head as Neville turned around, just after heaving his Seven-Lock Trunk onto the train with all its seven-fold storage capacity. Neville frowned, hoping he was not expected to help heave Harry's trunk up as well.

" Some muggle-born kids, not even knowing magic existed before a few months ago, are on the same spot as you." Harry looked slightly better and finally decided to join him on the train, though not before he really had to give a hand to Harry's trunk. " It's also wizarding norm to not teach their kids magic at home, since young children can't control their powers. Ha, they keep teaching to the professionals. I'm sure some families do though, to get an edge or pass down some family-kept spells or something. I'm sure that Malfoy will be one of them cheaters."

The two entered a compartment and stashed their trunks next to the window, Harry settling down opposite Neville. " Thanks for explaining. What year are you going into Neville?"

_Are you saying I'm old!_ Neville restrained lashing out at him. _George Clooney is most sensitive about being called old! Consider yourself lucky I am actually older than this physical body._

" I am a first year, just like you," Neville answered, frowning out the window.

" Really? But you know so much!" Harry looked like he was going to start sulking again. If only the old Neville was around, the new Neville could point out there was at least one less competent person than Harry.

" I am older than you," Neville shrugged impatiently.

" How do you know that?" Harry really was auror material to pick up on flaws in testimonies.

" You looked young." Neville dismissed it and planned his escape, getting a little fed up. " I'll be back, just have to say goodbye to my Gran."

" Okay." Neville took one look at Harry and knew he was going to mope at his magical ignorance and lack of relatives. Sighing, Neville threw Harry a bone.

" There are plenty of things I don't know too. I can't even do the first spell in the Charms textbook properly. If you can find the book out of your trunk, we can practice it together when I come back."

Whether Harry thought Neville was lying to make him feel better or it gave something for him to do in the mean time, he gave Neville a grateful smile and nodded. Back outside, Neville saw his Gran still with the Weasleys. Not mentioning the celebrity with the lightning scar, after another round of clucking worries and reminders from dear old Gran, it was time to say goodbye.

_Goodbye Ginny my love! See you in a year!_

" What's with the way you look at Ginny?" George brashly pointed out.

" Oh I get it! You fancy Ginny!" Fred exclaimed, evoking a squeak from Ginny, who heard their conversation. Neville bet if it was Harry instead of him, she would simply just faint on the spot in delight.

" Actually, it's just because there was something on her nose." Neville answered composedly, making Ginny hide behind her mother, probably to scrub her nose. _Ha Fred and George! You two are still just thirteen after all, you can't best me! …Yet… _

" That's enough George." Mrs Weasley came to the rescue, oblivious to her daughter, who from this point on started to mind her appearances just as any other typical girl. Natural beauty was one thing, but uncut diamonds did not shine. " You guys should board the train now. Take care of Ron for me, Neville."

" No, he probably has to take care of me." Neville fully understood the importance of teamwork – he needed people watching his back if Harry was going to be as rash as he was in the books.

Little Ginny actually waved as Neville boarded the train, which made him consider her as 'cute' really for the first time since they met.

Just as Neville got onboard, the train gave a shrill scream despite not being ran on steam, and gradually pulled away from the platform. The Weasley brothers hung out the still opened door, shouting goodbyes. Neville waved to his Gran also, whose teary eyes could not escape his gaze. It was probably quite a tremendous relief for her to see him leave for Hogwarts after almost eleven years of hoping that he was not a Squib. Ginny, following canon, chased the train partly, half laughing and half crying.

_If only it was for me. _Neville sighed. _That girl really will become a beauty in the future._

When Neville directed Ron to his and Harry's compartment, Harry had his head buried in The Standard Book of Spells. _It seems like doing good deeds do have rewards after all._ Harry totally missed Ginny's memorable waving scene while reading and probably had only two minutes' glimpse of her outside the platform. _Ah, if only things would continue to go that 'smoothly' between those two._

" Hello." Ron was a little apprehensive at the sight of the schoolbook, " You haven't read all that, have you?"

" No, didn't even understand the first chapter." Harry's smile was returned by Ron like a mirror. Neville realised then, almost with horror, they were the stereotypical idiots that gloated over each other with scores of twenty-one against twenty. _Hermione, I feel now for your pain._

" This is Harry Potter by the way," Neville just wanted to wipe those dumb smiles off the two of them.

After the surprise, and Ron's characteristically-impolite probing questions, the two of them started to talk about their backgrounds a bit. Neville even met Scabbers, who he detested in the original books for his betrayal. Once again he wondered how it got into Gryffindor – _maybe the Sorting Hat actually made a mistake?_ He would have thrown him out the train window if he did not faintly remember it having a significant role near the end of the story. _Well, I have at least three years to decide whether to spare the rat's life._

" What about you Neville? Were you from an all-wizarding family?" Harry asked the square-faced boy, who had been silently frowning at Ron's sleeping rat for a good while now.

" Oh. Yeah, I guess." Neville decided he was going to hide the fact about his parents as the original Neville did. He had visited Frank and Alice Longbottom many times before, but they never evoked any emotions from him, unlike Gran. He would probably gain more fame if people knew, being the son of war heroes, but even he would feel ashamed for using two insane strangers like that. _Plus, I only want fortune anyway. A little fame is enough, just look at Harry now_. " I lived only with my Gran though."

Neville finished his family background with that. The two boys blinked and there was a pause before Ron began recounting the events of him saving Ginny. Neville scratched his head, knowing he should at least look interested. However, he was never good with kids, and there were not many eleven year old topics that he could chat about. He foresaw a good few years of relatively little input at social conversations.

He did spend time studying the body languages of the two children in front of him, who were going to make a massive impact in the future wizarding world. The starting three to four years was when he liked Harry the most, but ever since the Goblet of Fire, he felt the adorable boy turn gradually more self-centred, ill-tempered, and really developed a 'saving-people-thing'. Granted, he was the protagonist, fated to set everything right, and had a lot of problems to deal with, but Neville felt it all started when Ron stopped talking to him for being picked from the Goblet of Fire. Harry had troubles expressing his feelings to begin with, and probably felt betrayed by Ron from that incident, and grew into even more of a recluse from people.

Ron on the other hand, grew more mature through the books. Those rude and insensitive comments lessened and he became more confident in himself and less ashamed of his family's poverty. Neville imaged it was pretty difficult being constantly overshadowed by Mr Hero, though not Harry's fault at all, and these insecurities, supplemented by his relationship with Hermione, were exposed in the last book. Now if there was one girl Neville would not feel defeated if he did not hook up with it was Hermione. He enjoyed the bickering between her and Ron, along with just how their relationship developed and how their personalities really matched. Smart as she was, Ron, even apart from chess, can still best her on occasions and that certainly proved he was not a fool.

These two workable pieces of materials were right in front of Neville, busy chatting about what house they would be sorted into innocently. He promised he would lead those two in a safer and better direction than what was originally fated for them.

_Please do not be mistaken. Hermione will still be on the to-do list._

0

0

0

A/N: Finally we're into the plot of the books! The protagonist will still continue to be bold despite introspective moments. He is not mentally an 11 year old, I repeat. Sigh. Seems like people in this section are stingy with reviews.


	4. Book 1 Chapter 3

Synopsis: After being struck by lightning, Harry Potter fan, Ness, was transferred from the real world into the world of the books. He found himself occupying the body of Neville Longbottom, and decided to change the future of himself as he knows it.

At King's Cross Station, he finally meets Harry Potter, the world-famous protagonist. Neville's original first impression of being the 'toadless boy' was un-thought of on Harry's mind in this new future.

Chapter 3 – The Sorting Hat – Blackmailed.

The train journey passed smoothly and nothing major happened at all. The food trolley came round of course, and Neville never got to spend his ill-deserved galleons thanks to his rich new friend, while the remainder of the time they spent practicing _Wingardium Leviosa_. The events in the original books never took place. There was no longer 'Neville the toadless boy', and Draco did not come by starting fights since no one else knew Harry Potter was here - meaning Hermione did not show up either. Neville was not really apologetic to Ron for delaying their meeting though, since it had not been a good first impression for them anyway. Regardless, he searched the platforms of Hogsmeade for the girl he branded as one of the top three the moment he got off the train under the night sky.

" Oh! Isn't that Neville Longbottom!" The voice initiated a chain reaction, where the entire platform was rushing up to catch a glimpse of him within a second.

It turned out Harry's celebrity avoidance measures were set up so effectively by Neville that he was the one who turned out to be famous thanks to the stadium incident. Those two 'brave and loyal' new friends just minded their own way after Hagrid at first sight, who really was giant, no pun intended, heedless of Neville trailing behind them listening to hushed rumour-starting gossips.

" He's the one! He diverted Galvin Gudgeon's broom and destroyed the Cannon's stadium roof with one spell!"

" He's the one! Galvin Gudgeon attacked him in the air but got sent to St. Mungo's instead from his counter-spell!"

" He's the one! Galvin Gudgeon gave him a bad look and he would've destroyed the whole Cannon's stadium if Dumbledore didn't stop him!"

" He's the one! Don't get too close or he'll eat you!"

_I am not King Kong damn it! Stop looking at me as if I'm a monster you first year dim-wits!_

Not looking at where he was going through his frustration, he bumped into the back of a large figure by the lakeside. Contrary to running into Ginny, he felt as if he rammed into a brick wall. _Probably some senior guy into muscle building._ Either way, the bump made the person drop something onto the ground, and Neville picked it up as an apology.

" Sorry. Here." It turned out to be a human skull.

" Thank y – You're Neville Longbottom!" Either frozen by the creepy discovery or the gruff voice, he looked up at who was in front of him. The figure had a large square build, a jutted out jaw like the bow of Titanic, and a crazy head of black hair like Medusa.

" Yes. I am." Neville was paralysed right now, still holding the skull. " Please take back this skull. Please."

" T-thank you! I am so honoured!" Upon the skull leaving his skin, Neville immediately got on one of the boats and soaked his hand into the lake. _Sorry merpeople! I'll make it up to you next time!_

The person he crashed into jumped onto the small boat after him, making it sink evidently lower into the water. The person proceeded to ramble on about reading Neville's article and became envious of how strong he was and… He stopped listening a while ago as he surveyed the rest of the crew. There were two other boys in their boat, one had seedy shifting eyes and the other a condescending smile. Neville turned to jump back onto the shore, but the earlier bulky person grabbed his wrist.

" Let's stay on the same boat… okay _Neville_?" He almost puked and angered the merpeople more at the sickening tone he heard. If it was spoken by a girly voice, it would have be okay. However, the person in front looked nothing like one. " My name is Millicent Bullstrode by the way, _you_ can call me Mimi."

" Pleasure." Neville missed his chance and the boats started sailing away across the lake. " Wait. That name is familiar…"

" _R-really_?" He almost puked again at her supposedly shying away and covering her cheekbone with her hands. " Oh Neville, it's so good to finally meet you! I so admire the strength you have! To think you picked up the very skull I had been pretending to be you for the past two months! It must be fate."

_Screw it._ Neville emptied the contents of his stomach into the lake.

" Oh Neville! Are you alright?" _She is rubbing my back! Get off!_ " Oh, I hope we can both get sorted into Slytherin! We can be together for the rest of the seven years!"

Neville really thought his intestines, liver, lungs, or whatever other organs he had were going to flee from his mouth. He did not blame them if it meant getting far far FAR away from the monstrosity next to him. The two guys opposite on the boat sniggered at his misfortune. _I got on a Slytherin boat! I definitely got on a Slytherin boat for those two to be this unsympathetic!_

Within jumping distance of the shore in the underground harbour, Neville leapt off the boat before Millicent captured him as she did before, and sprinted to hide behind the people that arrived before them.

" Neville! Where did you go? We thought you were left on the shore before hearing you… well…" Harry spotted Neville though and hurried up to him, even though Neville was still frantically looking back as if Death himself were after him.

" Neville, you don't look so good." Ron was behind Harry, tactlessly adding, " I guess you get really sea sick huh?"

_There're more reasons someone vomits apart from sea sickness Ron. Try being disgusted by Millicent. Or better still, getting punched in the guts!_

" By the way," Harry tried to change the subject, observing Neville's expression. He did spend all those years living with the Dursleys. With good intentions and a spirit for sharing, _as should be encouraged_, Harry introduced, " Meet the Patil twins, they were on our same boat."

_Leave me with the man-woman while you two go off with the prom queen twins? I don't have friends like you! To think I travelled over dimensions to this strange world to help you guys! Oh poor poor me…_

Restraining a tear, Neville followed the crowd into the castle. His first impression of McGonagall was bland, as she was just as described in the book. The first thing she said to him was to wear his witch hat, which he had conveniently left in the trunk. She left the first years waiting in the side-chamber as in the books, and Neville was too busy hiding behind Ron from Millicent to do much else. He was not going to comfort little Harry and Ron anyway because of their earlier 'betrayal'.

Soon, the first years lined up and were led to the front of the hall under watchful eyes. One of which was Dumbledore, and Neville almost made eye-contact before remembering their first meeting. Dumbledore had a dress robe on, looking more sensible than at the match since this was business, and had a bemused smile after spotting Neville. Glancing at the row of teachers, Neville stopped at the turban-wearing Quirrell. What if he revealed that the main villain, Voldemort, was actually right here sitting a few feet from Dumbledore?

_A good _Stupefy_ should do the trick… but then what? How could I even explain? Even if I did save the world and many people, what would happen to me? I would probably spend the rest of my life in Azkaban for not coming up with any believable reasons, knowing the Ministry. And what about those seven Horcruxes? I still don't remember where they all are. Plus, this dramatic change in history might even cause the whole world to explode for all I know. Just look at what happened to me by making Harry Potter's existence unknown on the train today. Oh, and plus I still can't do a _Stupefy _spell._

" Neville Longbottom!" His name was actually called out for the third time before he heard it through his internal struggles. At his hurry towards a battered hat on a stool, obviously the Sorting Hat, he tripped and fell on his face.

_How was that for following the book?_

Nevertheless, Neville picked himself up and sat on the stool, bringing the hat over his head. Almost at once upon contact with his scalp, the hat began shouting, " Sl –"

With reflexes trained in the past few years with jujitsu, Neville hauled the hat back off his head and tightened his fists around its brim, as if strangling it, before the first syllable of a cruel life escaped. _Slytherin? Seven years with that man-woman and sneaky characters? God save me!_

" Neville Longbottom! What are you doing?" McGonagall sternly tapped the nearby table with her wand. " Let go at once! The Sorting Hat is an irreplaceable heirloom of the school!"

" Ah… I thought something bit me from inside the hat." This invoked an unfriendly glare from Megan Jones, who worn the hat before him. Careful not to let the hat go before putting it fully back on this head, he spoke mentally to the hat, knowing it could hear him. The hat dropped over his eyes, but not before clearly hearing Millicent's growled in the otherwise silent Great Hall. " Do NOT say Slytherin or I will commit suicide right in front of you!"

" OK, OK, calm down young man!" The Sorting Hat seemingly said beside his ear. " I can take a hint when you've just strangled me!"

" You can't blame me. How unprofessional was that to shout out a random house when I've hardly put you over my head?"

" Unprofessional? I have been sorting every single Hogwarts students for centuries! How dare a young pup like you say I am unprofessional?" The Sorting Hat sounded thoroughly offended. " Even an ordinary sunhat would place you in Slytherin. You dare say you will not use any mains to get what you want? Didn't you pull all the stops to separate a girl and a boy just earlier today? Or the galleons you deceived, now in your pocket?"

" First, all is fair in love and war. Second, those galleons were given to me without me specifically wanting them. Third, how do you know about all these things?"

" Well I am the Sorting Hat!" Now it was sounding smug as he continued, " I can read every single piece of your memories and more. That is how I know about your personalities and which house to put you in."

" Don't you just put people in houses they want to be? That is the case with Harry Potter."

" What a joke! I, the Sorting Hat, will never blindly make a decision." _A blatant lie._

Since Neville now knew it could read memories, determining that included his past life, they were definitely enemies now. _I'll show you Slytherin._ " Oh? You sure you haven't made a single wrong decision through all your sortings? What about one Peter Pettigrew a decade or two ago? Are you sure he should be in Gryffindor?"

" What? H-how did you know about this?" It sounded extremely shock, much to Neville's surprise. " I had a fight with Fawkes that day and got into the rhythm… Your memory doesn't show you've heard of him at all! How did you know this? This is impossible!"

" You don't need to know." Neville was rapidly delighted. _Does this mean my past life's memory is completely unregistered inside me?_ Thinking about it, he was definitely fortunate that his past life was replaced by the original Neville's memories according to the Sorting Hat. Letting anyone know about the fact that he knew the future would mean instant doom – for not stopping Voldemort now if nothing else. " If you don't sort me into Gryffindor, I will tell the entire world how wrong you were."

There was a moment of silence before the Sorting Hat harrumphed. " Blackmailing a centuries-old magical artefact and you don't call yourself a Slytherin? Centuries of good name – gone with one mistake… I am only doing this because you don't have much thirst for power, you lazy-ass – GRYFFINDOR!"

" It takes bravery to blackmail a centuries old magical artefact, right?" With a smile, Neville casually took the hat off and the table on the left screamed as if they just had a performance from James Brown. Sauntering towards the table, shooting the devastated Millicent a faked look of commiserations on the opposite side of the hall, the Weasley twins greeted him with slaps on the back.

" Neville! I'm so glad we got you!" George sat Neville down next to him. Fred poked his head out from behind his twin as well to join in.

" Yeah! Everyone thought the hat was going to say Slytherin at the start. Do you even know how long it took before it shouted Gryffindor?"

" I'm just glad to be with you guys." Neville continued to be congratulated from all sides – until Harry Potter's name was called, whereby his sudden appearance quickly left Neville in the shadows. After all, random newspaper hero was nothing in the face of The Boy Who Lived. Neville did not mind, and picked up a fork on the table in front of him, anticipating the feast now that he relaxed enough to get hungry. He really did empty his entire stomach in the lake.

Cheers louder than the concert hall after James Brown and Pavarotti performed together erupted from the Gryffindor table after Harry was sorted. He sat down next to Neville and said next to his ear, " The Sorting Hat told me to tell you, 'if you say one word I'll set Fawkes on you'. Why is that? And who is Fawkes?"

" Ask you wand," Neville patted his confused back as the sorting continued. After that and the speech from Dumbledore, the feast finally began.

" Err… Neville, you've splashed sauce over my sleeve." Ron said across the table from him.

" Erm Ungry!" Neville managed to breathe out while simultaneously swallowing some more pie and reaching for the chicken wings.

" But… didn't you eat all the chocolate frogs on the train? And the cauldron cakes and…"

" Uh oh!" Neville slammed the brakes and turned to Harry next to him. " What did I eat so far? How much calories were they? I need a calculator!"

" Calories? What's that?" George asked next to him. " Why do you have to count how much you eat? You're not scared of getting fat right?"

" What do you mean I'm not scared? I'm flipping terrified!" Neville thought back to his first few months of failure in this world. Another reason why he was not a potential body-builder was because wizard food tasted _soooo_ good. Neville had been on diets and measuring what he ate every day painstakingly to get this body shape… well, maybe a snack here and there. Gran was very proficient at cooking spells.

The rest of the guys, obviously unaware of his pains, stared at him as if he was crazy. A voice piped up near where Percy was sitting not far down the bench, " As long as you burn as many calories you consume, you should be fine."

Her tone gave a connotation of teachers-pets, especially with that childish pitch lingering with it. Finding the speaker, Neville knew who she was right away and his mood once again dropped. Her hair was so much like a birds nest he could bet the owls next morning would land in it. Neville had seen buck-teeth people before, but those of Hermione Granger's were as gravitating as Dumbledore's crooked nose.

" Ah. Yes. Nice meeting you." Neville tried his best not to stare, and now after recovering from his momentarily lapse in wizard-food-addiction, wiped his mouth with a napkin.

" You see, fat is produced from excess food you eat every day that you do not burn off as energy…" Hermione probably thought displaying muggle knowledge, something she had much more of compared to most others at the table, would make her look smart. _It was just as the books have described it._

After growing mushrooms out of his ears, restraining himself from the desserts apart from a few chocolate éclairs, listening to Hermione lecture some more while, wondering how she was in his old top three, being banned from going near the third floor and the forest by Dumbledore, then finally singing the school song that everyone else surprisingly knew the lyrics to, everyone was rounded out of the Hall and towards their respective dorms.

" Oooooooh! Ickle firsties! What fun!" Peeves, with his famous first lines, appeared on top of their heads and swooped down towards them.

Neville had been prepared for this. Revenge was in order for the old Neville, for this poltergeist dropped those walking sticks on his head on the first night. Instead of ducking like all the other first years, Neville stood strong and pulled out a straight punch at the oncoming poltergeist. Peeves, unable to stop due to his flying speed and the unexpected surprise of a bold first year, made contact on the fist with his nose.

" Vo ar du? Dun du noe du hud du duck when sumfin is swooping down on you?" Peeves, during that sentence, twisted his nose back into its original shape. He was staring angrily at the ignorant boy who dared to ruin his tradition of terrifying the nervous new recruits.

" Neville Longbottom." Neville brushed the tail of his robes behind him with his right hand, his left hand pushed back some strand of hair from his eyes. Today was the first time he used that hair fixing charm and it was still not perfect.

_Man I look cool._

Hermione looked on, hoping not everyone in her house was a narcissist.

Neville's self-indulging joy came from the proof that his theory was correct. Although Peeves could travel through matter, just like ghosts, it would only be when he was aware. That time in the third book, when Lupin shot a gum up his nose, showed that he could be tangible if caught off guard. Not to mention the numerous instances when the poltergeist was able to touch normal objects like chalk or buckets of water. Of course though, he was something like an immortal and would never die – or at least from physical damage such as this.

" Oh? Stretched Behind thinks he's all cool now?" Peeves harrumphed with the horrible joke to Neville's surname. " You just wait! I'll make your life a living hell at Hogwarts yet!"

All the Gryffindors gasped: the seniors knew the consequences of the threat and the first years were just plain scared anyway. Neville smiled and replied to his threat, " That hurt. Didn't it?"

" Of course it hurt! You see how you like it when you get punched in the nose!" Raising both his hands, the walking sticks that were previously floating behind him rotated as that all their tips were pointing at Neville.

" Peeves! Stop it right now or the Bloody Baron will never let this go!" Percy, seeing how grave the situation suddenly got, stepped forward, though still out of the path of the walking sticks, as everyone else had done.

" Get him!" Peeves obviously ignored the threat, rage curtained over his eyes. About a dozen walking sticks shot at Neville like a rain of darts.

Flipping his wrist outwards, a wand shot down Neville's robe from his Wand Armband into his grasp, though it seemed to have materialised suddenly in the eyes of others. Closing his eyes, he tried to summon all his concentration to remember the correct wand movements for the Severing Charm he was practicing just this morning. Turning two hundred and seventy degrees, he stood sideways to the onslaught of sticks and directed the spell towards them.

" _Diffindo_!" Neville finished casting the spell when the sticks were just a centimetre from his wand tip. Due to all his latent magical powers being available to him from his twist of fortune, he could have all his born powers channelled to strengthen one spell, which was hardly possible for students because their magical lock from youth was still to completely collapse.

At that, an invisible sword seemed to have made a vertical slash in the space in front of Neville. The sticks that would have speared him were cut cleanly in two, shooting past either sides of his sideway stance. After all, the objects Peeved controlled were just like any other, susceptible to usual counter-measures.

" Argh! You just wait you Elongated Ass!" With a _pop_, the little spirit vanished.

" What's with all the ruckus?" A voice, void of much emotions and warmth, made all the previously hot-blooded first years shudder again in panic.

" Nothing much professor," an older prefect quickly answered. " Just Peeves scaring the first years again, you know."

" Then why did a bunch of walking sticks fly towards me down the corridor?" The voice answered, Neville once again too short to see its source behind the heads of other students.

" Well… Neville was protecting himself professor." Weatherby, being the perfect git that he was, told the truth.

" Neville? Neville Longbottom?" A path cleared in the crowd and Neville finally saw the legendary character.

He always knew Snape could not be a bad guy after the first book. Even after the scene where Snape killed Dumbledore, he knew it was some sort of greater plan that Dumbledore had set up. Not only that, but that bit of Snape's memory while teaching Harry Occlumency made him theorise immediately Snape's relation to Lilly Potter. When all the truth was finally revealed in the last book, Neville succumbed completely to Snape and his love for Lilly Potter, especially the scene where Snape showed that his patronus was a doe, same as Lilly's.

Snape, who was biased against Gryffindor initially, and tonight with its addition of Harry Potter, and a recent newspaper celebrity, was in a foul mood. Seeing one of the causes, Neville, obviously having been in a conflict with a wand in hand, completely opened his memories to the show-off James Potter – his life's biggest nemesis. Just when he was about to use Legilimency to read Neville's mind to know entirely what happened and punish the boy, he noticed the boy's gaze. He wanted to deny it but the gaze was not frightened, nor arrogant, or even defiant. Neville was looking at Snape with eyes full of pity and sorrow, to a point where the boy's eyes were threatening to become watery.

_Snape! Just because you stalk like bat, don't take fashion tips and have problems expressing your feelings, you lost the love of your life to some jackass! Not much was mentioned of James Potter's true personality in the books, but I'm on your side anyway! Why do girls always choose the bad guys? Anyway, you still hung in there after that. You became a double agent, risked death and now even have to protect the son of the man you hated the most! Snape! I feel for you brother!_

" B-but he's clearly used magic! Magic is strictly forbidden in the corridors! Since he's still a first year still to know the rules, I'll take one point from Gryffindor! There will be no next time, you others hear that? All of you! Hurry to your dorms!"

With that, Snape half stalked and half fled the scene. Of course the normal Snape would stir up a massive commotion and might even have caused Neville to be expelled. However, Snape was feeling incredible uncomfortable looking at the eyes of the boy for some strange reason that he could not pin-point. So uncomfortable that he had forgotten he knew Legilimency, since his only notion was to get out of there and away from that strange boy. After all, he really only had a grudge with Potter and not Neville.

" Neville! How'd you do it?" George rushed up to him and patted his back. " I've never seen Snape stalk away so fast! It almost looked like he was running away!"

" Who was he? He didn't look very friendly," Harry asked.

" That was Snape, the head of Slytherin. He's always taking points off our house because he's biased." Fred answered, but could not cover his excitement.

" You were very lucky Neville that he didn't even take you to McGonagall for this," Percy interjected. _Wasn't it your fault to begin with Weatherby?_ " But as he and Dumbledore had said, you're not allowed to use magic in the corridors."

" Shut up Percy! He was about to get speared through by walking sticks!" George stood up to defend Neville.

" And that's another thing, you really shouldn't have made Peeves mad." Percy lectured on, which really started to annoy Neville.

" I can handle it." Neville, with another wrist movement, retained his wand into his Wand Armband. " I heard about him through my Gran. He plays pranks all the time. I don't see why he shouldn't be punished."

" It is kind of funny seeing how angry he can make Filch," George was starting to like this unique boy, who was trying to do something that many others had been trying to for years, including McGonagall. " But I know what you mean. Me and Fred play pranks and get punished all the time, I don't see how Peeves should be different. Let me warn you though, his jokes may be a lot more tasteless than ours, but he's still a poltergeist."

" But it's good for a young lad to aim high!" Fred joined in, thinking alike with his twin. " Whatever happens, we'll back you on this one."

" Thanks guys," Neville patted the twins on the arms. _I swear I'll definitely help fund your future joke shop if you give me some of the shares! _

" Okay everyone! Just follow me to the dorm!" Percy made a snorting noise in agitation. _Why couldn't he have died instead of Fred?_

George was making faces at Percy as he turned around while Fred was imitating his high-horse attitude, which made Ron and other first years struggle to retain their laughter. Harry had fallen back with Neville, which got even more stares from the others around them since they were probably the most talked about two in first year by now.

" Neville, was that… a spell you did back there with the sticks?" Harry asked in a low voice.

" Yeah, why?" Neville turned to look at him, seeing his frown and lowering his head.

" Nothing… But thanks. For back on the train," he said with a grateful smile again. It was the second time today. " You pretended you didn't know any magic and helped Ron and me. I knew you were much better at magic just from how you taught us on the train."

" Harry, I really don't know how to use Wingardium Leviosa. And a lot more others. That Severing Charm –"

" I understand Neville, thanks." Harry patted his back, and before he could protest anymore, they had arrived at the famous Fat Lady's portrait. Splitting with the girls, and hoping they did not put any gender charms to prevent guys from 'accidentally' entering the female dorms, Neville climbed the stairs to his new home for the next seven years.

It was really just a circular room with five bed spots. There was a wooden closet on one side and a small table to the right, with a chair, but that really was it. Neville was in complete despair at the lack of flavour in the room, thinking that nothing in his Seven-lock trunk could counter this. His plan really was flawed.

" Hey, let's go to the girls' and get a pillow fight going." Neville suggested to try and combat his disappointment, but the others already went to bed. " Damn kids and their bed times."

0

0

0

A/N: No slash. And there will never be any slash in this, ever.

It took me a while to get that Peeves thing (the mechanics) into thinking, but I really can't see a reason why others haven't done anything about his pranks for all these years. Sure, he was immortal, but he can still feel pain.


	5. Book 1 Chapter 4

Synopsis: After being struck by lightning, Harry Potter fan, Ness, was transferred from the real world into the world of the books. He found himself occupying the body of Neville Longbottom, and decided to change the future of himself as he knows it.

Things for Neville on his first arrival at Hogwarts were far from expectations: Almost being sorted into Slytherin, creeping out Snape, and crossing Peeves the poltergeist, who swore to make his life to come a living hell, the night was full of events. However, the night was yet to end.

Chapter 4 – The issue with immortality.

Not being able to sleep in the unfamiliar bed, Neville wondered if the Hogwarts library had books that taught him how to enchant the curtains around his bed to the likes of the ceiling in the Great Hall. Actually, it would be better if he could enchant half naked girls prancing around the curtains…

" If only I have the Marauders Map! Then I can sneak to the kitchen and… wait! Have to get rid of that notion…" He argued with himself for a bit between food and body weight, but got bored eventually and decided to head to the common room downstairs for a further inspection.

_Hey, there could be a galleon under the sofa, who knows._

Disregarding the other four four-poster beds, with all their curtains drawn down, Neville strolled down the spiral staircase. His dorm was unluckily at the top of the tower, or possibly the second top since the boy and girl dorms layered on top of each other like cake, and it took him a while before finally getting to the bottom.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Following the incantation, a few seconds later, a crash of something falling was heard. Immediately after though, the incantation was heard again.

Neville put his back towards the wall and only peered half an eye over his shoulder to see who was the strange insomniac practicing late at night. He saw Harry Potter, a most surprising candidate, trying to float one of the couches, in front of the still-burning fireplace.

" Harry? Why are you not asleep?" Neville called out when he saw that it was his friend. He was also wondering if this was a butterfly effect from him arriving at this world, and hoped he had not endangered the protagonist's life already. If Quirrell had Voldemort in his turban, nothing stopped him from simply murdering Harry when there were no witnesses.

" Neville?" Harry hurriedly looked around him, as if to hide, but realised that he was caught red-handed. Sighing, he confessed. " I… couldn't sleep. I just wanted to at least do one spell right for classes tomorrow."

" There is no need to do that! People can't do this spell even after weeks." Neville said with a little hesitation. He recalled Hermione teaching Ron about this, but it could just be Ron being bad at studying.

" There is no need to comfort me anymore Neville," Harry bowed his head. " I know you can do magic, I saw you in the corridor. And Ron was probably just acting with you too. That Hermione Granger girl is also from a muggle family like me, but she already seems to know so much."

" That girl is… a bit different." Neville actually thought she would be more likely to do late-night practices. " Plus, Ron wasn't lying either, same as me. Just go back to bed Harry, I assure you. Things will become apparent after class starts."

Harry considered a little, frowning just as a businessman would while looking at stock information, but gave up. " Just a few more."

" Okay," Neville, not having anything to do anyway and could not sleep, crashed on a couch and watched Harry practice. Neville gave some thoughts to it, and realised that there really would be no way Harry could go to sleep as in the original books thinking he was very much behind the other classmates. Hogwarts was like escaping a prison for him, and if low grades put him back into Dursley Jail, he might as well ask for an execution. Being brave did not directly lead to being arrogant after all, and Harry probably looked down on himself a bit at this early stage in the books.

" No, try win-GAR-di-um. Put the stress there." Neville continued to help as he did on the train.

" Okay… _Wingardium Leviosa!_" The chair shakily hovered up a few centimetres as it had done numerous times before, staying at that height for a few seconds. Just before they thought it was about to plummet again, as it always did before, it actually raised with the point of Harry's wand.

" Hey! You got it," Neville leapt up and slapped him on the back. That lost his concentration and the chair made a resounding _thud_ on the floor. Harry did not care though, and had a huge smile on his face at the achievement. After all, he did practically learn his first spell in one day.

" Thanks Neville! I couldn't have done it without you!"

" You're kidding," Neville was not thick-skinned enough to take this complement. " I can't even do this spell myself, how was it thanked to me?"

" That again? You really don't have to be so considerate about my feelings and pretend you don't know it." Harry once again persuaded innocently.

" How many times do I have to say it I –" There was a sound from the stairs leading to the boys dormitories and Neville instinctively pulled on the collar of Harry's robes and hid behind the once-floating chair.

"That Extended Butt mess with Peeves would he!" Peeves could be seen floating out into the common room. Neville's Seven-lock trunk was hovering just a little above his head. He would have disappeared through a wall, the way he came in, but the trunk he was stealing could not travel through walls. "I'll hide his trunk underneath the Whomping Willow and see how he manages to get it tomorrow!"

Neville narrowed his eyes on the small figure floating towards the portal leading outside. He thought Peeves was not permitted in the house dorms, but he probably angered Peeves too much earlier. With a wicked smile on his face, and a dangerous gleam in his eyes that only Harry could see and shudder at, Neville picked up the fire poker that was left in the fireplace. Without a sound from the body balance he maintained through jujitsu, Neville stealthy made his way towards Peeves, hiding behind various obstacles along the way. Finally within striking distance, Neville lunged without a sound. A roar would be more ferocious, but this was in no way a one-on-one duel – just punishment.

" YYYEEEOOOUUUCCHHH!" Peeves's scream was probably heard throughout the entire castle as sounds of shocked occupants were heard from the dorms. The poltergeist himself leapt into the wall that was in front of him and transcended through, leaving Neville's trunk to fall with a _thump_ onto the floor.

" What's going on here!" McGonagall came through Fat Lady portal a moment later. Hogwarts was not on high alert at this moment and by the time she arrived, many sleepy students had already gathered in the common room. " The Fat Lady outside just said Peeves was seen flying out from the wall on top of her and flew down the corridor with his… his behind emitting smoke."

Neville had of course thrown the fire poker back into the fireplace, and was hiding with Harry behind some furniture until the room was full enough for them to merge in with the crowd. They found a groggy Ron as he also came down to the common room, and told him what happened.

After getting no answers from a few prefects and seniors, McGonagall trained her target on the Seven-lock trunk that was too heavy to dispose of before others arrived. " Whose trunk is this? I suppose not many students would have this?"

" I-it is mines professor," Neville said with a small voice, but loud enough to reach everyone else in the room. A path automatically opened up between McGonagall and him in the crowd.

" Well? Why is your trunk here at the middle of the night?" McGonagall looked down with piercing eyes at the boy at first, but slowly softened when she realised the boy had still to lift his head to look her in face. " Tell us what happened… Neville was it?"

" I don't know exactly what happened professor," Neville said in the most sincere tone he could muster, keeping his head bowed. " I woke up in the middle of the night from someone screaming, and when I opened my bed curtains, the clothes and stationary I put in my closet and desk earlier were spewed out all over the floor. Then I rushed down to the common room to see if some beast came into the dorm or something."

" Beast? How could a mere beast break into Hogwarts!" McGonagall was probably the only one unaware of the villain of this crime in the room. Ron had told Neville what he saw back in their room. Just another of Peeve's mischief along with the trunk.

" It must be Peeves!" A senior girl, quite pretty, in her thin nightdress stood up for Neville, causing him to fawn. If Harry did not know his whole truth, Neville really was considering about squeezing out a few tears just so she could comfort him in her arms. " He was attacking Neville on the way back from the feast, but it didn't work and he vowed to cause him trouble! Professor McGonagall, you have to do something!"

" Peeves aren't allowed in the house dorms anyway! I'll have a word with him." Neville felt McGonagall turning back to him and gave a sniff. She patted Neville on the shoulder and told everyone to get back to their rooms and sleep.

Harry and Ron, the only two in the know, sniggered to themselves. Harry would think it was cruel to stab someone with a fire poke in normal situations, but Peeves was immortal and he was stealing Neville's trunk in the first place. Harry really did have a strong sense of justice, becoming an auror in the future and all. The twins, Hermione and some others could already guess the now-forgotten smoking bottom of Peeves. The twins were of course delighted and impressed, but Hermione was given an even worst impression of Neville.

" First showing off. Then assaulting the school denizens. Worst of all, lying to a teacher then acting innocent! I can't believe I am in the same house as that boy!" Hermione muttered to herself as she huffed back to bed.

Back in the boys dorms, Neville could be seen calmly staring at the mess on the floor. His clothes and robes were stained with ink, his falcon-feathered quills were in shreds, and even some of his hidden stash of chocolate frogs was stepped on merciless.

" Oh man, Neville, sorry we didn't hear him," Dean and Seamus, seemed as if the duo had coupled up already, still felt apologetic to their new roommate. They were first years as well after all, and they would definitely cry if such a predicament happened to them.

" I've got some extra quills and parchments, you can use mines if you like," Harry put a hand on his shoulder. Ron punched one of his bedposts in frustration.

" Thank you guys, I appreciate it." Neville replied, even with a slight smile on his face.

_Peeves. You are going to pay for those chocolate frogs! I'll squish you just as you squished them!_

" _Scourgify! Tergeo!_" With his cleaning charms, the clothes and stationary were either disposed of or put back in place. When Neville could not proceed with his normal magic training, he managed to pick up quite a good few housekeeping spells from Gran. It was by far his most proficient field of spells, though he had purposely skipped the cooking spells as a self-restrain precaution.

" See? You are good at magic!" Harry pointed.

0

0

0

The next day, when Harry, Ron and Neville entered the Great Hall, they were flanked from three tables. The other houses must have heard of what happened last night from the Gryffindors and were all in support for Neville, even some Slytherins.

" All right! Get back to breakfast! All of you!" Snape bellowed and finally restored order.

Just as Neville's mouth was watering from the choices he had on the breakfast table, the morning owls arrived. He read it in the books before, but to actually see this masses of birds swoop over your head was another thing.

" Don't any of you dare to do any droppings in my food!" Neville screamed with his arms covering his head.

" Where is you poise now? Mr Big-shot?" Neville heard a girl mutter on the opposite side of the table. Hermione Granger.

" Excuse me?" He asked, looking at the girl who had turned her head away.

" Nothing." Shaking his head, Neville got back to the serious business of eating.

" Neville! Neville!" The twins rushed into the Hall and screeched to a stop when they got to him. " Come quick! It's Peeves!"

" What now?" Shaking his head, Neville was forced to leave his food to Trevor, who stayed after the mail deliveries to mop it all up for him. Half the school followed to find the graffiti on the second floor. It was a very clumsy imitation of an ass, and various insulting words dotted around aimed at Neville.

" Go! Go! Nothing to see here! Get to class!" Filch, in a very foul mood, shooed away the students. He was still to meet this Neville Longbottom, but hated him already since it gave him the job of cleaning up such a mess already at the first day of school.

" Filch." Neville actually came up to the person that was cursing him at that moment, and got a glare with a face of saliva back as the man shouted.

" MISTER Filch to you! What do you want Mr Celebrity? Think you're all that by standing up to Peeves eh? Well just think about who's gonna clean up all you two's mess afterwards!"

" It's going to be Peeves who will clean this up," Neville calmly stated. This halted Filch in his tracks and Neville continued, " I'll make him clean this up if you do me one favour."

" Ha! _You_ make _Peeves_ clean up? Let's hear it!" Filch condescendingly snorted.

" You have ways of contacting Peeves right? Or Mrs Norris or whatever. Find him and tell him to come meet me at the underground harbour at lunch. Thank you."

" Heh! We'll see what tricks you pull. If Peeves doesn't clean this up, _you_ will!" Filch threatened and stomped away, snarling at the other students along the way.

" Hey, hey." Ron worriedly tugged Neville's robe sleeve. " Are you sure about this? Filch doesn't know magic and would probably tell you to clean this graffiti up the muggle way too."

" What's your plan?" Harry asked on the other side in hushed whispers.

" It's a secret," Neville shrugged and headed towards the greenhouses outside for Herbology.

" Alright class, Herbology is…" Professor Sprout explained what they were going to do in this class and showed some specimens.

Although Neville had been studying magic theory, he had not learnt anything out of the region of charms and transfigurations. Classes like Herbology, Astronomy and all that were completely new to him just as the others. To be frank, he had the worst grades for biology in his past life, and Professor Sprout did not seem to like him much when he almost stepped on some sort of precious plant.

_So much for that original Herbology teaching job here in the future._

Gryffindors had a break after Herbology, but Neville had to hurry to set up the stage before lunch. Even if Harry and Ron wanted to follow, Neville declined just as before. It was not because he did not consider them as friends, but he wanted to achieve absolute victory this time in revenge for his chocolate frogs. Plus, they would not approve of his plan anyway – ethically.

Lunch time came around, and Peeves headed through a dungeon wall to the underground harbour that the first years docked last night. It was technically still under the castle and was still in his roaming area. It was a cloudy day outside, and with the cave mouth being a distance away, the harbour looked especially gloomy. Peeves was not a ghost remember, and he would also be affected by this sort of creepy atmosphere whether he admitted it or not.

" Hey! Lengthy Derrière! I'm here now so come out! I'm not going to let you stab me in the back like last night!" Peeves shouted at the low flicking flames from the few torches around him. Only the sound of wind howled from the cave mouth as ripples from the dark water crashed onto the shore. He spun round on the spot, but saw no movement at all. Time passed by and the longer one stayed in such a spooky atmosphere, the more it got to them.

" _Vapenwasi!_" The incantation resonated throughout the room without warning. A curtain of dust and stones exploded out of the ground and sixteen flashes of silver struck as fast as a bullet into Peeves's body.

Peeves let out a painstaking scream that echoed along the walls of the underground harbour, the fire from the few torches went out. The pain that spread through his body was so unbearable that it was only after a while that the sound of metal falling onto the ground was heard as he made himself intangible.

" Oh? And I was just going to pull out those weapons from your body." Neville, with the smile of a devil, slowly emerged into Peeves's vision. It was as if he had been consumed by the surroundings and was just stepping out from a gap from hell.

" Y-you…" Still in shock from the pain he had just experienced, that was all Peeves could stutter.

" Don't worry. I know you won't die. You are an immortal spirit right? As long as this castle stands, so do you." Neville spoke slowly, in a sickeningly sweet tone. " However, I think you do feel pain yes? Forget Filch not being able to use magic, but McGonagall would never be heartless enough to make you suffer drawn-out periods, or an eternity, of pain even if she could. I have to say, I still can't do a spell that gives long-lasting pain yet. However, catching you off guard and sending a few knives through you brain now and then – sure. You want to play rough? I can play rougher."

Peeves, taking the biggest step backwards in his entire existence, apologised. " I-I'm sorry."

" Oh? For what?" Taking a step forward, Neville's footstep vibrated the air around them like a shockwave to Peeves.

" F-for last night. For insulting you, for wrecking your room, for stealing your trunk, for everything! Please! I am sorry!"

" And what good is that going to do when I've wasted my break, my whole morning, and my lunch to deal with you? I had to go to library to find Lupin's spell, had to find and bury those swords and spears, and even had to miss lunch! Who was it that squashed my chocolate frogs last night!" Neville really got in a bad temper with lack of food.

" P-please Master Longbottom! I'll do anything! Anything if you'll just spare me!" Peeves, although knowing Neville could not hurt him when he was paying attention, like right now, was no fool. No one could be on guard for every moment of every day. Normal students might not do it, but after the few showdowns with this one so far, the deranged-looking boy might just carry out his threats.

" Go clean up the mess you made on the second floor and stay out of my sight from this instant onwards!" Neville bellowed for good effect.

" Y-yes Master Longbottom!" Peeves disappeared with a _pop_.

_He made a wise choice, or else he'll really be driven crazy when I get my hands on the Marauder's Map. It was worth it to choose such a dark location and wasting all that time of my first day after all. I didn't even get to find out who Penelope Clearwater was! Or have lunch! I can't believe that was how I spent my first break, free period, and lunch at Hogwarts! If only I could remember how to get into that kitchen…_

0

0

0

Filch was paralysed, as were the other staffs and students in the school. Peeves! Cleaning! His own mess! Rumours began to fly about who it was that had achieved such a miraculous fate. Coupling the facts that Peeves did not continue with his initial threat of making Neville miserable and would flee as if he saw the devil every time Neville walked into the same corridor as him, it was pretty obvious who the conqueror was despite Neville having kept a low profile.

Neville had been spending a few free periods in the Hogwarts library outside of class, with this colossal collection of new information just waiting for him to explore. Girls, young and old, had been forming groups and gossiping about him while he was there. Maybe not to the extent of Viktor Krum during the Triwizard Tournament but Neville was still tempted to use that Temporarily Invisibility Potion he used against Peeves just to avoid the stares.

However, Neville was not Hermione, and would never skip lunch for reading. With the fact that he was friends with Harry, and Ron, the three of them together always caused an optical in the Great Hall. Harry was incredibly bashful about it, and Ron was partly jealous and partly proud. Neville was too busy eating to care at those moments. Even the teachers heard this unofficial news, and since they did not know of Neville's methods, had been congratulating him (like Quirrell and Flitwick), or at least gave a look of approval (McGonagall). Even the Bloody Baron, said to be the only one that could keep Peeves in check, was not able to be feared to this extent and, one time passing by, patted Neville on the back. Or tried to, since his hand only travelled through Neville's body, making him shiver uncomfortably.

Still, Neville gave an appreciated smile back to the Baron, since he also remembered the love tragedy between Helena Ravenclaw and him. This incident was actually before the first double Potions class and Snape once again felt the cold shivers up his spine at Neville's pitying gaze. Neville spent the lesson thinking whether Slytherins were all prone to love tragedies, and his heart even softened for them – until Millicent Bullstrode, grown more infatuated from Neville's defeat of Peeves, howled that she wanted to be partners with him for the lesson. He hoped Millicent's crush on him would end up a tragedy – hopefully just by her disappearing. Luckily for him, Gryffindors only paired with Gryffindors – Neville ended up with Hermione Granger.

After Snape picked on Harry for a bit (_it wasn't anything serious__!_), the class began brewing the first potion in the textbook. The potion that originally covered Neville in boils while it was supposed to be a boil cure. He especially paid attention this time, hoping not to repeat his original mistake. However, with someone giving short, demeaning laughs right next to him, it was a little off-putting.

" Is there something wrong with the way I weigh crushed snake fangs?" Neville finally asked Hermione, who forged surprised.

" Why, no, of course not! For all the time you spend in the library, haven't you read the class textbook, Magical Drafts and Potions, about how to weigh ingredients?" She shook her head smugly.

" How do you know I've been in the library?" Neville asked.

" Cause I followed you," came the quick answer. If Hermione knew an answer, she was going to give the correct one – even if it meant embarrassment.

" Are you stalking me?" Neville laughed. He was secretly happy one of his top three was stalking him – but maybe in a few years time when she was the Hermione from the Yule Ball.

The truth was, Neville had very offhandedly performed better than her in some of the classes where spells were involved. Sure, he sucked at Herbology and fell asleep in Astronomy, but Hermione, already implanted with a bad first impression, was forced to admit and think of him as her academic nemesis. She did not know how he had defeated Peeves, but it was just another rash act to show off, according to her, since she had still to feel the wrath of Peeve's pranks.

" W-who would stalk you!" Hermione, in her fluster, threw some porcupine quills into the cauldron. A violent hissing sound and clouds of green smoke rapidly got louder and thicker.

" Hermione!" Neville, without thinking, grabbed her by the waist and jumped onto a stool. Within seconds, her cauldron had melted and acid-like potions were spreading across the floor.

" Let go of me!" Hermione, waking up from the shock of being lifted up, but still unaware about the potion, struggled in Neville's arms.

" Hey! Stop! You're going to fa – too late."

0

0

0

A very angry Hermione, just recovered from her red boils, glared at Neville as they left the hospital wing. Of course, Neville's nimble fingers had taken a few 'souvenirs' during their trip, such as Bruise-Healing Pastes and Blood-Replenishing Potions.

_Who knows when you'll run out of blood? They're free anyway, so it's not technically stealing. I'm just decreasing the time and distance that I get my medical treatment. Plus, there're bound to be times you don't want to answer _where_ you got your injuries from. Why else would I volunteer to take her to the medical wing to suffer this glaring hell?_

" Hermione. Stop glaring at me." Neville said.

" You dropped me into a pile of defunct potion!" Hermione exploded in rage. " Oh! And it was you who made me make that potion! It's all your fault! Now I'll fail potions!"

" Eleven years old girls huh?" Neville shook his head. He was not good at dealing with kids, but worst at dealing with girls. Now the two combined…

" I'll be twelve in two weeks, thank you very much," she harrumphed.

" Wow, you're that old?" Neville slapped his mouth shut, thinking he was really dead-meat this time, saying the worst thing he could say to a woman.

" Ha! Of course! You should listen to your elders." She had both hands on her waist, quite pleased with herself. _Just wait a few years girl, and you won't be so smug about this fact._

The two of them made it back to the Great Hall just to meet Draco Malfoy and his two goons walking out. Neville met his eyes, remembering how Draco really had no romantic relationships with any characters in the books. Sure, there was that Pansy Parkinson that hung around him all the time, but she was described to look akin to a pug in the books, which was the case here in this reality. In many other fictions, the villain having a fling with the heroine was very common, sometimes even succeeding. _Maybe he had a tragedy even like Snape and the Bloody Baron, and was just never mentioned in the books! And that Pansy is just like Millicent isn't it? Slytherins really were unfortunate in love… Poor Draco! I'll save you!_

" Oh? If it isn't Boils-Princess and Nerd Longbottom," Draco sneered just as Neville was wondering who Draco should set sail with. " Back from your date together?"

Neville did not really take much offence, since 'nerd' was not really that offensive to him. Then again, Draco really could not say much more about Neville apart from him going to the library all the time. Draco was deeply jealous of Harry, who turned down his pure-blood lineage, and the fame Neville had gathered from defeating Peeves. Coupled with the eternal rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, that was reason enough to make Draco and the Gryffinders enemies even without the original incidents in the books so far.

" Shut it Malfoy," Draco's fated enemy, Harry Potter, left his seat to confront him. He and Ron had been looking for an excuse to fight the haughty pretty-boy anyway.

Malfoy did have his mother's looks – though in the style of stereotypical Japanese Bishounens. Neville, knowing Draco was a blonde as well, used hair-fixing charms to think of a style completely opposite to that slick, mid-length and feminine look Draco had. In the end, Neville made it spiky like Cloud from Final Fantasy Seven. It was incredibly wild for his age, and would have given others a rebellious impression if it was not for his initial frame – though Hermione fell for that impression.

" Just ignore them Harry," Hermione walked away to the table.

" No worries. No worries. Let's eat!" Neville swung his arms around Harry and Ron, while they were still in a staring competition with the Slytherin trio behind them, and headed for the food.

" You shouldn't be so easily provoked like that," Hermione preached the moment the three of them sat down.

" We stood up for you and that's all we get as thanks?" Ron, his usual temper, complained.

Watching the two bicker on, Neville wonder if he should just give Hermione up completely and hook those two up in a romantic comedy style. Their eventual get-together was actually just before the Battle of Hogwarts, and that was years away and under the influence of impending danger. Life and death situations always made romance easier, whether proven by that roped-bridge survey, or the billions of fantasy fiction.

" I'm not even going to waste my time arguing with you immature lot about some notion that'll never be true anyway!" Hermione threw her fork down and huffed away.

_I guess we really won't go on a date together then… Wait, was that the worst rejection I'd ever gotten?_

0

0

0

A/N: It'll be cool to write Draco in as a good guy, or at least not as a complete enemy. We'll see. The Peeves thing – well, it was one of the things that he (I) wanted changed in the book. Of course, Peeves will still do pranks – just not near Neville much.


	6. Book 1 Chapter 5

Synopsis: After being struck by lightning, Harry Potter fan, Ness, was transferred from the real world into the world of the books. He found himself occupying the body of Neville Longbottom, and decided to change the future of himself as he knows it.

Defeating Peeves had earned Neville fame and respects throughout Hogwarts. He was also faring well with classes as his first week ended. Couple these two things however, he seemed to have gotten on the wrong side of Hermione.

Chapter 5 – Fate… or the original plotline?

Neville, after being reminded about flying lessons that began on Thursday afternoon, started to panic. He thought this first year would be spent exploring Hogwarts, learning basic magic or combative spells, and just relaxing like being on a holiday in a wizarding world. Then he remembered he was Neville Longbottom – most overshadowed supporting character in the early books.

In the original timeline, Neville's Gran sent him a Remembrall, which Draco somehow took an interest in. That spurred a conflict during the flying lesson, which importantly gave Harry the opportunity to become seeker of Gryffindor. Leading from the incident, he was tricked into an after-hours duel and find out that something was being guarded in the restricted corridor. Even leading further still, without being a seeker, Harry might not have been able to get past the dragon in the Triwizard Tournament because he lacked flying experience.

" Now what?" Neville, unable to find a solution to the problem, did not even take a bite at lunch.

" Y-you're not eating Neville?" Ron was flabbergasted at this friend, who along with Harry, made up the trio of Gryffindor now. Hermione was still to be friends, and was merely a bossy character to them at this point. Even, or especially, Ron. " Are you on one of your diets or something? Or did you really take one of the comments Hermione Granger said about you being fat seriously?"

" Are you not feeling well? It's our first flying lesson next! It ought to be fun!" Harry tried his best to cheer Neville up.

" Yeah. Fun." Neville actually only remembered the part about Harry being picked as seeker, and remembered it had something to do with Neville, but that was all. _Without remembering the whole question, how can I get an answer?_

Neville was still answerless as they stood in the field of grass opposite the Forbidden Forest as the flying lesson begun. Madam Hooch told them to pick up and mount their brooms, fixing various postures of others, while Neville just followed in a trance. Hermione watched him biting her lower lip, once again envying how seemingly effortless it looked for him to be hovering in the air with that broom.

" Now when I blow my whistle," Madam Hooch was about to let the students get in the air. " You kick off from the ground – Hey! Come back here boy!"

Neville, absentminded, kicked off at her words and found himself diving vertically upwards as he did that day at the stadium. It actually looked quite impressive and Draco, who had been boasting about how good he was at broom riding, had another reason to hate Neville now.

" Sorry! Sorry! I'll be right… Hey! What's with this thing? It's not listening to me!" Neville pushed his hardest to try and decrease his height, but the broom was just not listening to his commands. The broom, because of its age, sort of burnt out at Neville's previously sudden command. It was not just gaining height, but also heading for the Forbidden Forest. _As if falling hundreds of feet wasn't bad enough, what if I landed in that giant spider web?_

" I'll chase after him!" Malfoy, seeing the chance for him to finally make a name for himself, and to embarrass Neville, shot after him.

" Not so fast! You're just going to knock him off! This is Gryffindor business!" Harry, completely in his rash saviour mode, flew right after him. Ron and Harry never liked Draco, because of his nasty words and personality, and this was really just a chance to stand up to him, though Harry did feel worried for Neville too.

Once Harry was up in the air though, thoughts went out of his head from the feelings of flight. His new found love for flying aside, Madam Hooch was not fast enough to react to the sudden events and just managed to shout, " Come back down! All of you!"

Of course, to no surprise, the class went wild and it was now a competition between the two houses to see who caught up with Neville first. Neville himself had given up trying to control the berserk broom and was once again in his thoughts about how he could manipulate events to give Harry his seeker position.

_How did it go in the originals again? McGonagall saw Harry do the dive and saw his talents. That came about by him chasing Malfoy or something… but why? I can't remember! I can't remember! J.K! Where are you in this world? You could at least have some notes on this story by now right? Can't I have a cheat sheet? How can I just make Draco be in competition with Harry? Eh? Wait… what's going on?_

Finally realising his predicament, Neville found the two boys trying to catch up to him, but not gaining distance at all. Shaking his head, he decided it was his curse to be in this body, and there would be many more such instances to come. He only wished he would remember these situations sooner.

" Goodbye cruel world!" Neville closed his eyes and dramatically fell backwards off his broom. _If none of you two catches me, see if I'll curse you until you have a hairline far back enough to hit your spine!_

" Neville!" Awakening into Saviour mode like some Japanese mecha series, Harry dived almost vertically downwards and sped after Neville. Both the classes were looking with jaws dropped open, completely taken in with the scene. Only Madam Hooch had her eyes covered, thinking about what she would do if she got sacked from the job. Her last three arranged marriage interviews were a disaster after all.

Harry, as a future Triwizard Champion should, extended both his arms and only controlled his broom with his legs alone. Just one foot from hitting the ground, Harry caught Neville with both arms, and in a fraction of a second, his other hand reached to straight his broom before plummeting into the ground. The grass on all sides of them blew outwards in a helicopter landing fashion. The two tumbled off the broom and rolled a few meters.

A cheer erupted from the Gryffindor class, all running, and some even flying, to their landing spot. Madam Hooch fell onto the ground and sat up shakily, thanking the heavens no one was hurt. Her class was out of order, but she was too relieved to care about that for now.

" Harry Potter!" The scream of McGonagall resonated through the air. All the Gryffindors quietened down, which Neville really appreciated as he panted to catch his breath. The scene continued just as the books when McGonagall took Harry away. Neville stared after them and a strange feeling surfaced.

_Was there really a point in me trying anything? I didn't exactly plan this whole incident, but the results are the same. Is it the power of fate? The facts showed this: I did not get much of a head start in magic, Hermione and Ginny both feeling neutral towards me… _

_ Was there nothing that I could change? Would Cedric still die? Would Percy still leave his family? Would Voldemort fall anyway without me doing anything? Maybe I really should just take this as a holiday in the wizarding world, and live a good long life of comfort just a little better than the old Neville._

0

0

0

Neville had withdrawn himself from a lot of things since that incident. He was still close friends with Harry and Ron, they were classmates and roommates after all, but did not take part in their night adventure and discovering Fluffy. Hermione was not speaking to those two, but still lectured Neville in Potions and the library. She had followed Neville's routine to his new frequent hangout spot because she thought he was planning to study more and threaten her position of being top of the year. She was surprised when she found out the things he was reading at the library though.

" What're you reading this time? Fire magic? Why would you do that? It's not going to be in the syllabus and aren't you good at Charms already?"

" Not everything is about school Hermione," Neville moved to pat her on the head, but she learnt quick enough for a genius and avoided it. Ever since she made it clear how she thought about Neville, he had assumed an elderly behaviour as he should anyway, considering the mental age gap. It only annoyed Hermione though, but she could not really do much about it apart from repeating how she was going to turn twelve years old soon.

" You're going to go into one of your philosophy about life again aren't you?" She frowned and gathered her things. " Why do you always talk like an old man when we're still just first years?"

" I'm mentally older than many people here," Neville answered truthfully.

" I knew you were an egotistical guy ever since the first I saw you," Hermione gave a disdainful laugh and walked away. After a few steps though, she stopped and fished out something from her bag. " See this? It's a Bluebell Flame. Waterproof and portable. Bet you can't do this! See ya!"

Neville shook his head as she skipped away, contented that she had mastered an area he was researching. _It's just Bluebell Flames, I'm looking for something else… But man! That girl really hates me for no reason at all! She'd thought I was as lowly as an ant if it wasn't for me besting her at some classes! I thought she was supposed to be nice to the old Neville. Well, at least I changed _one_ thing – for the worst._

He left the library not long after, wandering around the corridors to try and familiarize himself with some secret passageways that would aid his night raids. He had proposed to start some trips into Hogsmeade, remembering about the Whomping Willow's weakness. He might even risk raiding Snape's drawer for some gillyweed and bezoars. His prime objective before would have been to find the Room of Requirements, getting into the Room of Hidden Things to look for some treasures.

However, walking along the top floor of the castle, he wondered if all his plans had any point anymore. He would know where the Room of Requirements was in a few years anyway, why did he not just wait? A serious case of lethargy enveloped him, just as it had for the last few days, and it was almost a week since the flying lesson.

" Heh heh heh! Just wait till ickle Gryffindors comes by and –" Peeves was floating in the air, his back against an overhanging piece of castle architecture. On one hand he had a bunch of firecrackers while the other was a bucket full of water. He probably planned to make the victim dance with the firecrackers first, then drench them when they asked for help.

At that moment, the Fat Lady portrait swung up and Hermione walked out from the common room. She spotted Neville and a smug smile was put on her face, ready to taunt him about his research on fire spells, and quickened her pace towards him. It would bring her underneath Peeves.

Chanting the incantation for Bluebell Flames, Peeves was made aware of Neville and horror could be seen in his eyes. It was too late for Peeves to escape however and the firecrackers in his hands were set off by Neville's spell. Peeves disappeared with a _pop_ again like some F-grade villain, but the bucket of water was left heedlessly in the air. Of course, it came plummeting down towards the surprised Hermione.

" Watch!" Neville tried to push her away, but both of them still got soaked on one side as they landed painfully on the stone floor. " Peeves! Get your sorry self out here! Or else!"

With a _pop_, Peeves reappeared, with towels. " I-I'm awfully sorry Master Longbottom. I did not know you would be gracing this corridor today!"

Swiping the towels, Neville handed them to Hermione to dry herself. He continued to glare at Peeves warningly, " I've been overlooking your other pranks since it did not involve me. From now on, you're only to prank Slytherins."

" W-what?" This was like putting Peeves in prison, with only a quarter of the school to haunt – and it was the quarter with the Bloody Baron overseeing it. " P-please your Eternal-Kindness! I swear I won't touch a single hair on any of Master's friend from now on! I promise!"

" You'd better not!" With this last bellow, Peeves disappeared for good. Neville turned back to Hermione, and was surprised to see the usually snarling girl lowering her head. " Don't worry. It's just water. I think."

" So you know Bluebell Flames too?" Hermione murmured.

" Yes."

" And I was so arrogant back at the library." Hermione did like getting approval for her academics, and besting her self-thought nemesis was one way to satisfy herself. However, knowing that Neville could do the same spell, but just did not parade it around as she did, she realised that she was the one acting arrogant all along. She did not have a particularly mean personality, and was prepared to give an apology when one was in order. " Sorry."

" There's no need to look like that. I'm not so great," Neville was back to the topic that dragged him down recently. " I know a spell, it's not like I can change the world."

" What?" Hermione abruptly snapped her head up at the smell of an argument. " Of course you can!"

" Well, what've I changed so far?" Neville asked in a deadpan tone.

" Didn't you just change something right here?" Hermione looked exasperated, as if she was explaining to an idiot about how to change a light bulb. " If you had not defeated Peeves, he would never have stopped the prank midway! And he'd been so much less out of order now from what I gathered from the seniors! Even Percy said it was thanks to you that he could have a few more quiet days around here."

" Weatherby?" Neville was on his last wall. " But that's just Peeves. Peeves is not the world. Hogwarts is not the world. Even the world is not everything."

" Are we going into one of your philosophical thing here? My parents are dentists, not philosophers," Hermione looked confused and Neville realised that he was still talking to some little girl. Before he could dismiss all notions and end their conversation, she hit him with a final point. " At least I think everything is achieved little by little. You have to read a word, then a sentence, paragraph, page and then only then can you finish a book. Then there will be the shelve, the library, and other libraries. Something like that right? But if you don't read one word first, you can't get anywhere. Reading takes time – unfortunately."

Neville's jaws were dropped. _This girl really is a freaking genius, isn't she?_

Hermione, on the other hand, was suddenly aware of Neville's intense stare and stammered with a red face, " W-what?"

" There is something to be learnt from youths after all," Neville patted her head, which she did not dodge this time. " Direct thinking really could be the best way in some cases. Who knows where you'll get to if you don't start walking huh? I've always liked that classic Nike slogan. Anyway, thanks kid."

" I'm older than you! Stop calling me kid!" With a red face, from anger or not, she grabbed Neville's hand, swung it back and tossed it away. " My birthday is tomorrow and then I'll be twelve! Then you'll just be eleven!"

" We're back to being a kid now, are we?" Neville shook his head, ignoring her about to rant on again, and headed back to the common room.

" Where're you going! It's dinner time already!" Hermione shouted after him.

" I'm going to change! I've worked up an appetite and I can't be hungry later." Neville answered her without looking back.

" You're always hungry from the way you eat…" Hermione muttered and was about to head to the Great Hall herself. " Thanks… for saving me from Peeves's malicious prank anyway."

The gratitude was unheard as Neville disappeared into the common room.

The next morning, the owl deliveries came as usual, but Hermione was surprised when a package was dropped onto her head by a familiar big owl. She was not expecting any presents this birthday, since her parents still did not understand the owl system and said they would make it up to her when she came back for Christmas. Her personality, truthfully, did not earn her many friends in the Gryffindor house. She had always thought she would be better suited in Ravenclaw, but this package, wrapped roughly in plain blue wrapping paper, without even a ribbon, gave her the feeling like seeing vanished cookies and milk on Christmas morning, and then the present in the stocking.

Opening it up, she saw that it was a box of chocolates from a store called Honeydukes.

" What happened to your face Neville?" George asked when the first year trio walked in for breakfast.

" I was whipped." Neville had put some bruise-healing paste he recently stole to good use, having made a mistake with the Whomping Willow last night. George saw the shape of the injury though, and knew right away the cause.

" How did you even find out about that passageway?" George was obviously impressed and elbowed Fred next to him. His twin caught on in a flash.

" You'd be killing yourself if we told you we know another, safer, way." Fred clucked his fingers, " Too late."

" I know there are other ways, but that was the only one I found." The only one he remembered more like.

Looking across the table, he saw Hermione putting a chocolate in her mouth and closing her eyes in delight. She was quite blatantly forgetting about Trevor, who at that moment, looked back in contempt at Neville that he did not get his reward for a well-done delivery.

" Hermione! Give the owl a chocolate!" Neville threw a spoon at her to get her to wake up from her trance-like state. _Do girls love chocolates or what?_

" What? No way!" Hermione protectively swiped the box away from Trevor, who was peering over it just then. " This is a birthday present from… from… some secret admirer!"

The whole Gryffindor table who heard her immediately snapped their heads in her direction. The twins had a wicked smile trained on Neville, while the 'secret admirer' spat milk he was drinking all over the table.

" Who? Who? Who is it?" Lavender Brown immediately assaulted Hermione.

" Well… it was wrapped like a guy has wrapped it… And there weren't any names or letters or anything…" Hermione murmured with her chin against her chest. This was the first time anyone had seen her this bashful and it just heated the gossip up even more.

" We know! We know! We know who it is!" The twins jumped up from the table, seeing great amusement value in this topic.

Neville was petrified. He never thought a single box of chocolates as thanks for pushing him past a bottleneck yesterday would create such a misunderstanding. He was never going to live down this fact in front of Hermione, or anyone, for the rest of his life. He wiped the milk from his chin and sprung into action.

Pulling on the robes of the twins, who were already gathering a small crowd, Neville hissed, " You guys say a word, and I'll tell everyone about the Marauder's Map!"

0

0

0

In one of the many empty classrooms, Fred kicked the door shut and locked it. George kept his wand out after casting _Muffliato_ to make the room sound-proof.

" So! Our little friend here knows about the Marauder's Map!" George slammed his hand on the wall beside Neville's face against the wall.

_This is not good_. Neville frowned, thinking if there would be a way out of this mess. _I slipped out a knowledge from the future again. No one should know the twins had the map, and they won't hand it over until a few books later. That Map was probably like a treasure to them!_

" How do you know that we have such a thing?" Fred pointed his wand at Neville as he asked.

Instead of answering right away, Neville took his time to formulate an answer that did not consist of any stuttering. " Peeves told me about it when he was trying to get on my good side. He accidentally soaked me yesterday in a prank. The one involving Hermione."

" Oh?" George, expert liar, could of course pick up common lying habits. Though he was suspicious of Neville's thinking time, he could not outright say it was a lie, since the reason seemed logical and plausible. That last comment involving Hermione did not manage to change the twin's attention though.

Neville saw an opening and continued, " Peeves knew I wanted to know ways of getting out of the castle, and told me about the map. As you guessed, I went to Hogsmeade through the passageway under the Whomping Willow."

" Did Peeves tell you that as well?" George asked. He did not know how Peeves knew about the map, but the poltergeist was as old as the school.

" How did you even get past that crazy tree?" Fred asked deeper. Although they saw his injury, and the Hermione's Honeydukes box, even those two were unable to get past that tree.

" There's a trick to stop a Whomping Willow. I found it out from Peeves and some books." Once again relying on an identity that was not present, and would definitely match his statements after Neville's threats, he seemed to have wormed his way out. In truth though, it was just because the twins' interests were perked by his method of getting past the Whomping Willow.

Fred and George looked at each other, and made a silent agreement. Though they had the map, they only had one passage out of Hogwarts, which could be found out by Filch or blocked by others means, like the cave-in at one of the tunnels. It was always better to have an extra escape route.

" How about we make you a trade?" Fred pulled out an old bit of parchment from his robes. " The map for the way to beat the Willow?"

Without even thinking twice in case of a trap, Neville agreed. Though the map was invaluable, and it could tell where anyone was at any time, the twins already learnt every single secret passage off by heart anyway. They were willing to give it away to Harry for nothing a few years later, hence they actually made a profit trading it this time for the Willow's extra backup plan.

After the exchange, since both parties had something in return, and the twins were willing to accept Neville's excuse, they parted on good terms. It was like sharing a common secret: The twins were even more impressed with Neville and genuinely respected him, while the other way round, Neville was delighted to get such a precious artefact. Neville felt a little bad for taking Harry's father's memento though, but decided to give it back to Harry once they graduate. _I'll tell them about the map when they need to anyway._

" Now! Where's that kitchen!"

0

0

0

A/N: Once again, not saying it's definitely a Herm/Nev ship.


	7. Book 1 Chapter 6

Synopsis: After being struck by lightning, Harry Potter fan, Ness, was transferred from the real world into the world of the books. He found himself occupying the body of Neville Longbottom, and decided to change the future of himself as he knows it.

After a period of self-doubt in his inability to change fate, his resolve was reconfirmed thanks to Hermione. Though this caused a misunderstanding, Neville ultimately profited by clutching one of Harry's famous magical artefacts, Marauder's Map in his hands.

Chapter 6 – You don't need a troll to be a master thief, just some invisibility potion.

It was almost Halloween and Neville had been living in Hogwarts for almost two months. A few answers and surprises about everyday life at Hogwarts presented itself as Neville made himself at home. The lessons actually took up more of the day than he expected, but he also learnt things he would not be able to learn from self-study. His most hated class was Herbology though, quite ironically. Madam Sprout was constantly yelling at him for stepping on valuable plants or ripping some branches when re-potting things.

They had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and with his incompetence, Madam Sprout broke the norm and paired him with the new person who seemed most competent in the class – Hannah Abbott. Neville, knowing some characters' futures after Hogwarts from a J.K interview, and was recovering from his recent bind by fate, was pretty apprehensive about this arrangement. Hannah, with her blonde pig-tails and pink face, stained even redder at being paired with a boy, hardly spoke over a word to him throughout their first lesson together. After a few lessons though, she was forced to do so.

" You shouldn't bend its leaves like that!"

" Don't step on that pot!"

" Neville! You killed the Gurdyroot!"

Though she was a very timid girl, at Neville's careless behaviours, and completely mindless attitude about plants, she was even reduced to shouting at him every time he ruined a re-potting project – and that was very often. Even her closest friend in Hufflepuff at that time, Megan Jones, told Neville that no one had ever seen Hannah shout at anyone until she met him.

_There goes my future bride. She wasn't as bad looking as I presumed, but she looks the type of late-bloomer that probably won't blossom until she hit her late teens at least. She was the future owner of The Leaky Cauldron after all, according to words of J.K._

During his break and lunch times, this time schedule reminding him a lot of his primary school days, he no longer stayed at the library, that he did after classes, but mingled with the his peers. Peers by physical age only, Neville did not actually acquire many deep friendships apart from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Seamus and Dean, though classmates and roommates, were friendly with Neville, but those two were so inseparable that he would be convinced they were on their way up Brokeback Mountain if he did not remember about one of them with Ginny later. Parvati and Lavender were just 'blondes' and Neville had no comments for them apart from keeping their gossiping volume down when he was around. The two remaining Gryffindors, Sally-Anne Perks and Felicity Moon, he did not communicate with much, just as he did with the other houses' students, apart from when they asked him something about class.

The books' protagonist, Harry, now finally convinced that Neville did not act as if he did not know magic to sympathises with him, did not look down on him at all. Quite contrary in fact, he and Ron always dragged him to the common room to play chess or just fool about. Ron sought him out whenever Harry went for Quidditch practice as well. Ron, already the proven year chess champion even so early into the term, would always act so smug after a win, which Neville had no counter for at all since he really did suck at chess with his lack of patience. He did gain an upper-hand in all things related to school and Ron had to apologise every time to get some help. Slowly, this turned into a habit and it was a game of chess followed by a study session, which, unbeknownst to him, made Ron's grades significantly higher than in the original books. Then again, Ron was only helpless now because Hermione was still giving those two her silent treatment.

Hermione did spend a lot of time in the library, which unavoidably meant meeting Neville. The other students, who ogled at him at the start because of rumours about the stadium incident or Peeves, still a mystery, had dispersed now, much to his comfort. Hermione did question Neville once or twice, which actually showed how much she cared, about whether he knew who sent her the chocolates on her birthday. He just vigorously shook his head and told him not to think too much into it. _This was another mystery, along with Peeves, that should remain unknown forever._

Neville's time at the library were relatively few now though, compared to her, since he was not fanatic about his grades. With how Neville had unlocked his latent magic powers, he could freely utilise his entire reserves at its maximum level, unlike the other children. All that was left was for him was to increase this maximum level, which was only possible through time as he used more spells anyway. Knowing the basic theories already, any new spells he did not know before could be learnt very easily. The wrong wand movements he picked up in his early days were also gradually being fixed. Most of his time spent on school work was related to essay writing classes, such as History of Magic or Potions. Plus, the syllabus at Hogwarts only forced the students to learn the basics and some examples. All magic were literally the same at its core, if you could conjure water, it was similar conjuring wine, which was why there were no magical universities. Knowing the basics relating to the field of a career was enough, since more training would be provided to develop whatever was specific to the career – Aurors for example. Neville had better things to do than learning basics he could soak up with some books in a few days.

With the Marauder's Map in his possession, his exploring had gotten easier and he found out many secret rooms and passages. The kitchen was probably his most frequented night spot and all the cooking house-elves knew him by name now, though he did have some trouble with the pear tickling part at the start. He was even brave enough one night to rob Snape's personal stores when he came upon it unlocked on his way to the kitchen, of course consulting the map first to check Snape was floors away.

Continuing with his thieving career, he went into Filch's office out of curiosity and raided a cabinet drawer he noticed labelled 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'. Unbeknownst to him, this was the drawer the twins found the Marauder's Map, and the things in it ranged from bewitched fireworks to dangerous potions. His bounties were mostly untouched though, stashed in a drawer at the Shrieking Shack, since Snape and Filch called for a mass inspection of the dorms because of their missing items. Neville knew better than to be caught red-handed. He was not dumb enough to just use them randomly either, as magical artefacts had strange, sometimes lethal, side effects. This danger now completely stumped him at a stalemate: it was like picking up a cursed weapon in RPG games, where identifying-items were needed to turn it into any use.

His first proposed hiding spot though, was in the Room of Requirements when it was the Room of Hidden Things, and would have probably raided that place as well, but the room was not shown on the map.

After being pretty familiar with the castle, he made full use of his resources: Taking a capsule of temporarily invisibility potion, and a clump of nasty gillyweed, he made the worst decision in his night raids to explore the Lake and try to find a beautiful mermaid. Grindylows attacked him quite ferociously even before he saw sights of a fish tail, much less the merpeople village, and he was just glad to make it out of the lake alive. He was frozen before the gillyweed took effect in water; then feeling burnt like toast, except for his head, since it was soaked in lake water for almost half an hour before its effects worn off; then frozen again on his way back to the dorms. As he was drinking his Pepper-Up Potion, stolen from the medical wing on his last visit with Hermione, he vowed never to enter that Lake again. _There wasn't even any good scenery down there with it being so dark._

He did make more trips into Hogsmeade though, not on the weekends when the seniors went too of course. He re-supplied his stationary, bought some candies for his friends, all baffled at how he managed to get these things, and tried Ogden's Old Firewhisky. Of course he disguised himself first with a tattered hood and robes, as if he was just some wandering traveller. That Madam Rosmerta even flirted with him once, which was a little bit of a shame to waste, with her being many students' sexual fantasy. _If only I could say 'come back to my place'._

Hogwarts was not very good with providing privacy without the aid of spells. The only aspect were the bed curtains in the dorms, enchanted so sounds from inside did not travel out, but it was probably just to drown out snoring noises or individual morning alarms. Even at shower time the students did not get much privacy, since there were common public baths, much like the ones in Japan, which groups of students had to share. There would be a long wall of shower spots, then a big pool of water in the middle as a bath. There was of course still a split between male and females though, much to Neville's disappointment. Of course, he did not care as much once he found the Prefect's bathroom. _Fred and George uses it anyway, I know from the Map. Am I glad I'm not one of those normal students anymore or what._

The normal students, like the current Harry and Ron, since Neville could not tell them about the Map just yet, did not have the entertainments that he had. Their usual hang out spots were the courtyard outside, the lakeside, and at night, just their common rooms. The most boring students even did their own washing, when their clothes could just be thrown into the hamper for house-elves, which was why all the students' clothes had to be name-tagged. Neville knew these arrangements were supposed to make students focus on learning magic, but it was pretty dull for teenagers after a bit. That was why every student thought festivals were a very big deal at Hogwarts.

Festivals such as Halloween. Not caring what Halloween really had to do with these wizards, Neville was only looking forward to the grand feast, and already stole a piece of pumpkin pie from the kitchens on Halloween morning. Completely forgetting about the original books' events yet again, Neville was dreamily munching his pie, sharing it with Harry, who he was partnered up with this time for Charms. Ron was partnered with Hermione to practice the infamous 'Wingardium Leviosa', which he was still to master, unlike Neville's pair.

Out of Harry and Ron, Hermione definitely hated Ron more – and same the other way round. Sometimes, Neville sometimes wondered how they could ever fall in love with each other, considering how they were now. Ron, after pulling Neville away from her in the library, always complained about what a smarty-pants she was in class. Though less subtle, Hermione would question why Neville hung around with dim-wits such as Ron – it was always Ron since Harry had a bit better grades. Neville thought his common friendship would build a bridge and smooth out some tension between them, but with Harry also disliking how Hermione bossed people about as if she was right (even if she was), the two camps still did not merge.

As Neville was finishing his last bit of pumpkin pie, furious shouting was heard from the table beside his. " I know I'm not like Neville or Harry! I know I'm stupid already! You don't have to repeat it a billion times! It's no wonder no one can stand you!"

_Uh oh!_ Neville even tossed his pie away at Ron's outburst. _Ron never did this in the books right? Me coming here and doing whatever I'd done probably increased Ron's insecurities even more. And by screaming at Hermione now, who would he get his approval from in the future?_

Hermione was on the verge of tears, and did the unthinkable. A brutish slap caught the whole class, especially Ron, by surprise. She did not scream anything back and just ran out the class, which was another unthinkable thing. An unpleasant silence hung in the air around class, which Professor Flitwick was of course unable to clear. Only with time, and ending of the lesson, did students assume a normal mood as they walked along the corridor. Ron continued to look absolutely miserable, and Harry just frowned at him, sometimes making weird gestures to Neville.

_What was I supposed to do? Those two touched upon the most sensitive subject for each other at this point. He should be glad Hermione didn't burn his hair._

" Hey Ron… You shouldn't have said that." Harry gave Neville, for the first time, an are-you-stupid look.

" I know! I know! No wonder you hang around with her! You guys are made for each other by pointing out people's mistakes!" Ron burst out, but recovered enough this time to clamp his hands over his mouth.

" Ron!" Harry reproached him, finally unable to let his friend go on with this attitude.

" Sorry Neville," Ron lowered his head. " I didn't really mean that, it's just…"

" I know Ron," Neville patted his shoulder, which made him look up hopefully. " We're friends so I understand you. Hermione however, she's just a girl. You should apologise and say the same thing to her."

" Okay." Ron nodded, but avoided the others' eyes in chagrin.

" One more thing," Neville slapped Ron on the back of his head.

" Ouch! What was that for! I thought you said you understand!" Ron screamed and jumped.

" You call yourself stupid again before I beat you at chess, and I'll do worst," Neville threatened. " If you're stupid, and I lost to you, then what am I?"

Harry, getting the cue, and losing to his young playfulness, also slapped Ron just as Neville did. " That goes the same for me too!"

" Damn you two! Come back here!" The trio ran down the corridor to their next class. Ron never got to give his apology though, since Hermione skipped the next class. Neville secretly took out Marauder's Map, and found her in the girl's toilets.

_No way am I going in there!_

After most of the day however, Neville was getting worried at the unmoving dot on the map. Due to Neville's ever-present frown on him through the classes, Ron also made side comments about how worried he was of Hermione. Harry just watched on without comments, waiting for Ron to clean up this mess on his own.

The last class ended, and it was time for the feast. With still no signs of Hermione, Neville suggested Ron to go look for her, of course pointing him in her general direction.

" But the feast is about to start! We can at least stay a bit at the feast and look for her later!" Looking back at Neville's deepening frown, Ron added, " It's a feast! My brothers say they'll have tonnes more delicious food for feasts than usual!"

At this Neville wavered. _Nothing too bad will happen to her. They eventually become friends after all._

The trio entered the Great Hall filled with Halloween decorations. A cloud of bats were on the ceiling, zooming here and there to Neville's great puzzlement. _Why would they want bats here? They're not exactly pretty. They're dirty, made screeching noises, and gave negative connotations. I really don't understand this Halloween thing… I wonder if they know what trick or treat is._

" Trick or treat." Neville turned to the person sitting next to him and said.

" Trick!" It turned out to be George, and he screamed in delight when a painless firecracker exploded in Neville's face.

Ron was laughing his head off on Neville's other side. " What're you laughing at? Go find Hermione!"

" Oh, alright!" Ron got up to leave the table, sighing, but Neville stopped him.

" Take some food with you. She's probably hungry." Neville wrapped some pumpkin cake in a napkin and sent Ron on his way.

Not long later, Professor Quirrell came into the Hall and fainted onto the floor after telling Dumbledore that a troll was in the dungeons. Not caring about the uproar about him, Neville continued munching since he was already in his mode. It was not until Percy forcefully lifted him away from the table, with promises that he would get just as much food back in the common room, did he start moving.

" Neville!" Harry abruptly shouted in his ear, waking him up from his food-craving trance. " Ron and Hermione! They don't know about the troll!"

" Oh. Yeah." Neville, finally realising how he had forgotten something in the books again, immediately led Harry towards where he last saw Hermione on the map. _These guys defeated the troll right? Though now I'm in the fry, it'll probably just make it easier._

" Hey! Isn't that… Snape?" Harry spotted Snape running towards the third floor corridor to check up on the Philosopher's Stone.

" Yeah whatever! Let's hurry," Neville was in no mood to help Harry misunderstand someone who loved his mother greatly.

" Phew! It stinks!" Harry scrounged up his nose as they neared the girls toilets.

" Well… you know. Girls do need to go too." Jokes only got to here however, as a terrifying scream jolted the duo.

" It's from the bathroom!" Harry was the first to dash towards it. _Heroic and rash as ever._

Following Harry inside, Neville saw a monster whose head was grazing the ceiling. It was probably the source of the stench, in its grey-ish stone colour, and had green hair at various places – like the arm-pits. Neville wished he had deodorant. The troll currently had his back to them, and had cornered Ron and Hermione, who were almost concealed behind the troll's bulging muscles.

Hermione looked terrified, and was crying hysterics as he clutched Ron's body, hiding her face in his back. Ron had blood all over him, but he was still conscious, wand in his hand, a defiant expression on his face. For the first time, Neville realised what a Gryffindor, his house, really looked like.

" Ron! Hermione!" Harry's shouts were heard by the troll, distracting it as it circled around on the spot, trying to find its source.

" Hermione! Get him to take these!" Neville, waiting no longer, reached into the pockets of his combats as he sprinted past the troll. Pulling out some Blood-Replenishing Potion and Healing Pastes, he passed them to her, then with a snap of his wrist, Neville's wand was at hand. " _Episkey_!"

Neville's spell healed minor physical wounds, and with Hermione's nervous fumble on the magical medicine, the colour on Ron's face looked much better. Turning back, Neville saw Harry already dangling off the troll's neck as the troll turned berserk trying to shake him off.

" _Bullitus_!" Neville, still limited in attack spells, spotted the roll of sinks next to the troll and put his cleaning charms to use. A pile of bubble seemed to have erupted from the ground, and with one wrong footing, the troll slipped on the seemingly harmless bubbles and skidded right into the sinks – with the roll of mirrors all shattering in his side. Shards of sharp glass stabbed into its body but Harry managed to let go in time before it slipped. Ron, now mostly recovered, ran to catch him before Harry fell onto the littered bathroom floor.

The troll, injured and losing blood, was still not going down. Swinging his club back, he then brought it forward while advancing towards Neville, and Hermione behind him. Neville, who would have blamed it on karma if he had remembered how Ron never got hurt from this incident originally, was struck on the side as he blocked the blow. The hit was received with both his arms, and with a well-timed jump as well, the force of the hit was decreased significantly, thanked to his jujitsu training.

_It still hurts when I landed with a splat on the opposite wall though._

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_" Finally coming up with the finishing spell, Ron levitated the troll's club and landed it on his head. The troll lost consciousness and fell limp onto the ground.

" Oh Ron!" Hermione ran straight to Ron's side, inspecting him for injuries. " Are you alright? You shouldn't have shielded me against all those hits! Y-you lost so much blood!"

" Hermione… I'm sorry about earlier in class," Ron, for the first time in his life probably, picked the right moment to say something. " I didn't mean what I said back then."

" I know, you idiot! Why else would you risk your life just to save me?" Hermione, relieved from the previous frightful experience, let out a rain of tears again.

Neville struggled out of the cubicle he was slammed into, seeing this exchange between the two of them, and wondered how he should feel. _Maybe they really would get together quicker than I thought. What did I say about life and death situations and romance? And protecting the girl? To an extent of severe blood loss? Works like a charm._

" What on earth were you all thinking?" McGonagall's angry cold voice cut through Neville's thoughts. " You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitories?"

" Harry and me went to look for Hermione and Ron." Neville clearly spoke up. He never saw the point in Hermione lying at all for this bit, the truth was a perfectly valid reason they were here already. " They were not in the Great Hall, and did not have news of the troll getting into the school."

" The nerve!" Snape trembled as he directed his sneering words at Harry. " Thought you'd show off by rescuing your friends eh Potter? You should have left this to the professors!"

" But –" Before Neville could say anymore, Hermione had already spoken up.

" Professor! Neville was lying!" Ignoring Neville wanting to object, she continued, " Truth was, I wanted to see a troll because I read all about them in the books… I am really sorry, it is all my fault they came looking for me…"

Hermione was sent away first, followed by the trio after the same incidents happened in the book. Neville was in a foul mood, asking the other two why Hermione had lied. Harry explained that it was because they were students in the end, and should really have done what Snape had said instead. Neville just harrumphed, while Ron started expressing his disbelief at Hermione lying for their sake. Maybe Neville was really more out of place than he, himself, had thought to not understand this staff-student concept.

" I understand she might lie for Neville, but us as well? Pig Snout," Ron was already at the Fat Lady's portrait and said the password to enter. " Pretty good of her to get us out of trouble like that."

Ron turned around right after the end of his sentence and found himself face to face with Hermione. She had clearly been waiting for them to come back by the portal. The two of them immediately blushed and stared down at their feet. It was also clear that she only heard the second part of his sentence. The common room was filled with festivities as the entire house of students continued the feast here. Smell of food was dense in the air, along with all the noise and commotion, but there was a circle of awkwardness surrounding the four of them.

" Thanks," the other three said simultaneously.

" Let's eat!" Neville was the jarring difference. A short pause and the other three started laughing at him.

" That's Neville for you," Ron pointed a thumb over at him to Hermione. _Hey! Why're you being so smug?_ " Well, I guess these won't be necessary anymore."

Pulling out from within his robes a napkin of crushed pumpkin cake, Ron gave an uneasy laugh.

" D-did you bring them… for me?" Hermione asked, intently staring at Ron's face as if he was some sort of new spell she found in the school books.

" Yeah, he brought them out while looking for you," Neville, out of instincts, gave them a last push. " We told him to find you and apologise, and we thought you might want some cake before I ate it all."

By replacing 'I' with the ambiguous 'we', it did not raise an objection from the other two and Hermione looked extremely touched by the shimmer in her eyes. They were gazing at Ron's at the moment for confirmation.

" Err, yeah," Ron mumbled and carried on, " But we don't need these any more! There's fresh food on the table."

" No, no. Let me take them," Hermione took the napkin from Ron's hand, now staring at the ruined pieces of cake as if they were some rare treasure.

Neville was already at the food table.

0

0

0

'Borrowing' Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand, Neville flew a trip to the Owlery to see Trevor, but did not find him. Neville ended up sitting, with his elbow on his knee, on top of one of the tower roofs of the castle. The night wind about him was blowing back his hair and robes, as he gazed far away into the misty Scottish terrain.

_Things are going better than expected with Ron and Hermione. Now it's really just Harry and Ginny now, possibly making Harry her first boyfriend. Next is that Draco! Who should I pair him up with? Hannah Abbott? I've still to see that Penelope Clearwater. Damn it._

Neville, discovering his hidden match-making talents, wondered how many more couples he could obliviously produce.

0

0

0

A/N: I thought it'd be fun to include what I think goes on at the daily life of Hogwarts in this chapter. By the way, this does not mean the start of a Ron and Hermione's relationship.


	8. Book 1 Chapter 7

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

The original Gryffindor Trio are finally united under the battle of the troll at Halloween. Ron and Hermione even took a step over the platonic level thanks to Neville's unconscious actions. Neville, the original plot line seemingly going along smoothly, indulged himself in his spells research.

Chapter 7 – Forced from lion to snake.

Neville flipped a page of an absurdly thick book that jarred with his physical age. It was a book on ancient duelling that he had found in the library, and had taken out for some night time reading by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. The weather was too cold for him to have the urge to wander outside. Ice-tipped mountains and skeleton-like trees were not very endearing images at night.

Inside the warm common room though, now almost empty considering it was nearing midnight, Neville still wore his usual get up, except now with a navy turtleneck sweater because of the cold. He did not have night wear, since he thought it was better to be ready at any time. Or he was just too lazy to change in the morning.

Ron and Hermione, like others, had dressing gowns on, and were doing homework at a table. It was more like Hermione was teaching Ron, and half finishing it for him. In Neville's opinion, Night gowns always gave a connotation of old millionaires, or just spoiled brats. Harry was away to try and get back Hermione's copy of Quidditch through the Ages, which was confiscated by Snape that morning.

The portal opened and an alarmed Harry came in, telling his friends about Snape's injuries. Neville flipped another page as Harry finished with, " I'd bet my broomstick he let that troll in to create a diversion!"

" Bet on," Neville, who had been keeping quiet up until now, turned their heads.

" What? I would expect it from Hermione since she thinks all teachers are saints," Ron got a glare for that comment, " but why are you so convinced?"

" I just want to use Harry's broom," Neville shrugged, not bothered about the long explanation. He liked the night drifts on a broomstick, and it would give a valid excuse to borrowing it. " Until the truth is proven, let's say I can use the broom when Harry doesn't need it."

" And what are you betting this on?" Ron asked, as if daring Neville to drop out of the bet. Ron was thoroughly convinced Snape was the bad guy at this stage that he thought Neville just wanted to use the Nimbus Two Thousand, which he himself wanted to as well anyway.

Closing the leather-bound book shut, Neville gave the Trio a look, as if for some suggestions. When none of them spoke, he shrugged, " Anything."

" What? _Anything_! Are you mad? I might even tell you to give me your whole Seven-lock trunk." Harry was shocked. After all, he did have substantial evidence that put Snape in a very bad light.

" Okay. Everything in my Seven-lock trunk." Neville always thought it was a shame, because of this hatred for Snape ever since first year, that Harry never thought of the possibility that Snape could be on their side at all. Sure, Snape might never be his Godfather because of his grudge with James, but the deal with Lilly meant he would never do Harry any harm. " Anyway, I'm going to bed. You should too Harry, don't think too much on it. You look kind of bad these days, don't worry about tomorrow. It's your first Quidditch match, no one will, or should, blame you if anything happened. Expect the worst, and do your best. Good night."

Disappearing up to the bedroom, the Trio was left alone in the common room. Ron was still in shock about the bet, while Harry sighed. " Sometimes, I really don't understand Neville."

" You can say that again," Hermione agreed. " Though I'm sure our professors would never do such a thing, but even I have doubts about Snape."

" Yeah, with his off-handed attitude just there, even I'm starting to think Snape may be innocent." Ron admitted.

The Trio talked a bit more, and went to bed. Harry looked at Neville's drawn down bed curtains, and thought about what he said. He had been pretty stress lately about tomorrow's Quidditch match, especially from peer pressure, but it felt as if what Neville said made sense. His advice of just forgetting the consequences and just play made the knot between his eyebrows loosen a bit. Harry had some problems falling asleep, but now more from excitement than worry.

0

0

0

One of the eternal mysteries about Hogwarts was how the students all had house scarves for the Quidditch matches. It was not on the shopping list at the start of the year, since first years still did not know which house they would be sorted. It turned out that McGonagall accepted orders for them through the year, which was quite a dull result. That was until Neville mentioned it in the kitchen, and the house-elves told him it was part of their jobs to knit these scarves. _The effects of capitalism even stretches to Hogwarts. Wonder what Hermione would say once she found this out as well._

This sad state of affairs did not hinder Neville's appetite though, much opposed to Harry beside him at the breakfast table as others encouraged Harry to eat something. Neville knew nervous people could not eat, and only offered him some milk.

" Harry," Neville swallowed a bit of bacon to catch the rookie seeker out of his trance. " It's just a game after all. Don't worry too much over it."

Hearing Neville's advice again, Harry, who was being infected by the others since this morning and had built up the nerves again, felt himself relax a little. He smiled back at his friend, who had once again began his assault on some bacon.

Tagging along with some others in his house, Neville, not forgetting to take some peanuts with him, made their way to the Quidditch stadium at the back of the castle. It was crowded with the two house colours, the worst rivals for centuries. Mostly the atmosphere would not be as heated if Gryffindor was against the other two houses – but matches against Slytherins were matches they always had to win. Of course, Neville was not effected by such house prejudices, but was here for one of the book events.

With the 'Potter for President' banner behind them, Neville settled himself beside Ron, bickering a technicality about Quidditch to Hermione, and searched for the staff stands. Spotting Quirrell, Neville snapped his wand into his hands. He did have a bet after all, and it was no good to put Snape in a worst light.

" Budge up there, move along." Hermione and Ron squeezed together to get more space for Hagrid. Neville liked Ron, but not enough to almost sit on his lap.

Either way, Hagrid managed to fit himself onto the end of the bench, greeting Neville and the others. Neville was touched by Hagrid's gentle giant image from the books, and because he was so innocent, Neville tried not to manipulate his future if possible. _He finally got off with that headmistress from Fleur's school right? Plus, he got to do magic again and stuffs._ Not having interacted with the half-giant much, Neville just pretended to watch the match. It was a lot slower than the match he watched with old Al and Ron, which meant he could catch up on the action now. Not only that, but Lee Jordan was also a great commentator – even if his jokes and comedy partner McGonagall made Neville laugh a good few times and missed some action.

Harry had just pulled away from a dive for the golden snitch, and Neville realised that something was wrong. Turning his head to Quirrell, Neville saw that the turban-wearing villain really was keeping an intense stare at the Nimbus 2000. _That is partially my broom damn it! Heck, why does Harry always seem to get whatever newest broom was on display on his annual Diagon Alley trip anyway? Seeing a Firebolt and oops, he gets one for a Christmas present quite timely after Nimbus broke._

" _Matvarawas_ –" Neville began his incantation to snipe Quirrell. Just as how he was bad at chess, Neville did not count Hagrid into his plans.

" Now, now Neville," Hagrid's grip was on his hand, which meant it was good as being chained to a wall. " It's ain't good ta throw peanuts at others with magic. It'll be bad if it hits someone in the eye."

By now, everyone had noticed that Harry's broom was trying to throw him off in the sky. Hermione stole Ron's binoculars and saw Snape muttering something on the other side, and rushed out the stands before Neville could stop her. Breaking his arm free, Neville tried his spell again. "_Matvarawasi!_"

A peanut shot from the bag Neville was holding in the speed of a bullet into Quirrell's eye. Hagrid did not catch who the target was, but was still displeased.

" Neville!" Hagrid, even just a bit displeased, was very intimidating.

0

0

0

" Now why did yer have to go 'n throw a peanut at someone?" Hagrid, voice still booming, especially since they were now in his small hut. " And of all times, it was when Harry was danglin' from his broom by a finger!"

" It was Snape, wasn't it Neville?" Hermione, smarter than she should, leapt ahead of herself a bit. Neville shook his head.

" You see, Hagrid," Harry said this quite slowly, as if that would make Hagrid believe him more. " I found out something about Snape. He was trying to get past the three-headed dog at Halloween and it bit him. We think he is trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

" Not 'we'," Neville corrected, but was interrupted by Hagrid.

" Snape would never do such a thing! He's a Hogwarts teacher and – how do yeh know about Fluffy?"

" They went wandering one night," Neville tried to clear up the situation. " And being a Hogwarts teacher doesn't necessarily mean they're innocent."

" Neville, you're doin' ma head in!" Hagrid roared. " One minute yer saying yeh don't think Snape did it, and then yeh say the teachers ain't innocent. What do yeh really think?"

" I think," Neville really wanted to tell them how they would not get a Defence Against Dark Arts teacher staying for more than a year from now on, but just told them something in the nearer future. " Snape isn't the one trying to steal things. I fired the peanut at Quirrell."

" Quirrell!" Hagrid looked even more livid. " Yeh think I'm some bumbling idiot? Quirrell couldn't even curse a squirrel even if it took his walnuts! No wonder yeh others think Snape is trying to steal things with Neville here saying Quirrell is tryin' ta murder Harry!"

Neville saw that Hagrid had stumbled on a very valid point about the contrast between the two suspects. Unfortunately, none of the others picked it up as Ron exasperatedly turned on Neville as well.

" Are you just trying to blame it on Quirrell so that you won't lose the bet with the Nimbus 2000? Even I would be smart enough to chose someone other than Quirrell though…" As if that was not enough, Hermione joined in.

" I know about jinxes Neville," Hermione held a tone as if whatever she said was the law. " You have to keep eye contact with the target for a jinx to work and Snape wasn't even blinking as his mouth muttered off god knows what!"

" And have you read anything about counter-curses Miss Granger." Neville stood up, glaring at everyone in the room. _Three kids and a half-assed wizard. Blah. I'll just let their fun little game go on. It's not my lost anyway._

" Hey Neville, wai –" Harry's attempt on pacification was a total failure as Neville slammed the hut door on his way out.

The three kids were stunned, and realisation dawned on them. They had gotten on a very bad side of Neville that only Peeves came out of – not without traumas. Hagrid on the other hand, was rather impressed with young Neville. Sure, he did not like Neville firing peanuts at a teacher, but he had a big heart and forgave kids for such things as much as he ate dinner. What he found interesting was why Neville would stand up for Snape so much, even at the expense of coming up with the most unbelievable lie about Quirrell.

" Anyway!" Hagrid saw that his remaining companions all fell into a state of gloom and tried to lighten things up, passing round his very solid rock cakes. " All of yeh. Forget about that third floor. Forget Snape, or Quirrell or whoever. It's all between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel –"

" Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Harry tried, but Hagrid realised he already let slip something that he should not have and harrumphed, standing up to open the window, hoping the cold air to his brain would make him a little less simple.

What he saw outside though, was Fang eating some Peppermint Toads from Neville's hand. The expression on Neville's face was one he had not seen in the school before – it was unreserved and he was truly just enjoying Fang's company.

" Aye. Just don't forget to make up with Neville you three." Hagrid's rule on people was that if they loved animals, and animals loved them back, they certainly could not be a bad person.

0

0

0

It had already been a week and Neville was still to make up with the Trio. He was not immature enough to not talk to them like Hermione did, but he only spoke what was necessary. He did not partner with any of the Trio though, somehow splitting Seamus and Dean, or even tolerating a whole class of Patil gossips. When the Gryffindors were a no-go, he would choose from the other houses instead. This stretched all the way until they had double potions with the Slytherins.

" What's this? Tracey Davis is off for Slytherin? That leaves Millicent without a partner." Snape, who was about to partner the man-woman up with Harry from his nasty smirk, was surprisingly stopped by a kamikaze.

" I'll work with her," the most unexpected Neville volunteered. Millicent gave a squeal, though it sounded more like a howl in others' ears, and was about to run towards the Gryffindors' side of the classroom as she scrambled for her things.

Ron's face was bright red, his temper finally getting the better of him since nothing seemed to be able to get Neville to take off his apathetic shield. " Oh! Is it really that bad if you were my partner that you chose to work with some man-woman?"

If Harry was to work with someone else, the only other choice, due to others already having partnered up, was for Ron to work with Neville. Of course, by now the Trio knew about the first night when Neville was stuck on the same boat as Millicent. She still threw him winks and kisses now and then, much to their amusement and Neville's shudder. At Ron's outburst, Millicent looked simply furious enough to eat him alive.

" Five points from Gryffindor for name-calling a fellow classmate," Snape saw an opening and ignored the glares he got back. After all, Ron was only speaking the truth.

" Millicent, there is no need." Once again sending shockwaves around the class, Neville volunteered again, " I'll work over at your table."

Now even the whole Gryffindor house was shocked. Everyone turned their eyes on the Trio – it was pretty obvious Neville had fallen out with them. Since Harry and Neville were practically the trademark celebrities of their year, the two of them on unfriendly terms even spread throughout the school. Harry felt simply rotten, and regretted not at least giving Neville the benefit of a doubt, or asked him to elaborate. Hermione felt worst, since she did go and do some booking reading on counter-curses, and Snape could actually have been saving Harry, while she ruined it with her Bluebell Flames. Of course, this truth was still unconfirmed. Ron just felt Neville was being an arse, but secretly missed his advices that was not nagging like Hermione's.

" Ha, I guess you've fallen out with Potter eh?" Draco, apparently sitting next to Millicent, the man-woman in a bliss-like state at the moment, commented as Neville sat down on a stool.

" Apparently." Neville replied. Rumours and observations aside, the words coming out of the subject's mouth was the most reliable truth. Everyone heard Neville and Harry sank even lower in his stool.

" Ha! At last! Someone's seen the light!" Draco could not contain his mirth. An enemy's enemy was an ally, but an enemy's former friend turned enemy was simply his new best friend. " I knew you would wake up to your pure-blood lineage sooner or later."

" Nevi should've been in Slytherin!" Millicent harrumphed. " I was sure that battered hat already said 'sly' when he put it on the first time!"

" If only you can change houses at Hogwarts huh?" Draco shook his head, and even offered Neville some Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, knowing Neville's apparent addiction to wizard food. " Either way, we Slytherins, welcome you."

_Why did I not just leave the Sorting Hat to sort me into Slytherin anyway? I know being in Slytherin doesn't necessarily mean being evil. Possibly because I wanted to get closer to the Trio? Heck, what did they amount to? Ignoring the truth when I've brought it so close to them, thinking I was an idiot in the process. Sure Millicent is… not very attractive looking, but at least she wasn't an idiot acting like a genius._

Just after thinking that, Millicent, in her dreamy state, spilt the entire cauldron of half-made potion onto Neville.

0

0

0

Another week passed, with Neville doing his usual chores: Attending lessons, going to the library to research on spells, and sneaking out at night to practice. His life would be pretty dull if not for the magical side of things. Oh, and the Gryffindors were all starting to grow cold towards Neville – it might have something to do with him sitting with the Slytherins for meals.

" And we thought he was a good guy!" The Weasley twins were especially hurt about this fact. They did trade Neville the Marauder's Map. " What is it that you guys did that got him mad enough to turn to the dark side anyway?"

" It's… I think we said some wrong things." Harry had been feeling as if he was the core of this problem: it was him that was being targeted after all. The truth was though, Neville repelled Harry the least out of the Trio. Harry thought about the short time he had known Neville, realising he was actually his first friend, ever. Not mentioning the time with the Dursleys of course, but even before talking to Ron, Neville was leading Harry onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Without Neville, he might not have even made it to Hogwarts. In every aspect of his life since their meeting, whether it was school or just social aspects, Neville had always been there to offer him help.

" It's all Snape's fault!" Ron huffed, " I still don't see why Neville's backing him so much."

" Neville must have spotted something from all those incidents that we didn't." Hermione, not counting any other traits of his, was at least honestly impressed by Neville's intelligence. No one else was even near her grades in their year after all. Plus, she did use to spend plenty of time with him in the library, and he might even overtake her in other subjects if he put his mind to it. " He might even know about Nicolas Flamel."

" Let's just finish this and hurry to the library," Harry sighed. They were actually very busy outside of school in their research to discuss how to resolve matters with Neville at this point.

At the other table, Neville answered a question about writing his Charms essay from a third year Slytherin. The other Slytherins initially objected him being amongst them, but completely welcomed him after a few times. Neville was the only person on par with Harry in first year, fame-wise. Harry had Quidditch, Neville had Peeves. Harry was the Boy who Lived, Neville was the Wrecker of a Stadium… well, not in that extent, but Neville was seemingly a genius at Charms and Transfiguration, which the Slytherin took full advantage of. Most importantly, Neville did not have that discriminating attitude that a typical Gryffindor, or even the other houses, had towards Slytherins. They were ambiguous and cunning – but if it was just social interactions on this level with Neville, most of them were just the same as everyone with a personality. Of course, it would have been totally different if Neville was not of a pure-blood heritage.

The person most happy about Neville's defection was Draco. Apart from Crabbe and Goyle, Draco did not really related to anyone that deeply at Hogwarts. Frankly, those two were really not very pleasing in the conversational department. Draco could even say Neville was his first associate in the school that he really traded personal feelings and opinions with. That was what happened when an excuse to be close to someone presented itself to a lonely person. Neville on the other hand, saw Draco as a witty little boy, though spoilt and too taken into getting in on the limelight.

" Hey! Potter is leaving the Hall! Let's go and make fun of Weasley again." Draco stood up, but was pushed back down on the shoulder by Neville.

" And why do you want to do that?" Neville asked.

" B-but I thought you hated them three!" Draco protested.

" What would making jokes about them in their faces do?"

" Oh I know what you mean," Draco clicked his fingers and his two body guards snapped to attention. " They're probably going to the library. We'll jump them when they come out."

" No, Draco, you've mistaken." Neville sighed. _If only he'd put his smarts in the right direction._ " Would making jokes about them or hitting them really make you hate them less?"

" Well… no…" Draco wavered for a bit, but put an arm around Neville's shoulder to try and convince him. " But it'll make you feel better for a bit. You really should try it."

" It is a superficial and temporarily solution," Neville promptly removed his arm. " It's like waving your hand about to get rid of a fly – much better to just swat it with a newspaper."

" You… just as expected from Neville… You want to kill them?" _It seems smart people really did like to get ahead of themselves._

" No… maybe I should correct that. It's better to just open the window and let the fly outside." Neville shook his head, trying to remember what really caused Draco's hatred apart from this old house rivalry. _Maybe Draco was just jealous of Harry or something._ " Won't your time be better spent getting results that they'll never achieve? What is it that you've got that Harry doesn't?"

" I'm of an old and pure-blood lineage." Draco answered without thinking, puffing up his chest.

" Apart from that. What have you got that you earned yourself?" Neville tried not to sigh again. _Children are always wasted by parents. I wonder if my attempts to brain-wash him would ever undo the ways Lucius Malfoy brought him up._

" I'm rich. I mean in the house I have –" Draco was cut off.

" That's your family's. Your possessions are bought by your family. What do _you_ have." Neville casually dismissed, and he knew he did, the two proudest thing of Draco's life.

" I… I… I'm more handsome than Potter?" Draco was really actually at a lost about his own self. Neville would have said that Draco's prime quality was his love for his family, with him being forced to kill Dumbledore to protect his mother and father. Then again, if it was not for that, Harry would never have been able to defeat Voldemort at the end.

Though Neville could technically say his looks were given to him by his family, he realised finally that he was getting to the point. " Okay, you're better looking than him, subjectively. And what does being 'handsome' get you?"

" Erm… girls?" _Can we get a hallelujah? At least Draco is a bit more savvy about the opposite sex than, say, Ron._

" Exactly!" Neville pointed. " Instead of doing pointless things, find at least one thing you're good at, get some great achievement that you can feel proud of in front of anyone."

" So… you're telling me to… get girls and… then Potter won't. And… hey yeah! I get you! I can be good at getting girls! I can't wait to see the look on Potter's face when I have a girlfriend and he doesn't!" Draco, once again, slightly off in direction.

_Is this boy obsessed with Harry or what? I hope this does not reflect his sexual preferences… damn those slash fan-fiction writers._

" Something like that," Neville was running out of patience, and he had a class soon. " No matter how strong, famous or smart one person is, a loving relationship will still make him envious. And since every relationship is different, unless he plans to steal the girl away, there is no way he can compare."

" Potter steal away my girl? Yeah right!" Draco, still to even pick who 'his girl' was, laughed manically. _To be frank, with Harry's blatant lack of talents in the romance area, I really don't think he can even if he really wanted to._

" Draco, there's always Pansy, she's always throwing looks at you," Crabbe, wanting to add something intelligent in the many conversations between Neville and Draco that he could not cut in, suggested.

Neville and Draco simultaneously looked to the right at pug-faced Pansy Parkinson, who noticed and gave Draco a wink in returned. Both the boys shuddered and turned back to glare at Crabbe, who was still to realise his own mistake. Though Pansy was always around Draco in the books, possibly his girlfriend at some point, he was never about to lower himself with someone like her truthfully. She did not suit the adjective 'pretty' on the outside and there was nothing to say about the inside at all.

" How about her? That girl in Hufflepuff. That girl at the top of the table. You guys see her?" This time Goyle had a try, and boys once again turned their heads.

It was pretty difficult to _not_ see the Hufflepuff girl. _Who knew Goyle was into a bit of meat on their bones – their size might be endearing to his own body build or something._ Once again, the boys glared at Goyle, who also did not know what was the problem.

" Draco, who do you find most attractive around here?" Neville shook his head, deeming the two muscle mountains merely as having their own 'unique' taste for beauty.

" Actually, I think that Professor Vector, the one teaching Arithmancy, is probably the hottest one at Hogwarts. Too bad we can't take the class until third year." Draco moaned, looking at the staff table. Professor Vector, attractiveness aside, was hardly spring chicken. Not even close to a compatible age for even Neville's mental age.

_Oh. I've completely forgotten about Draco's Oedipus complex._

" You know what? Let me choose someone as your practice target." Neville searched the Great Hall, considering which girl would look loving and intelligent enough to have a chance of taming Draco. After all, with him in a relationship, he might even leave Harry alone and be influenced to grow a more pleasant personality.

Looking at the Slytherin table, it was a definite no. Not that there were no attractive girls in the house, it was just that it would definitely reinforce the negative nature of Slytherins in Draco. Turning to the Hufflepuffs, who had too much love to give for their own good, they would be good candidates but Neville figured Draco would just bully them instead of being reformed. The Ravenclaws might be a good choice, but Neville really was not familiar with anyone there. Finally looking at the Gryffindors, Lavender Brown, who went out with Ron in the original future, caught his eyes.

" Lavender Brown. Try going after her and see." Neville suggested. _I'm just helping Hermione and Ron here, clearing a future obstacle._

" A Gryffindor?" Draco scrounged up his nose.

" She is pretty, right?" Neville was at least glad that Draco complained about her house first instead of her blood status. _Heck, I'm not even sure if she was pure-blood or not. Still there was hope left in him yet._

" Well, yes, she is pretty…" Draco, age aside, had a sensible eye for beauty, unlike the other two. This made Neville feel relatively more relieved.

" Good. She's in Gryffindor so I can put a word in. I guess." Neville said this casually, considering how he did get Ron and Hermione so much closer without even trying. _They would probably marry each other tomorrow if I tried._

" Nevi! Oh _Nevi_!" That roar probably scared away monster birds in the Forbidden Forest. Neville immediately swiped a piece of toast and fled.

" Think ahead Draco. More later!" Neville ran as if his life depended on it. Sitting with the Slytherin had one major fault – in the form of Millicent. _A huge form at that._

" Caught you!" Millicent managed to clamp onto Neville's wrist. " You said you forgot your textbook, so I went back to my dorm and got mines for you!"

" Actually, I just realised I did pack my book, sorry about that Millicent." Neville was incredibly glad he learnt jujitsu, or else he would never have stood a chance against the monstrous Millicent-hold. With a few technical hand flips, and wrist movements, Neville freed himself from her hold while he talked.

" Oh, call me Mimi, Nevi!" Millicent was acting shy again, covering her face with her hands.

Resisting the urge to puke, Neville ran for his life at the chance. _Draco! I hope you're appreciating what I have to put up with for your redemption!_

" Are you sure he can help you with girls?" Even Goyle could see there was nothing Neville could do against Millicent.

" I'm not that sure to be honest." Draco shook his head. Though admittedly, even he would have a problem if Millicent fell in love with him. Taking care of an enemy was easy, but there really were very few ways of dealing with a raging admirer gently.


	9. Book 1 Chapter 8

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

Neville and the Trio had an argument about Snape, and he started to get friendly with the Slytherins and Draco, who viewed Neville as a new best friend. Neville begins to draft out a Draco conversion project as the Christmas holidays draws near.

Chapter 8 – Funny what comes out from matchmaking.

Actually, Neville had no relationship experience with girls – and that was the unfortunately truth for both him and Draco. They were in a magical castle twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. All those tricks Neville could think of from the movies, like going to a bar in town, or dinning and wining at a hip bistro, or even just a date at an amusement park, all of which could not be put into practice.

Eventually, considering them as merely twelve years old or so, Neville went for the simple ways that he saw other people did back when he was young. The little crumpled up note, leaving Draco to write whatever sweet nothings he could muster, was passed to Lavender Brown in Potions. Though her face was excited and proud at receiving an admirer at first, after seeing that it was Draco who sent it, along with Neville prompting him to give her a thousand-volt smile, she just dumped the note into the fire below her cauldron.

That was the beginning of the end as Neville was unwilling to give up on the target. The 'accidental' run-in around the corner, while rushing to class in the morning, ended up with Draco lying on his back, spinning like a flipped-over tortoise. The diversion down the 'friend' path, in hopes of Parvati putting in a good word in front of Lavender, ended up with Parvati laughing in Draco's face every time she saw him. The latest attempt, inspired by Draco saying how he was taught proper dinning etiquette, was clipped at the bud when every Gryffindor glared the Slytherin away within two feet of their table.

" I thought I was good at matchmaking," Neville sighed. It was a Monday morning again, and he was at Herbology, thinking up new ways of dragging Lavender and Draco together. " What's that dumb girl's problem? Draco's rich, handsome and witty. Outside here, he'd have tonnes of woman. I know it isn't because she's still to develop an interest in boys, with the topic being what she and Parvati talked about all day long."

" Err… Neville?" Hannah Abbott, still his partner due to his brutish way of handling plants, tapped his shoulder. Just as he was about to turn around, he received a full on assault of her screaming. " You're stepping on the plant we're suppose to re-pot!"

" Ah… right… sorry." Neville jumped to his side. He was squatting down on the earth just before. " Didn't notice."

" Well you _should_ have noticed!" Hannah was panting, simply furious at that offhanded tone of his. It was his usual tone, she knew, but she would never be able to stand how heartless he was at handling life, even if they were just plants. " What's been on your mind all morning anyway?"

It was pretty difficult for a person to not feel familiar with another when she had been shouting at him for months, no matter how shy the former's personality was. All her politeness and formalities towards him were drained after he tripped and dropped one of their former projects – simultaneously squashing another precious bush of Alihotsy. She now talked to Neville as bold she would ever talk to herself.

" Hey Hannah, do you think two people can start a relationship if they were in different houses?" Neville explained. He noticed the blatant obstacle, which was the house differences between Draco and Lavender, but still refused to change their target.

_Why not change? Well, it'll be better for Draco to get something he actually tried hard for a period of time to get, right? After all, his dad probably gives him anything he wants since his birth – if he whined enough. This was definitely a trait that must be fixed!_

" W-what are you talking about?" Hannah suddenly felt an increase in her heart rate. " What relationship?"

" As in boyfriend, girlfriend." Neville answered simply.

" I – I guess it's only possible… I mean, err… Some of the seniors are dating others in Gryffindor as well." Hannah was concentrating deeply on the piece of Dittany Neville was previously squatting on, fumbling it about in her hands.

" What happens if it's a Gryffindor and Slytherin though?"

" What?" Hannah abruptly stopped torturing the dying piece of Dittany. " Slytherin?"

" Yeah. Personally, I think Dumbledore really should fix this issue, with all the houses seemingly hating Slytherin and all. Isn't this just a perfect setting to make them even more selfish and world-loathing?"

" Neville, you… you've been around the Slytherins a lot lately." Hannah returned to torturing the poor Dittany. " Don't tell me it's because you… you… fancy someone in that house."

" See? Even you think that's a bad thing, just because it's Slytherin."

Neville was shut up though as Hannah jumped to her feet in alarm. " What? You really fancy a Slytherin?"

" No, I don't. Of course I don't, thinking of Millicent alone makes me shudder." Neville internally looked down on Hannah a notch at her reaction. In the books, she had been on opposing sides with Harry, and misunderstood him wrongly, on several occasions.

" Oh… I see, so you're trying to match-make someone else?" Hannah, rare for her nowadays, spoke to Neville in her normal, timid tone.

" Yeah, Draco and Lavender." Neville replied without looking. He continued ranting though, just to vent out instead of expecting her to understand. " Draco isn't a bad kid. So are some of the Slytherins. I mean, frankly, like the world everywhere, there are always good and bad people in the mix. I'm pretty sure there're evil wizards from Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor actually. Why should everyone in the school see them differently at all? They're just students like you and I."

" I… I think I'm starting to know what you mean," Hannah's words brought Neville's eyes to meet hers. " People immediately think being in Hufflepuff means we're all stupid, but that's not the case. Even some past Hogwarts headmasters are from our house. We can't just put people in a group just because of that Sorting Hat."

" You can sure say that again," Neville thought back to his first night and the argument with the Sorting Hat and laughed. " And you look nothing related to caring when you shout at me in class."

" That's only because you move about the class in your boorish way and keep killing off plants!"

" Isn't that our Dittany in your hand?" Neville pointed at whatever was left of their project.

" Oh… You stepped on it first." Hannah was about to protest more when a twig hit her head. Looking back, she was reminded of the task she was entrusted with. " Say Neville, you started hanging out with the Slytherins because you fell out with the others in Gryffindor right?"

" I didn't fall out with the whole house," Neville immediately stated. " Plus, I'm still going to hang out with Slytherins, or whoever I like, even after the Gryffindors eventually stop thinking I am some traitor."

" But it all started when you had an argument with Harry, Ron and Hermione right? I heard people talking about it and… well, what was the real reason you're angry at them anyway?"

" Well, I can't say I'm 'angry' at them." Neville actually had to take quite a few moments to think of an answer. Finally he deducted the reason from the conversation with Hagrid before. " I guess I just disliked how Ron looked down on me, thinking I would lie just to borrow Harry's broom. Granted, if it was for owning the broom, maybe it's possible, haha."

" I'll go get a new Dittany plant from Madam Sprout," Hannah slipped away and left him in his own thoughts. The person who threw the stick at Hannah earlier was waiting for her answer.

" Hey traitor! Get out of my way," Seamus raised a leg to brush Neville to the side, still squatting on the ground, as he was walking past. Neville saw it coming and with a simple misdirection of momentum, tripped Seamus onto the ground.

" Watch where you put that foot there." The remarked easily set off the hot tempered footballer.

" Who're you to tell me where I put my feet? We don't even want a traitor like you to be here with us! Go have classes with your Slytherin chums!" Seamus's shouts attracted the attention of the whole class.

Before Neville could counter with a remark that really would make him a mass enemy of Gryffindors, it was Hannah who dived in between them. " Oh stop it Seamus! Are you really trying to drive him into being a traitor?"

" Eh? W-what?" Seamus who, like everyone else apart from Neville, had never been on the receiving end of Hannah's shouting, and was quite taken back with the short girl

" Whatever happens, Neville is still a Gryffindor. Just because he has friends in Slytherin, just as everyone else has friends in other houses, there is no need for you to be mean to him." Neville's eyes widened at the girl, who he thought was just some minor character, speaking some marvellous sense. _Wait, wasn't she one of Dumbledore's Army? Just with a few words there, did she somehow get what I mean about the issue between the houses?_

" B-but he's hanging out with Slytherins," Seamus's lone argument seemed pretty weak at that moment. He was completely at a lost in facing off with the girl who he, and everyone else, saw nothing of apart from her timid side until now. Her usual berating of Neville was really overlooked by the strong image of a frail retreating girl she possessed the majority of the time.

" And didn't you speak to some girl in Ravenclaw just the other day?" That evidence sent Seamus's face on fire almost immediately. " She wasn't a Gryffindor and was in another house! Slytherin is just another house isn't it? Then if Neville is a traitor, then you must be as well!"

" Slytherins are all bad people!" Seamus hit out with the crucial point that all the others in his argument would provide. It was also a jarring weakness.

" How are they bad people? Have you ever held a conversation with any of them before Seamus?" Neville composedly stood up. It was just as well he was the same height as Seamus. Footballers were not exceptionally tall.

" W-well… not really but –" He saw Seamus faltering and he chased after the chance with an onslaught.

" You can't determine that a person is bad just because of a rough collective reputation." Neville remembered that Seamus was Irish and went on that thought, relating to topics he would be familiar with using the muggle knowledge of his past life. " You're Irish right? So does that necessarily mean you come from a huge family? Or you have potatoes for dinner everyday? Where's your pint of Guinness?"

" Hey! That's just being racist man!" Seamus was just a step from throwing a punch and Neville silently pointed a finger at his face. After a moment, realisation seemed to have dawned on him.

" Yeah, why can't the houses be just treated equally?" Hannah's words had the same effects on Neville as he previously had on Seamus.

0

0

0

" Draco! I've got a marvellous idea!" Neville bounded into the courtyard during break time, running across the snow towards the victim and his two bodyguards.

" Draco, it might be a good time to run now." Even Goyle was smart enough to notice the frequent failures of Neville's ideas that caused much grief for Draco.

" I think it's too late…" Draco himself was actually okay about this… relatively. Since he actually did not feel anything for the girl, it was pretty fun. Although his pride was scratched, but overlooking that, it felt as if this lost battle to win Lavender's heart was some game they had for hanging out. He would describe it as a running gag in a sit-com – if Draco knew what sit-coms were.

" I was just talking about it with Hannah and –" Neville was cut off with something that sounded within the pitch of a girl watching a scary movie.

" You talked about this with Hannah Abbott in Hufflepuff?" Draco sharing this game with Neville was one thing – it was just a joke amongst men. But suddenly, Neville dragged in some imbecile girl!

" Yeah, that Hannah," Neville continued without realisation of Draco's mortification. " We were just talking and realised the main thing stopping you and Lavender is this old house rivalry thing. Therefore…"

Neville pulled out a piece of parchment from under his robes and presented it with enthusiasm he had not shown after the torrents of matchmaking disappointments. It was a symbol akin to the Hogwarts crest, with its four house mascots. However, instead of the lion and snake seemingly glaring at each other, the snake was dangling happily around the lion's neck. The bird representing Ravenclaw was also 'happily' flying along with them and the badger as well. Along with the flowers and a smiling sun, it looked like a painting drawn by some five year old shown on patronising TV kids programs.

" What is it?" Crabbe scratched his head.

" Forget what it is," Draco had a bad premonition already. " What's this got to do with Lavender Brown?"

" Well, Hannah said that if a girl knows basically nothing about a guy, coupled with a somewhat bad impression, it's not likely that even a direct confession will work." Neville was retuned with three blank stares and he got to the point. " What you need Draco, is a chance to express yourself in front of Lavender. Also, generally just spend more time with her. Therefore, we have to start up some sort of organisation or club within the school to unite all the houses!"

" Unite… as in…" Draco had a very bad premonition.

" Apart from Quidditch, the school really doesn't have anything to make the houses interact with each other outside classes," Neville explained. " Since most students are bored out of their skulls stuck in the castle anyway, this new committee would sometimes organise social events or whatnot, so everyone has a chance to know each other – on a more personal level. It's a great idea!"

" Neville… are you sane?" Crabbe and Goyle were already on the floor laughing, while Draco was the only who kept a serious face, since he could tell Neville was not joking. " The reason _why_ there are houses is to separate us. Why would we pure-bloods want to 'mingle' with the rest of the simpletons anyway? Neville, what has gotten into you?"

Neville was actually taken aback by this response, but quickly recovered. This committee thing really did start out as a silly scheme to get Draco and Lavender together, but at this moment, he realised what he had stumbled upon. This pure-blood idea instilled into Draco, and no doubt many Slytherins and some others, was as thick as syrup. By making them interact with each other more, in a friendly, stress-free environment, and making them work together, maybe it would dilute this silly prejudiced idea. Neville was not planning to destroy a rock that was placed under the wizarding world for so long in the past, but even if it cracked a little, he was sure it would benefit momentously for the future.

" This thing is going to be a lot of work," Neville put a hand on Draco's shoulder. Of course, telling Draco about the ideals behind it all to brain-wash and defect him would have to actually wait as the results begin to appear. For now, Neville had to play the friendship card. " I want you to help me."

" You're kidding." Draco gave a short laugh, swatting his hand away. " Even if you take this to Dumbledore, he would know it was an impossible idea."

" We are still at the planning stages, but I plan to delegate Hannah to draft out a proposal through the Christmas holidays," Neville had to admit, it was her who inspired and formed the basis of this idea in the first place.

" You're trusting a Hufflepuff with this?" Crabbe jeered, and was only given a glare back.

" Yes. And we'll bring it to Dumbledore himself." Neville was actually terrified of the idea of having a meeting with Dumbledore. Impossible as Draco made his idea sound, Dumbledore was all for everyone getting along in harmony, and if only Neville presented his case well, the committee would go ahead. It was just that if possible, Neville would never want to be near that man who can read his mind like a book.

" Even if this committee is set up, none of the Slytherins would join." Draco, obviously much more intelligent than those two behind him, pointed out what would be the main problem.

" We're not expecting much Slytherins at the start… but give it time. As long as we have a few joining the committee initially, people should come along after a few successful events or some PA."

" And which Slytherin would join this committee to start off with anyway?" Draco, once again pointing to the main problem that Neville had thought off as well. However, Neville already solved this one.

" You would be one of them." Neville smiled, wickedly in Draco's eyes. Draco's premonition came true. He was convinced Neville would somehow manage to make him agree, even if he did not know how it was possible.

That friendship card earlier obviously did not work, but there was one thing Neville knew would definitely work on Draco. If just feelings did not move somebody, then only profit would. " I'll make you the vice-president of the committee."

" What?" Draco's jaws dropped. He recovered quicker than expected though, showing that he did have potentials for great things in the future. " I see. So this is how you know I can't refuse."

" After all, supposedly, Slytherins are ambitious and desire the position of power," Neville said, for the benefit of the other two. " Just think about what would happen if this committee grows Draco. It might even influence the running of the school one day. Who knows?"

" I hate you Neville Longbottom." Draco growled.

Neville took that as a yes.

0

0

0

Neville dragged his body wearily up the stairs, completely exhausted. The first meeting of this house-merging commission took place in an empty classroom. He was the president, while Draco was vice, and Hannah was secretary. This pretty much formed the current members, discounting Draco's two bodyguards. They three would be the highest in the hierarchy, and possibly more positions would be assigned with more members.

For the moment though, only drafting out the purpose and running aspects of the organisation was enough to give Neville a headache. Hannah was terrified of Draco, who was actually acting less aggressive than usual due to Neville's plea before the occasion, and she hardly made a noise apart from squeaks whenever Draco's two body guards growled condescendingly at her. Draco did not put much input in either, since his heart really was not into the object of the club, and just folded his arms, giving Neville a look that told him to take care of everything.

Giving the Fat Lady the password, Neville entered the unwelcoming Gryffindor common room. Getting the Slytherins to join was one thing, but getting Gryffindors to accept them might be just as challenging. _Damn this house pride crap they built up! Damn you Dumbledore! Damn you four founders of the school!_

" Neville?" Hermione, still in her school robes, approached him before he made it to the spiral stairs. " Can we… um, talk to you for a bit?"

" Whatever," Neville might have made an excuse if he had a clearer mind, but she looked resolved and he did not want to argue anymore after Draco laughed in his face at the idea of making the house common rooms public.

" Hey," Harry and Ron were waiting in a secluded part of the room, in a square arrangement of armchairs.

" Hello," Ron was avoiding his eyes. He observed the empty table at the centre of the four chairs and figured this is some sort of reconcilement meeting. _Heck, I've had it with meetings today._

" How can I help you three?" Neville did not even sit down on a chair and asked.

With a nudge that Neville did not miss from Harry, Ron was prompted to speak. " Neville… I'm sorry."

_About time! Hey wait… why would they know the thief wasn't Snape? Shouldn't they find this out from Dumbledore at the end of the year?_

Spotting Neville's suspicious expression beside her, Hermione quickly explained. " You see, I asked Hannah this morning if she could ask you why you were mad at us."

" Yeah, I'm really sorry Neville," Ron's head just lowered even more. " I didn't know you would think that I thought you lied just to use Harry's Nimbus – it all came out wrong… When Hermione compared it to how it was like how Draco keeps saying my family would do anything for money… well… then I understand."

_Well, Hannah's sure been busy today._ Neville was a little frustrated that he missed such a simple trick, but looking at Ron's guilty face, he felt as if he had been picking on an innocent, defenceless child all along.

Sighing, he plopped himself down on an armchair beside Ron and said, " Well, as long as you guys understand I'm not a plain liar."

The Trio's faces instantly lit up as Neville sat down and rummaged his robe pockets for any snacks. It was one of his habits that the Trio never thought they would miss so much – it meant they were all okay again.

" It was pretty hard for us to believe you –" Harry was already too late to slap his hand over Ron's loudmouth.

" Bah, I know it's pretty hard to believe. It's not like you guys are detectives." Neville munched on some chocolates and calculating the equal amount of calories he had to burn off for this. " Let's just call off the stupid bet Harry."

" Yeah! Let's do that!" Harry nodded his head vigorously. For this, Neville offered him a piece of chocolate.

" Yeah, unless we have any solid proof, we're not going to charge into Snape's office," Ron helped himself to a piece as well. _You can't possibly do anything to stop Snape anyway._

" This mystery will solve itself sooner or later anyway," Neville shrugged as Hermione declined the candy. _Bah, girls_. " We'll know who the culprit is when Dumbledore catches him."

" See guys, I told you it'll all be fine when we just talk it out sensibly with Neville," Hermione settled down as well and smiled contently.

" Yeah, am I glad we got this solved before you do whatever you did to Peeves on us," Ron was licking his fingers while saying this, eyeing another piece of Neville's chocolate.

Neville surrendered and just put his stash on the table for all to share, " So you guys only apologised because you were scared?"

" Of course not!" Harry protested heatedly, but simmered down when he saw the familiar smile on Neville's face. " It's just glad to have you back. Watching Ron eat is so much less entertaining."

" Hey!" Ron protested with chocolate stains on the side of his mouth. Hermione shook her head, taking out her handkerchief and was going to help wipe it off. That caused his face to go as red as his hair and he rubbed his lips dry with his robe sleeve.

" Don't worry, you guys aren't poltergeists," Neville gave a slight laugh. " If I did whatever it was with Peeve to you, you guys will just die."

A very uncomfortable silence hung about the other three while Neville finished the rest of the chocolates. None of the Trio dared to ask him to elaborate in case he gave a demonstration on an unfortunate victim. They did not apologise because they were scared of Neville, that was the truth, but now there was another reason for them to be glad they did.

" Well… at least now, you don't have to hang around with the Slytherins!" Ron tried to break the ice, and realised he hit a brick wall again.

" I'm still going to talk to them," Neville savoured the aftertaste of the chocolates and wondered if he should sneak off to the kitchen for something to drink. " Actually, I think I need you guys' help with something."

Harry Potter, that name alone would be great publicity for any organisation Neville was about to start. Hermione was always a plus with her brains. Ron was a Weasley, which was a pure blood family. Though this pure-blood, mud-blood categorisation was repulsive, Neville knew it existed quite concretely, especially after the time he spent in Slytherin, and he would need a good mix in the committee at least at the start if he was going to attract interests. Plus, leaning too much to one side would overturn the club's core ideals anyway. Making this committee come true was really more than just talk.

Hearing Neville's explanation of the idea though, the Trio were all for it. None of them were prudes and although they were still to understand the complex social implications behind this, Neville was sure they would join in this cause anyway. They were really supportive and after talking a bit more about the topic, Neville suggested they just set up another meeting later.

" The next meeting can't be during the Christmas holidays though," Hermione reminded. " I'm going home for Christmas."

" So are the others." Neville would have went home before anyway, since he was on bad terms with all the Gryffindors. Even if he now made up with the Trio, he was sure Gran would not let him off from coming home anyway.

" Oh, Neville do you know about a wizard named Nicolas Flamel?" Harry suddenly realised he regained access to another bountiful pool of knowledge after Hermione.

Neville did not remember about the original events, but told them anyway, since this detail was not that important. " Nicolas Flamel is Dumbledore's friend or something. Flamel managed to create a Philosopher's Stone, and I think he's the only one who has it."

" So that's what they're guarding! The Philosopher's Stone," Harry snapped his fingers while Hermione gave a squeak and ran up to her dormitory. Harry ignored her, and continued to satisfy his curiosity. " What does this stone do?"

" Gives eternal life I guess," Neville waved away the other two's shocked faces casually. Hermione ran back down the stairs and slammed some thick book onto the table.

" The Philosopher's Stone! It gives the Elixir of Life!" Hermione flipped through the pages until he found Flamel. " And we can't find Flamel in the recent wizards because he's hundreds of years old! Not only that, but the Stone will also give unlimited money! T-that's completely disobeying Gamp's Law of –"

" Eternal life and limitless money? Everyone would want that!" Ron screamed, but the common room was fortunately quite empty at that moment.

" Not just Snape, but anyone would be tempted to steal it." Harry nodded to himself, deep in thought. From this sentence, Neville knew that instead of branding this motive on Snape, as happened immediately in the original books, Harry had branded this as a motive for everyone to be a suspect. This made Neville thousands of times happier.

Hermione sighed, " If it wasn't for Ron's stupid mouth then we could've asked Neville right away and would not have wasted all that time."

" Hey! You didn't believe him either!" Ron reminded, which made Hermione go red in the face. After another few rounds of chatting, the boys called it a night. Just as Neville was about to climb the stairs behind the other two, Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.

" What's the matter?" Neville turned around and realised Hermione was blushing redder than he could ever remember. " You okay?"

" Ah… well, I've read up about what you said about counter-curses and… well, I just wanted to apologise."

" Is that all? Don't worry about it." Neville patted her on the head, a gesture that he had not done for weeks and brought a smile to Hermione's face. However, she was still blushing.

" Well, thanks… but you can't really blame me too much for… you know. Siding with Ron." She said the last words with immense difficulty.

" Why?" Neville retracted his hand and asked.

" Well… you must've figured it out by now!" She gave Neville a punch to the arm. _Either girls really think their punches were just kidding, or they think guys' arms were made of titanium alloys._

" You like Ron," Neville stated. Even without that handkerchief scene earlier, he had been watching the two and she was treating Ron distinctively different than to Harry. In the fretting girlfriend sort of way. _The original timeline must have changed! There was no way she was in love with him this early in the books._

Neville's words seemed to have set her face on fire, and she covered her cheeks with her hands, feeling how hot they were. " W-well… I won't say I like _like_ him. But you know… he did send me chocolates after all."

" What?" Neville sounded as if he had just tasted a hair in his soup.

" You know! My birthday!" She punched his arm again, much to his irritation.

" Stop punching my arm. And I still don't know."

" Stop it!" Contrasting her words, she punched him again out of girly embarrassment. " Ron was the one who sent me the chocolates! He's my secret admirer!"

That was the limit of the thin-skinned Hermione and she covered her entire face, but still managing to run up the stairs to the girls' dorms without tripping over anything. Leaving a baffled, relieved, but also slightly irritated Neville standing in the common room with a very sore arm.

0

0

0

A/N: Soccer is called Football in Europe, and other parts of the world. HP is an English book and if I ever want to say something about the sport relating to the Super Bowl, I will call it American Football.

Thanks for the review by the way. I try to keep my characters in character – not saying much for Gran, but people might go more OOC as the story goes on depending on circumstances. I mean, Draco will probably be less of a brat at least. I don't know about the way Hermione is going, so everyone who reads, some reviews are good.


	10. Book 1 Chapter 9

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

Neville, with the influence of Hannah Abbott, stumbles upon the idea of creating a new organisation to match-make Draco and Lavender – but after more thought and planning, the influence of this project might be drastic to the future of Hogwarts. On the other hand, Hermione tricked a reason out of Neville for why he was angry, and he made up with the other Gryffindors.

Chapter 9 – Holiday with a vampire.

Hermione had missed Neville the most out of the Trio during their time at cold war. Harry and Ron were not stupid, but mostly it was Hermione teaching them and never the other way back. Being with Neville always inspired her to think things differently and learn knowledge outside of the classroom, whether it was related to magic or just normal every day life. Some of that knowledge were pretty useless though – like the ratio to separate a bun to make the perfect burger. Aside from that, Neville was her first real friend at Hogwarts, before Harry and Ron saved her from the troll. All this, coupled with her personality, boiled down to her talking most of their way back to London on the Hogwarts Express.

Neville was only listening to her with half a heart as he stared out the window at the snowy scenery. It was just the two of them in the compartment, but he did not feel comfortable at all, and fidgeted in his seat. They were nearing King's Cross and still he had not asked her for the reason why she thought it was Ron who sent her the chocolates.

Sure, Neville was absolutely relieved since he could not be mistaken as her imaginary secret admirer, and never would unless he or the twins burst the bubble. However, he did feel a slight injustice at the fact that his present was taken as to be from someone else. Plus, he was very curious in how the usually smart witch managed to deduct this blatantly wrong answer.

The red steam engine let out a whistle as it came to the end of their journey. Students had already taken off their hats and robes, looking just like normal muggles, most of their trunks and magical school stuffs left at Hogwarts, while they exited the gateway to the station lobby.

" Yeah, we should really talk more about the budget in the proposal," Hermione continued her earlier line of conversation about the committee, which Neville would forever remember as having started as a scheme to drag Draco and Lavender together. _Imagine noting that in Hogwarts: A History._

The Trio's addition to the last meeting was like adding a hot iron to snow. It was just time wasted while Draco and Ron threw insults at each other. Goyle and Crabbe were even going to start a fight before Neville tripped them onto their faces. Hermione was a great addition though, since she thought of things in a reasonable fashion and complemented Neville's notions quite well. Harry had some good ideas too, but were always shot down by Draco as vice-president. Hannah became more active in the discussion, whether it was influenced by more people's presence or not, and she said she would contact Neville by owl during the holidays as she drafted the proposal to submit to Dumbledore.

" You can't contact me because you don't have an owl," Neville opened the train door and let her onto the platform. " I'll tell Trevor to fly over to yours for the holiday. It's an endangered species so keep it out of sight, but please take care of it."

" What? B-but it's your owl!" Hermione was about to decline but was countered by logic.

" I live in a wizarding family, there are other owls I can borrow at the house," Neville reassured. " My house does not have a telephone, or even a mailbox. It's settled. Just… don't let Trevor eat too much. He's big enough as he is."

" Like owner like owl," Hermione's joke was returned with a deep frown. Just as Neville was about to protest, a familiar voice called out his name.

" Neville! Oh Neville!" The two of them only saw a flash of a figure before Neville was embraced and embarrassed by his Gran, who moved exceptionally quickly for her age. " Look at you! Look how thin you've become! What're they feeding you at Hogwarts? Oh my poor Neville."

" Gran, my classmate. Hermione, my grandmother." Neville gave each woman a look individually: Gran's was to remind her that Hermione was watching; Hermione's was to tell her at least Gran thought he was not fat, and quite the contrary.

" Hello, Mrs Longbottom. It's a pleasure to meet you." Hermione greeted politely, and Gran looked absolutely delighted as she finally unhanded Neville.

" Why, hello dear. What a polite young lady. I hope Neville isn't causing you too much trouble."

" No, not at all. He's been helping me a lot in classes and outside too," Hermione realised then they were still standing on the platform. " I should get going now. My parents are muggles and can't come into the platform."

" Oh, then you'd better not keep them waiting. It was nice meeting you Hermione dear."

" You too Mrs Longbottom, goodbye." Hermione took a few steps away, turned and wave at Neville. " I'll send you an owl if I think up anything else about the committee. Merry Christmas!"

" Take care of Trevor! Have a nice Christmas." Neville waved back and watched her disappear through the gates before turning back to his Gran, ready for a fresh wave of assault.

" Neville, now just between you and Gran, is that girl your new sweetheart?" Neville almost banged his head on the side of the train at the ridiculous question.

" N-no Gran… no. She is not." He straightened himself out and started walking to the exit. _Who even uses the word 'sweetheart' nowadays? We're not _that_ far back in the past._ " We are both in Gryffindor, and she helped me out with some stuffs."

" Really." Without looking back, Neville knew the unconvinced face Gran was giving him. " Well, she is a polite little girl."

" Yes, she is." Neville gave a tone of formality and continued. " Gran, how have you been for the past few months?"

" Oh, the manor gets awfully quiet when you are away. I call Griselda over whenever I can and we have tea by the fireplace. Though I see she'll be awfully busy when the OWL exams come around."

" How's old Al… I mean, great uncle Algie?" Neville still remembered the benefactor of all his magical artefacts, and hoped he was still live and kicking enough to remember not to murder Neville again.

" Oh, you'll see him soon. He's coming with us to Romania." Gran stopped for a moment while she remembered something. " Oh, we'll have to head to St Mungo's now if we're to visit your parents before Christmas."

Neville waited for it, but realised it was a lost cause. " So… _why_ are going to Romania?"

" Oh didn't I tell you?" Neville did not know Legilimency but saw that Gran was just forging innocence. There must be a scheme behind this trip that she was hiding. _See if old Al is planning to do some sort of magic excavating again…_ " We were invited to spend Christmas with your second cousin's family. One of Count Vlad Drakul's old castles actually. I've been there when I was younger and it's very nice."

" …Did you say Dracula?" _We have a _vampire_ in our family?_

" Yes, yes, the muggles mispronounces it all the time. Don't know why the ministry over there doesn't cover up the existence of vampires in Transylvania."

_This has to be something to do with Algie! Just wait and see how I'm going to throw him down those Dracula castle steps!_

" When are we meeting great uncle Algie?" Neville smirked sinisterly. He was already convinced Algie was planning to get his blood sucked out, mix it in with some potion, and make him drink it again to multiply his magic power.

" Oh, we'll meet him in Romania. I've booked a Portkey for us already for tomorrow."

Complying with the wizened old guard, Neville and Gran went through the portal and into the masses of Londoners. Not far away, he could spot Hermione's wild brown hair with who he would presume were her parents and watched her walk away, mouth moving wildly, talking about all the extraordinary points of Hogwarts no doubt.

" Are you sure you don't fancy your little friend there Neville?" Gran actually had a very wicked looking smile on at that moment, which unnerved him tremendously.

" Yes. I am just wondering if Trevor can fly overseas. I haven't been using him much and he's getting grossly overweight."

0

0

0

Neville had never been to Romania even in his past life, and was actually quite excited that he could go on an overseas trip out of expectations. Plus, in the books, vampires were not really described at length. They were categorised as Non-Wizard Part-Human creatures, like goblins, who were not allowed to use wands, but Neville could never see them as such. This also tied in with the query about Veelas, since he was not sure if they were categorised the same or not. Half wizards and such were allowed to use a wand though, Fleur Delacour a prime example, and with Dracula having died so long ago, Neville figured his distant relatives were probably like Fleur.

" Oof!" Neville stumbled forward as his feet hit ground again after feeling like being shot out of a gun barrel. He and Gran, with some other passengers, unhanded the gardening glove that was the Portkey. " Why do wizard transport always leave people disorientated afterwards. This Portkey, the Floo Network…"

" What Neville?" Gran also composed herself and picked up the luggage she dropped by her side.

" Nothing." Neville looked round at the other passengers and his surroundings. _So this is like the airports eh? Just, for Portkeys. I must say, very much faster and less hassle. No flight delays, weather conditions… too bad there aren't any hot air hostesses. _

" Six o'clock from London!" A bored looking wizard, wrapped in fur because of the cold weather, bellowed as he checked his pocket watch and parchment.

The Portkey took Neville and his Gran to a clearing in a forest, probably surrounded by Muggle-repelling charms, with many other stone platforms identical to the one they arrived on. Each circular platform had lit torches surrounding its circumference, and a flight of short stone steps leading to the middle of the clearing, where a huge bonfire blazed. The bonfire had a strange green glow, providing most of the warmth and light for the clearing, and reminded Neville of the Floo powder flames.

His suspicions were correct as Gran hurried him towards it. " Come on now, this'll take us to the town centre. Really, to think we have to make another trip just to get to somewhere with hot coffee – that's why I hate travelling."

Neville decided not to inform Gran about muggle flight connections or bus transits and quietly followed. He walked through the fire, without a need to call out because it only led to one place, and was spun around as if he was on a funfair ride. Once again stumbling on one foot, he looked up to find himself in a big hall, not unlike the arrangements of the Atrium at the British Ministry of Magic HQ, apart from the absence of a fountain. On the floor was a painting of the flag of Romania, with some sort of epic battle on it that must be in a history book somewhere. There were a huge row of elevators along one wall, which no doubt transported them up to the muggle world.

Just as he was following Gran towards them, he passed another fireplace, whereby with a great whoosh of green flames, a figure shot out of it and crashed into Neville. The both of them fell hard on the floor, the figure clearly brought too much luggage and it all strewed about the floor around them. _That's probably why they crashed into me in the first place… don't they charge extra for excessive baggage in the wizarding world?_

" _Hey! Watch where you're going!_" Before Neville could even pick himself up, the person was already screaming in his face. This was all in Romanian though. " _What sort of idiot walks in front of the exit of a fireplace?_"

" Miss," Neville figured from her tone at least that she was not happy about this predicament. _I guess she thought it more important to shout at me before standing up_. " Can you please get off me now?"

" I hate idiots," the girl muttered in English, finally allowing Neville to get up from the previously disgraceful position.

The girl looked to be just two years or so older than Neville, and with the way she was haughtily dusting herself as if she had just came into contact with some smelly disease, she could not be that old. Her fur robes looked expensive though, swishing around her ankles like it was magically enchanted to do so, and it matched her raccoon cap. Two swirls of curly dark hair, just like those old exaggerated royal princesses, hung down either side of her cheeks. _The girl's still young, but I'm positive she'll grow up to be a beauty – the wild vixen type that liked to wear black leather._

" Where are you going? How rude!" Neville had turned to go, but was halted as she pulled out her wand. " You're not even going to apologise after running into me like that?"

" Well technically… heck, why do I even bother," Neville flicked his wrist and his wand was at hand.

" So you want to duel?" A smirk appeared on the girl's face, and looked Neville up and down as if he was some clown in a circus.

" Neville! Put that wand down! We might be on the other side of the continent from the Ministry but that doesn't mean I'll let you use magic!" Gran, who saw what happened, tried to pacify things. In truth, she was just afraid Neville would get badly hexed.

" I'm just going to help pick up her stuffs." The thought of duelling some random little girl never occurred to him for one bit. As much as he disliked her attitude, he was not prepared to pick on some strange little kid just for that. " _Mobilisaccus_."

The girl's bags around them, under Neville's wand movements, gathered back at either side of her feet. She only snorted and shook her head though. " Foreigners. To think they can show off with tiny bits of magic like this."

Once again using the ignoring tactic, Neville turned to leave.

" Hey! Foreigner! You still owe me an apology!" _That bossy voice and east European accent would really drive selective men wild._

" Miss, it's Christmas Eve," Neville explained in a tone reserved for children. " Everyone here is wanting to get home quickly, so let's round this up so we can all be on our way."

Without her noticing, this dispute had drawn the attention of most people in the big hall. Neville was of course unafraid, since there were bound to be people who saw what happened and would tell her that she was originally at fault.

" Stupid foreigner! You're not getting away today without giving me an apology!" Just like a kettle with boiling water, she pointed her wand at Neville and shot out a pink coloured curse with a Bulgarian incantation.

" Hey!" Neville ducked out of the way just in time for it to shoot past his face. Unfortunately for the big guy behind him, who was caught off guard, within a few seconds his face was turning purple with green boils all over it. Even with these magical additives, it was quite clear the big guy was furious. Big and furious.

Maybe it was more unfortunate for the girl since she was on the verge of tears with fear, the big man advancing towards her, mouth full of foul Romanian insults. Gran saw the situation could only get worst and stepped in, quickly performing the counter-curse on the big man.

" Sir, she is but a girl," Gran patted the big man on the arm. " It's just a little squabble between kids. Let's just forgive and forget. It's Christmas Eve as my grandson said, so let's all just go home to our families…"

After a few moments the crowd cleared away, leaving only Gran, Neville and the girl who resumed her glare on Neville. The girl was ready to chew his bones off, as if her almost getting squashed like a pancake by the big man was his fault. At this moment, a familiar voice came from a newly arrived elevator.

" Neville! What kept ya? We came down to get you when you still haven't come up the elevator for so long!" It was old Al, who was wrapped like a bear from the cold – or he had just picked up a few pounds.

" Mummy!" The girl gave a victorious smile at Neville and rushed to a woman who came out behind old Al from the elevator.

" Ah, Elena! I'm glad you got home safe." The woman who wrapped her arms round the girl was in her thirties, but had an air of elegance about her. The woman surprisingly turned back to Neville the next moment, " And I see you've met our guests."

" Guests?" Elena turned her head back round quizzically to stare at the direction of her mother's gaze. Now that Neville gave a good look, Elena's fang teeth did look a little oversized, which had matched too perfectly with her mischievous trouble-picking attitude. The hue of her eyes, now turning from confusion to disbelief, was a dark crimson.

" This is your second cousin, Neville Longbottom." Her mother introduced to hit the final nail on her coffin. _Or rather, mines._

" What?" Elena's scream echoed around the big hall.

0

0

0

There was an awkward atmosphere inside the horseless flying carriage. Gran and Mrs Drakul were making polite conversation about long unseen family members while giving the two children reproachful glances. Old Al was asking Neville about school, which he only answered half-heartedly because Elena was snorting or laughing at whatever he said. Just from the few glares and frowns, their mutual dislike was very apparent. Neville did try to ignore her on the way to the carriage, watching the unique Romanian carol singers about the street, until Elena pulled the last straw by tripping him, magically, into a pile of snow.

" Oh look! We're here! It hasn't changed one bit!" Gran was the first off the carriage, ushering Neville behind her, and put as much distance between him and Elena as possible.

Neville was pleasantly surprised at the medieval architecture of the town they left from, since he was into knights and dragons sort of things when he was younger. The ancient castle in front of him however, basked in the early moonlight, curtained by a faint wintery haze, made his lips curl up satisfactorily. The castle was, of course, situated on high grounds and around them were snow covered forest and cliffs for all he could see. The orange roof tiles, the cracked stone walls, the artsy little windows, all contributed to the theme.

Another dry laugh next to him ruined the mood though. " It looks like you haven't even seen a castle before. I can't believe you are a Longbottom."

" There're a lot of truths I don't want to believe in either," Neville grinned back mirthlessly. " But I do believe you will regret annoying me one day."

" Okay! Let's hurry inside! No point in standing out in the snow!" Mrs Drakul clapped her hands together and led the group to the front door. Elena gave a last harrumph to Neville and stuck herself to the hem of her mother's dress.

" Heh heh," old Al gave a hearty chuckle. " What a meeting, you two."

" Hey, great uncle Algie," Neville fell back and pulled Algie down to speak in a lower voice. " You're not planning anything with this trip right?"

" P-planning? Don't be ridiculous!" Neville was convinced he was planning something now.

" Spit it! Are you trying to put me in some life-and-death situation again to draw some magic out of me?" Neville hissed. If old Al was trying to kill him again, it was only natural not to speak in his usual nice polite tone.

" What? No Neville, you can do magic already! There's no need for all that again." Neville still could not trust old Al's words, but the man did look rather relieved. _Am I wrong? But they must be scheming something._

" Welcome! To Count Drakul's castle!" Mrs Drakul waved her arm to her side, gesturing for us to enter. _I'm sure I heard Dracula! I'm sure! Did Mrs Drakul work in a theme park or something?_

" Well isn't this just –" Before Gran could continue with more of her pleasantries, a clashing noise of metal emitted from the left door beside the huge staircase.

With a bang, the door was thrown open and a suit of armour, one hand with a lance and the other an axe, charged towards Neville. _Bewitched armour. And the weapons are sharpened!_

Not having time to think of anything else, like why would a piece of armour suddenly attack him, Neville already armed himself with his wand. Thanked to his suspicion of old Al, he did not even skip a beat in choosing a spell. " _Reducto_!"

The spell hit the carpet under it and sent the suit of armour flying back in the air, its helmet and gauntlets all scattered across different parts of the foyer as they landed. Neville could have used the Blasting Curse, but he did not want to hurt old Al that badly if it really was him. Turned out it was not.

" Hoho! Not bad young Longbottom!" Immediately looking up, Neville saw a shadow jump down from what would be the second floor banister. The shadow's cloak swished behind him, and all Neville could see were two crimson eyes getting closer and closer.

" Oh quit it!" Mrs Drakul's voice seemed to have been the turning point for this scary movie to turn into a comedy. She must have used some sort of banishing curse, which hit the side of the shadow, making him let out a very wimp-ish cry of pain as he smashed into the wall above the front door.

" Daddy!" Elena ran up to the figure whimpering on the ground. Mr Drakul looked every bit like a vampire: the fanged teeth, the slick back hair, the massive black cloak et cetera.

" Oh! My dear daughter Elena! You've finally returned to Papa!" Mr Drakul hugged his daughter and pated her on the back of her head. " Oh, we father and daughter has a lot to catch upon. But first, I must test out the strength of young Longbottom here."

Without even time for a cry of surprise, Mr Drakul flicked his wand and a stream of white light was fired at Neville. Gritting his teeth, unable to get accustomed to how Romanians greeted people, he dropped and rolled under the spell. Of course, Mr Drakul did not let him off that easy, and almost like a combo, another spell was shot at the place Neville would soon roll onto.

" _Protego_!" Neville really did not have much confidence in the Shielding Charm, seeing how even qualified wizards had problems mastering it. Though knowing it was a critical spell for duelling, he had tried extra hard to learn this first. Of course, this was one of the spells that he practiced wrongly from the period his magic powers were locked, and he had much difficulty trying to correct it. Nevertheless, the white curse was deflected from the front of his face, telling him his diligence paid off.

" Daddy!" Elena squealed in glee. Her father was helping her teach the ignorant boy a lesson and let out some of her steam. She saw that Neville was on one knee, and would be finished if Mr Drakul was to fire another curse now. Her wish was not granted though.

" I said to quit it!" Before Mr Drakul could do another spell, his victorious expression was contorted into pain as he was hit on the head. Mrs Drakul had levitated a random piece of the smashed up armour and halted her husband from losing her more face.

" B-but _darling_!" Mr Drakul recovered and was on his knees, eyes watering and pleading. " I must test out the strength of the one who – _blewh_!"

" I'm so sorry Neville dear," Mrs Drakul was all smiles as she apologised. Neville could only give a weak smile back at the woman who had just cursed her husband to vomit out green slugs. " Please ignore my husband. He's a bit strange and doesn't know how to greet guests."

Seeing how the last two words were filled with venom and coupled with a glare that made Mr Drakul whimper again, Gran immediately stepped in again to mediate. _I really wonder how the original Gran in the books would react to these things. Surely the old Gran Longbottom would not wear such a peaceful expression – ever._

" No one was hurt! No one was hurt! It's all good!" Old Al was the only person laughing naturally as he repeatedly patted Neville on the back. " Neville here is without a scratch! Absolutely UN-harmed! I'm telling you, that was one spectacular Shielding Charm he did there!"

In truth, Algie was just incredibly happy to see Neville being able to take care of himself magically, compared to how he was worrying about him being a squib just a few years back. Algie was one of those still to do a perfect Shielding Charm and never even heard of it when he was at Neville's age.

" Great uncle Algie, you can stop now." Neville hissed as old Al patted him stronger than the old man realised during his joy. " Did you tell Dracula to try and kill me? Didn't you say you weren't doing this anymore just outside?"

" What? Mr Drakul wasn't trying to kill you! Don't be ridiculous!" Old Al explained while others were unmindful of the two. Gran and Mrs Drakul were still apologising to each other while Elena was fretting around her father. Dracula looked even paler than before as more slugs were coughed up from his throat.

" Then _why_ did he attack me? I doubt it was Romanian tradition." Neville figured this out even if Dracula was definitely a person with some loose screws in his head.

" Oh, Drakul is a proud man Neville – from his vampire blood if it is racist for me to say so." Neville believed old Al on this one entirely. _Just look at his daughter_. " Didn't he say… or tried to… Well, in one word, he's just trying to test you to see if you were worthy."

" Worthy of what? Does he have some uber sword that I can use to save the world?" Neville frowned deeply at old Al, who was starting to become nervous again.

" Hey! Enid! My dear wife! So glad to see you again!" Great aunt Enid walked down from the stairs, and was a bit astonished to see her passionate husband running towards her in his fleeing speed.

Neville just sighed, knowing something must be going on around here. He was experiencing just as much life-threatening dangers as Harry Potter, or presently, even more. Just as he pumped himself up to practice the Shielding Charm in a session later, his vision crossed over Dracula's direction. Elena was now glaring at him with menace, as if Neville had murdered her father.

" Gran? How many days are we staying here again?"

0

0

0

A/N: From the 6th book, we know the Ministry can detect magic at a place, but not necessary by who. That was how Voldemort got off from murdering his father. Parents are supposed to be responsible for forbidding underage wizards of course. Since Neville's out of the country, let's say his family was not fussed about him using magic.

Oh, yeah, and the Dracula family are OCs never in the series (first ones to appear in the story as far as I noticed). I doubt the Longbottom family had a vampire relative, or Neville a second cousin, but it's all imagination. Realise these characters might not follow cannon stereotype – like say, if vampires have green eyes in the HP universe, not in this story. I'll try not to deviate though, as best to my knowledge.


	11. Book 1 Chapter 10

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

It's the Christmas holidays and Neville was unexpectedly informed that he would be spending it in Romania, Transylvania. Even before arriving at Dracula's castle, Neville already has a 'run-in' with his part-vampire second cousin. Meeting old Al again, and being attacked the moment he stepped into the castle, Neville once again worry for his own life as he felt something was being plotted behind his back.

Chapter 10 – Christmas Snowball fight.

Exaggerated sounds of munching and gnawing opposite Neville hindered his appetite a little. They were having dinner in a traditional dinning room, with the chandeliers, candles, long wooden table, and the works. The house elves brought in the deserts, which was something Romanian, on its shiny silver plates. The meal and a brief tour had significantly increased his opinion of the castle, since he was still to find a cobweb or, more importantly, bloodstains.

" Yes, yes, vampires are so misunderstood in the wizarding world!" Dracula, as Mr Drakul ardently insisted Neville to continue calling him after a slip of the mouth, had recovered from vomiting slugs. " They don't _need_ to drink blood, and I personally prefer tomatoes juice myself."

He did not look too convincing with the red liquid dripping form a side of his mouth, his fang teeth sparkled so brightly that Neville was scared of going blind. Dracula had apologised about the sudden attack and after receiving Neville's nickname, started putting his arm round his shoulders talking about his vampire heritage as if Neville was his new son. Vampires were something like Veelas, some being able to transform into bats, and according to Dracula, all dashingly handsome or beautiful.

" Would you like seconds Neville?" Mrs Drakul offered. She did not have vampire blood, but naturally had an elegant high-classed lady feel about her, which probably attracted many love rivals for Dracula when they were younger.

" Yes, please," Neville answered and very quickly followed a dry laugh.

" You sure can eat huh?" Elena, who sat opposite him, had been making snide remarks all through dinner. _Good luck having a tenth as much grace as your mother in the future. It's like comparing foie gras with left-over anchovies pizza. _

" The cooking is marvellous Mrs Drakul," Neville ignored her.

" It's only the house elves." For someone who hated him this much she was very bad at ignoring him. Like Neville, Elena also did not know of their arrival in advance and, to say the least, she was not taking it too well.

" So, what did you learn at Beauxbatons this year Elena?" Mrs Drakul interjected, once again to the rescue. She really did dote too much on this daughter, sending her overseas to Beauxbatons where she was an alumni and part of the PTA. " Learn any new spells?"

" Yes of course!" Elena gloated. " I don't even remember when it was that I learnt a Reductor Curse – that was so long ago."

" I am once again really sorry about ruining the carpet." His spell had, of course, shredded the carpet and damaged some of the floorboards as well.

" Oh no, think nothing of it. The house elves can fix that easily." Mrs Drakul was developing quite a good impression of Neville – just for tolerating her daughter for this long was a feat.

Apart from Neville's four from England, there were only the Drakul family here for the holiday. Neville naturally did not know how many relatives he had, and even with his 'light amnesia' excuse he doubted asking Gran would be a good idea. Frankly, if all of Neville's relatives were like Elena, he would prefer to never know about them.

" Hey Neville! What do you they teach you at Hogwarts? I heard Albus Dumbledore is a genius." Elena did not get the mature idea that Neville was ignoring her. Bringing out his headmaster though, he was really compelled to reply.

" Yes, he is a great wizard. He does not teach classes however." Neville answered her queries succinctly.

" Really? Cause our headmistress, Madam Maxime, takes some of our classes. Talented students even get private tuition – I'm one of them of course." Elena gave another one of her curt laughs. It was a characteristic mixture of arrogance, condescendence and mockery that according to Neville was not replicable.

" Albus Dumbledore is a busy man with several important positions in the British wizarding community." Neville could not help but let a last comment slip, " And a professor teaching in their field of expertise would not be any less beneficial than a headmistress grooming her elitists like poodles."

" What is that supposed to mean?" Once again pulling out her wand, Elena pointed it at Neville to the gasp of great aunt Enid. " If you think Hogwarts is so great then I challenge you to a duel."

" Elena! Stop this foolishness at once!" Dracula gave his wife a pleasant surprise when he stopped their daughter even before she did. Her joy did not last though as Dracula added, " If anyone's to test his strength, it would be I! Draw your wand young Ne – ouch!"

" Both of you stop it!" This time with a floating silver plate, Mrs Drakul wacked Dracula behind his head. Her face, once again showing that smile that completely ignored her previous violent outburst, turned to apologise. " I am really sorry Neville, these two have no manners at all."

" No, it is –" Neville was cut off by the Laugh.

" I knew British wizards were all scaredy-cats." _If I were Marty McFly, you'd be dead right now missy!_

" Duelling causes accidents and injuries Miss Drakul." Neville finally decided to hit the ball back before Elena could sit back down, feeling all superior about winning a round. " Though a little snowball fight in the yard would be harmless."

Dracula immediately caught bone in Neville's words and jumped at the idea. " An excellent idea young Longbottom! Let me be Elena's second and you can –" This time with two silver plates on either side of the face, Mrs Drakul once again shut her husband up effective.

" But it's already dark out," Mrs Drakul clasped her hands together, and smiling radiantly heedless of her half-conscious husband, trying to stop the relationship between the two children to worsen. " Why don't we wait until tomorrow morning and build a snowman?"

" Mommy, I'm not eleven anymore. Oh wait, someone is." Elena taunted. She finally got a chance to show off in front of her parents and teach Neville a lesson, it was going to take more than that to let him run away this easily.

" Mrs Drakul, the dark would only add to the fun." Neville already got up out of the chair, ignoring Gran's half reproachful and half worried look.

" Right on! The backyard is great for a snowball fight. Plenty of trees, bushes and statues to hide behind." Old Al rubbed his hands in glee. After digesting Neville's magical performance earlier, he was thriving for another chance to see how his great nephew was progressing. Dracula did gloat about his finer collection of knight armours ever since Algie got here after all, and Neville's victory would gain back some face for him from that pompous vampire.

Due to Elena's enthusiasm, they were at the back garden within minutes. The grownups were up at the second floor balcony, several balls of flames were floating in midair for them to see what was going on around the garden. The garden was roughly split into zones by tall shrubs, layered with snow in the cold night. Elena and Neville started at the central zone, standing on either side of a white marble fountain. The fountain had a massive statue of a vampire, whose cloak was lifted wide open, fangs bared, preparing to strike an unfortunate victim. Neville wondered if the statue was supposed to be Count Dracula, and wondered if he really could shoot water out of his mouth.

" Ha. I won't go easy on you." Elena was in the same fur robes and raccoon cap as she had on while first pointing her wand at him earlier today. Neville left his long jacket inside, and was out in his normal turtleneck and combats. He swapped his usual steel toe-capped boots with tall climbing boots, which gave him a lot more mobility than Elena in this thick ground of snow.

" Are you ready?" With a swoosh of his cloak, much like the statue, Dracula's voice boomed around the garden. " Get set! Fight!"

" Ahem!" Mrs Drakul completely ruined his image as Dracula quickly drew back and apologised to his wife.

Neville was already too busy to look up, while he worked over his mostly-formed strategy. The hardest part was to see how Elena was going to attack. Yelling out the incantations, since she really was still too young to do nonverbal spells, about five bewitched snowballs were formed by snow vacuumed off the ground. Laughing, and with a point of her wand, the snowballs shot straight at Neville.

Just as Elena was about to taunt the little guy for not being about to last long enough for her to have fun, only half understanding the innuendos behind it, a burst of blue flames evaporated her snowballs. Neville only officially started magic for half a year after all, and even with his hard work, it was actually quite spectacular already for him to be able to practice summoning charms now, which was originally taught in Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. His arsenal of spells was limited, and despite his earlier research in fire spells, he figured Bluebell flames were his best option here . He knew this was home turf for Elena, but it was dark in spite of the floating flames above them, and he quickly turned and rounded behind the exit to another zone of the garden.

Seeing her snowballs dispatched so easily, and Neville creating double the amount of bluebell flames, of course she gave chase. Along the way, she was waving her wand about and collecting snow from her surroundings. It was like firing a gun with unlimited ammo as Neville deftly dodged or ducked out of the way. The blue flames surrounding Neville also acted as a shield and he was still to get hit by one of her snowballs yet. The constant pursue after him was only to buy time for her though. Before giving chase, she had used a charm to concentrate surrounding snow together to create a massive snowball on top of the centre fountain. In reality, Elena really did have the right to boast about her magical abilities because she had potential to be one of the top students in the history of Beauxbatons. For this reason, and her proud vampire father passing on many more, the assortment of spells she possessed now far exceeded an average witch her age.

Seeing another snowball incinerated by the blue flames that was protecting Neville as he ran all over the garden, Elena was getting impatient. " Is running away all you're good at you wimp!"

Neville of course ignored her and continued with his plan. He was awfully worried about the huge snowball, which was continuously sucking up snow and increasing in size, hovering in the air at the centre of the garden. His plan was going accordingly though, and he only hoped for it to work out before hers did. It was just a race for time now to see whose plan was readied first.

Abruptly turning around, Neville thrust his wand backwards and pointed it straight at Elena's face. Completely taken off-guard, and terrified that he would curse her, Elena's eyes widened and was about to do dodge when Neville shouted, " _Lumos_!"

Temporarily blinding her with the light, Neville shot round the corner as he chanted the spells for more bluebell flames. " Oh! You're dead meat! _Reducto!_"

Shooting the curse at the shrub where she thought Neville escaped to, the shrub and the snow on it exploded with a loud bang. No screams were heard though and Elena could now just make out twenty, two folds the original, floating blue flames drifting away.

" Catch me if you can!" Neville joked, which he knew would infuriate her.

" Mock me will you? _Reducto!_" Instead of just firing snowballs, Elena caused small explosions surrounding the bundle of blue flames obstinately floating away from her. The crowd on the balcony made some noises, which Elena deducted as her mother disproving her using curses in this match, but she did not care anymore. " No one insults the descendants of Count Vlad Drakul!"

With a stronger explosion that destroyed a shrub, Elena jumped through the debris and cut in front of the flying flames, but her planned victorious smirk sunk to a glare. The twenty twirling blue flames were seemingly mocking her as they spun orbiting her face – Neville was of course nowhere to be seen. Elena knew she had been tricked when she was blinded earlier and gave her trademark Laugh.

" Neville Longbottom! Stop running away and hiding! Come out if you're a man!" Elena bellowed, but got no response. Neville actually would like to defeat her right now, but he was still setting up his last steps. " Fine! Don't think I can't find you!"

Neville continued to do his preparation work as he watched the now massive snowball clouding the centre zone sucking in snow at an even faster rate. Just when he was wondering how much bigger that snowball was going to get, the streams of snow flowing into it stopped. After hearing an echoing incantation in Romanian, the giant snowball began to rotate in midair. Slowly at first, but gradually increasing in speed.

Ultimately without warning, a snowball struck Neville's side at an alarming speed that it actually toppled him over into the snow. Starting out with one, many more small snowballs shot out from the body of the giant snowball. At that moment, snowballs were firing in all directions from the centre of the garden like a tank equipped with machine guns. Neville tried hiding behind a tree, but the snowballs somehow swerved to hit him on the chest, making him cough. He knew the snowballs were not auto-homing, since many more were misfired in the opposite direction. _What is it? Does it target moving objects?_ _How come the brat isn't getting targeted then? Damn, just one more spell! If I have time for one more, the map would be complete._

Neville looked upwards to try and think of a way to twist this around, only to have the soft glow of the floating red flame enter his vision. _That's it! _Neville jumped out from behind the tree, locating his bluebell flames that were still to dissipate, and pointed his wand at the big snowball. The blue flames accelerated off the ground and made orbits around the big snowball as if it were electrons orbiting the nucleus, many of the out-coming snowballs were intercepted as a result.

" Haha! You flames can't hold out forever!" Elena, watching as his Bluebell flames dimed with each impact of a shooting snowball, was also paying attention to her surroundings to see if there were any sights of Neville's blonde spiky hair.

" Standing under it. Eye of the storm. Yeah I get the idea." Neville's face showed up from out of a shrub, a snowball timely landing in the branches as he ducked.

" So you've finally come out! Take this!" Just as Elena was about to point her wand at Neville to send the massive snowball to crush him from above, she suddenly noticed the expression on his face.

" _Confringo_!" Neville did not waste more time conversing and pointed his wand at the ground before Elena. The snowballs heading towards him all exploded as the curse travelled to its target and caused a shockwave right in front of Elena.

It was of course not as simple as that. The impact and aftershock of the Blasting Curse sent Elena flying across the air behind her, not to mention with a wave of the blown up snow as well. Without even time to use magic to soften her fall or to protect herself, another explosion that was clearly another Blasting Curse erupted from the ground she incidentally flew over. A wade of snow burst up from below, crashing upon her body and sending her flying again. To her worst fear, as she was midair, she was hit with another impact of another Blasting Curse, only to be sent on the way to another.

Just as she was about to start crying, to her utter shameful disgrace, the chained spells finally stopped as she hit something warm and soft. The last explosion had sent her flying back into the centre zone, after being thrown a trip around the garden. Once Elena's concentration was lost, the giant snowball could not retain its shape and had disperse itself in the air. Snowflakes drifted down about the garden as one gently graced upon her cheek.

As if signalling the end of the fight, the clouds gave way for the moonlight and it shone on the face of the person who had caught her. Unbeknownst to herself, in her earlier moment of panic, Elena had wrapped her arms around his neck, and naturally stared up at his face. Even the hue of red in her eyes seemed to have blushed as she stayed frozen in his arms. Mostly, Elena would slap anyone who dared to give her that smart-ass expression – but she vehemently argued, with herself later, that she spared him because he caught her before hitting the fountain.

" Ba… Dump."

" Ba… dump?" Neville immediately started to get worried about the strength of his spells when that was all Elena said. _Hey I did catch her before she hit something! That's already lessening her punishment! I'm sure she didn't hit her head!_

" Wonderful! Simply marvellous!" Dracula was the first one to disrupt the scene as Elena hastily pushed Neville away from her. " Using the darkness and an element of surprise to lure the enemy into chasing a decoy while you prepared a trap! Not commenting on the marvellous Blasting Curses, but to implement the Avershina Spell Circle to time the activation _and_ chaining the curses for a winning combo! _Marvellous_! _Simply wonderful_!"

Old Al was not to be left behind and already had Neville under his arm as he ruffled his hair, recounting on the days he worried about having a squib for a great nephew. Elena looked on, simply shocked at the spiky-haired boy that she had hated at first sight. Never had she felt so utterly defeated, fair and square, in her whole life. Worst of all, she even heard the legendary 'ba-dump' back at that moment when…

Elena shook her head and slapped her cheeks. She was not prepared to trouble herself with such horrifying thoughts – it was Christmas after all.

0

0

0

Since it was a castle, rooms were not a problem and Neville had a large bedroom all to himself. It was very grand: a luxurious four-poster bed, an elegant dresser and mirror, a massive bookcase that housed some interesting tomes, and large French windows dressed with cascading velvet curtains. Neville yawned, looking at his tired self in the mirror. After the snow fight last night, he could not restrain himself from the books available in his room. He would not have stopped if it was not for his eyes having trouble staying opened.

Exhausted, though still very much looking forward to looking at more literature references he could find in this old castle, Neville decided to get himself washed up in the bathroom quickly and be done with the typical Christmas routines. He was an atheist in his past life, which probably would have caused more trouble if he was not at the issue of taking over a fictional character's body, and thought Christmas was just an excuse to get drunk.

Neville understood the importance of looking through recordings from the past to arm himself with means of protection for his dangerous future. Just the contest last night for example, that Avershina Spell Circle was something from an historic ambush a few centuries ago that he had read in some book once. Granted, such a trap had limited applications but if implemented at the right time, it would be devastating – as once again proven last night. If only History of Magic classes were all related to historical battles or assassinations Neville would not fall asleep in the class so much.

Coming out into the long corridor with another yawn, Neville aimless walked towards the direction he thought was the bathroom under the soft glowing torches on either sides of the wall. He got used to not needing to flick on light switches in this world now, and it was admittedly more handy that they had everlastingly torches that magically never went out – and environmentally friendly too. Once again reminding himself to ask Dracula for the directions to the castle's study later, Neville opened a double door that looked quite different from the rest. He thought that was the bathroom.

" AAAHHH!" The high-pitch scream that almost burst his eardrums the moment he stepped into the room signalled that he made a mistake.

After a lot of explaining, threats, and apologies, which of course attracted the rest of the castle's occupants, everyone eventually ended up in the dinning room as breakfast was served.

" What a merry and lively Christmas it is indeed!" Dracula laughed and faced his wife, " We haven't had this much life in the castle since we hosted the party of me winning the winged-horse race."

" Lively? Daddy, this pervert sneaked into my room and peeked at me changing!" Elena harrumphed. From her frequent glances, Neville had kept his wand at the ready in his lap just in case. _It wasn't like I saw anything – or you had much to show._

" I admit I was at fault, and I apologise again." Neville wondered if she would once more challenge him to a duel. " But I truly did not mean to barge into your room. I thought it was the bathroom."

" Ha!" The Laugh once again ended the conversation and put the table in an awkward silence. What Neville found strange was the weird smiles the grown-ups had when they were looking at Elena and him, as if they knew something he did not.

" Neville, Trevor just arrived this morning," Gran was first to interrupt the chewing noises around the table. " He had with him a Christmas present and a letter. It should be with the others that arrived earlier under the tree."

Neville sudden grew red in the face – he did not send out any presents at all. Though the books described Harry having presents at the foot of his bed every year at Hogwarts, he did not remember him sending out any. If only no one sent him anything, he could use the excuse of being an atheist. Neville just had to get something in Romania, and use the excuse of saying he preferred giving out presents in person to make up for it.

" Who would send a pervert Christmas presents?" Elena Laughed again.

" Friends. Is that a new concept to you?" Neville bit back, wondering what Hermione sent him.

" Why you… I bet I'll have more presents than you! Why don't we go and find out!" Elena threw her cutlery on the table, and without glancing back to see whether Neville followed, ran out towards the drawing room where the Christmas Tree was.

" Kids," Mrs Drakul shook her head, her smile ever present. " I remember when I was a little girl and I would always be the first to rush under the tree as well."

" Well what're we waiting for? Let's go!" Old Al suggested and the whole company moved to the drawing room.

At the middle of the room towered an extravagantly decorated Christmas Tree. The usual tinsels and sparkling bubbles aside, everything else related to Christmas were festooned onto the tree. They had bushes of holly, mince pies, mistletoes, and even a miniature reindeer that ran up and down the tree. The only thing out of place was the big vampire bat fluttering on the top of the tree instead of an angel or a star – though the tip was so high up that it was relatively unnoticeable. Elena was beside the tree and a tower of presents a head or two taller than her. Some torn wrapping paper were already on the floor.

" Ha! I told you I'd have more presents than you!" Elena batted a patronizing eye on a few parcels beside hers. She had deliberately moved Neville's presents beside her stack just to show the contrast.

The others in the family also had presents to open and Neville once again resumed his ignoring tactic on the boisterous part-vampire beside him. He picked up the top present, with a roll of parchment attached, and felt that it was still slightly warm and damp. He reminded himself to treat Trevor something as he was probably exhausted from the international flight. The present was a jumbo-sized tube of Millions, strawberry flavoured, which were just tiny pink balls of sweets. As Neville wondered if Ron got the same thing, he opened Hermione's letter:

_Hi! I hope you're having a great Christmas! I know from instincts you'll realise your present is edible, and yes they are sweets. You're from a wizarding family and I thought you would like to try some muggle candy for a change. I got Harry Chocolate Frogs as a contrast for the same reason. And Ron… well, he is my secret admirer after all and I can't just give him a normal gift – not that I like him back or anything! Oh, look what I'm writing… Anyway! I wrote down some ideas I got for the committee, so please see what you think…_

The rest of the parchment was all related to that topic. Neville popped opened his tube of Millions and poured the pink pellets into his mouth. It tasted both sweet and sour, with a distinct smell of strawberries, and was sticky to chew like toffee. _Damn that Hermione! What does friendship amount up to in the face of her romance, huh? She should treat her friends equally damn it!_

" Can you make any more noise when you eat?" Elena frowned as Neville gobbled down the candy harder. " What is that thing you're grinding your teeth with anyway."

Neville picked out the curiosity in her voice and realised Hermione might have chosen a thoughtful present after all, presuming he really was a pure wizard. He passed the rest of the tube to a surprised Elena and told her to finish it. Suddenly she got very quiet, examining the thing as if it was an alien spaceship part, and picked out one small pellet to lick it experimentally. _It's not like I'm gonna poison you._

Ignoring the wizard trying out muggle candy for the first time, Neville picked up his next present. It was a lumpy looking parcel with rough to touch wrapping paper. His eyes widened as he picked up and examined the infamous Weasley jumper. It was hand-knitted by Mrs Weasley herself, thick and warm in the shade of navy that Neville liked most. _She probably figured the colour out from the T-shirt she saw me in twice… but I didn't think Weasley jumpers were V-necks.. She probably got busy this year and needed to cut some time. After all, she probably spends the entire year on this project considering the amount of jumpers she had to knit._

Accompanying the jumper was a box of homemade fudge, which made Neville's mouth water just by the smell. He noticed Elena's greedy eyes straying onto it and swiped it away from view. Mrs Weasley's cooking was notoriously renowned in the books.

Guarding his fudge and unwrapping the rest of his presents, Neville actually felt a tinge of warmth in his heart as he memorised the people he had to return gifts to. There were presents from his relatives in the room of course, all of which were books and candy. _When did I get the image of being a bookworm? I plead guilty about the candy though…_ The other two in the Trio did not actually send him anything, though Ron's was considered in the one from Mrs Weasley and Harry did not really have a chance for shopping. To his surprise, and much delight, he was sent presents from both Draco and Hannah Abbott.

Draco's was an elaborate, and probably quite expensive, piece of… well, something that you put around to decorate the house. Neville did make out it was related to Quidditch though and Draco's accompanying note also read: _Merry Christmas. Father is bringing me on holiday in Australia and we had dinner with the national team there. You should really get more into Quidditch._

Hannah's present was also some candy, which finally made Neville repent for the reputation he built for himself. She also sent him a letter about drafting the proposal that would be presented to Dumbledore, along with the expected insecurities

blatant between her words. _I have to write and tell her about Hermione's ideas anyway… she really isn't as incapable as she thinks she is. I'll probably have to spend a good amount of time reassuring her when this organisation really gets underway._

" Did a girl send you these letters?" Elena was trying very hard not to sound interested as she stole glances at the letters Neville were reading. She had only caught glimpses of the handwriting and, from female instincts, knew it was from a girl.

" Yes, two." Neville packed up his things, ready to take them back up to his room.

" Well, boys from Beauxbatons sent me presents as well you know!" Elena quickly picked one out of her tall stack of presents as if that was proof enough. " You should see Valentines Days! I get so many chocolates and gifts I don't even know what to do with them."

" Good for you." Without looking back, Neville made his way to Dracula, who was currently trying on a profligate purple hat, to ask him about where the study and owlery were. Neville would probably get hell from Trevor if he did not bribe the owl with a lot of treats – especially when he needed him to fly back to Britain. _He can't be in a worst state than Draco's owl, Australia is on the other side of the world after all._

0

0

0

A/N: This is almost like my first battle in the story. Anyway, some didn't like the time away from the Trio is good, but it's necessary for the plot I have in mind. This fic's main character is a dimension-travelled Neville after all and not Harry, or Ron, or even Hogwarts. Reviews much appreciated.

About that Arcane/Elemental stuff – cliché as it sounds, it won't be around until a while yet. Plus, I'll try not to make a Super Harry/Neville scenario... but there'll be new ways to do combat instead of sending laser lights.


	12. Book 1 Chapter 11

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

Finally getting tired of Elena's attitude, Neville decided to teach her a lesson. In the 'snowball fight' between them, he finally showed the results of his hard work in front of his relatives. On Christmas day, Neville received presents from his friends, and letters on the planning of the inter-house committee.

Chapter 11 – This is the way to master a spell.

Comparing to the last few Christmases spent with Gran, Enid, and Algie, there was still that same cosy and homely feeling while going through the family duties with the Drakuls. Granted, there was the extra chirping Elena who was still to let go of Neville as a dog would to a chew toy. Though with her addition, and being a guest of the castle, Neville had withdrawn less from the annual eggnog and fireplace sessions than he did the last few years. After all, the true Neville Longbottom was dead, and if the others found out his body was taken over by a consciousness from another world, they might even possibly hate him.

" Neville dear, would you like another piece of Yule Log?" Gran asked and broke Neville's gaze out from the window. It was a typical winter morning, even with intervals of light snow, but he had always liked snow.

" No, I'm fine thanks." Neville got up and excused himself from the company, but not before Elena added the fact the he had already eaten most of the Yule Log.

Retreating to the study, Neville inhaled the scent of the ancient tomes he had grown familiar with for the past few days. There was a wealth of knowledge here that Neville had not found at the Hogwarts library. Most importantly, it was on the field of magic he had always dreamed of since he had arrived in this world.

Maybe it was from the influences of video games, but he had always wanted to do the visually awesome spells in the RPGs. Sure, one Avada Kedavra would drop anything dead, but compare that with being chased by a Fiendfyre induced dragon and the little beam of green light seem much less menacing. _I'm sure there was some research saying a man rushing at you with a sabre on horseback is actually psychologically more traumatising than being pointed at with a gun._

He would actually have loved to learn Fiendfyre if it was not for the fact that it would turn into sentient creatures that the user had no control over, which he had read from his past research into Dark Arts. Just as the case with Slytherins, there was nothing wrong with learning and using the Dark Arts according to Neville. Durmstrang legally teaching it as a class was a good example, and it once again just depended on how the power was used.

He realised that though the Hogwarts library had plentiful resources on magic, there really were not many offensive spells and the ones he found were as weak as Bluebell Flames. More than once he had wanted to sneak into the Forbidden Section with the Temporarily Invisibility Potion if it was not for that blasted Madam Pince putting nasty curses around it. Neville was just an average eleven year-old regarding other areas of magic after all, and breaking through was not an option.

After getting the whereabouts of the castle's study from Dracula, who spent a significant amount of time bragging about the collection in it, Neville's hopes were once again refuelled by the discovery of some old recordings. Supposedly, Fiendfyre itself was developed from a branch of Arcane magic, an art that thrived almost a millennium ago, which no living soul, or even ghosts, today had knowledge of.

_I wonder if Dumbledore would know about this… but asking him about it is impossible with the amount of questions he'd ask me on why I would want to learn it in the first place. I can't just say, "just because I think it's cool."_

The Elementals, as Neville had referred it to, was another branch in the ancient Arcane magic that controlled the four elements that cropped up in almost all video games. Though to a certain degree, Neville had manipulated fire during the snowball fight with Elena, he only did so through modern magic. He took the Bluebell Flames as inanimate objects, and using the Levitating Charm and Summoning Charm, were able to move in air in the set pattern he directed it to. The down side was that it required too much concentration, was not versatile, and very weak due to the flame itself. There were probably enough heat to melt some marshmallows for a barbeque but that was it.

Although Dracula's castle did have some useful excerpts, actual recordings about the Elementals were few and vague. Clearly, there had not been deep research into this area before, and history had layered upon the art just like dust and dirt. Not to mention the parchments were incomplete, torn and yellow. Worst, some were in Romanian or some old language Neville could not translate. He only hoped that he need not go into an archaeological profession just to learn more about it. Nevertheless, Neville was glad to have a clear direction hereafter for his research.

" I knew you'd be cooped up here you nerd!" Elena kicked opened the study doors as Neville flipped over another discoloured page. A dust cloud blew up from the floor that travelled past the orderly shelves. Unlike in the Longbottom Manor, the shelves in Dracula's Study did not have a single piece of paper out of place – though they were all layered with dust. He doubted Dracula was the type that read much.

" So how many titles do I have now?" Neville nerd-foreigner-coward-glutton-pervert Longbottom asked while he remembered every one of them.

" I wouldn't stand any of your cheek if it wasn't for Mummy telling me to get you," Elena found him almost immediately following his voice. Neville had been an only son in his past life, but he presumed this was how it felt to have an annoying little sister. " We're leaving soon by the Floo."

" I'll be right down after I get my cloak." Snapping the book he was reading close with one hand, he tossed it over his back, and waved his wand with his other hand. Coupled with his incantation was the sound of the book sliding back in its original position on the shelf. He liked incorporating magic practices into his daily life.

" Show off," Elena harrumphed and followed him. With how much she expressed her hatred for him, she had been his tail for most of the time he was here. He figured she just wanted to disturb his studies.

" You can do it too." Neville offhandedly stated while wondering about when he should start learning nonverbal spells.

" Of course!" Elena skipped to his side with a smile. " So have you ever driven a Rimehorn Aurochs sleigh before?"

" No." Neville knew Romania was famous for its ski resorts, and he heard about Husky sleighs – but he probably needed to take Care for Magical Creatures to know what were Rimehorn Aurochs.

" Well, I have!" Elena, once again finding an aspect she reigned over, quickly continued. " Daddy brought me there last Christmas too. We even saw dragons in the reserve!"

" I thought we were only going sleighing." Neville got back to his room and quickly threw on the cloak hanging behind his door. It was given to Neville by Dracula as a Christmas present, and looked every bit like the one the man wore himself. Turned out this vampire cloak was made of special materials and enchantments that did not only stretch to fit its user, but was also resistant to the warmth and cold. A cloak for all seasons and was even self-cleaning and self-mending to a certain level.

" Ah well…" Elena paused as she watched Neville wrap the cloak around himself. She quickly composed herself though and shouted, " Stop acting like my Daddy by swishing that cloak around! You're far from being one of us proud vampires!"

" That's because I'm not a vampire." That response only got a rain of slaps on his arm. Frankly, he had fun pretending to be a classic vampire and often dragged his cloak about, hiding his face behind its collar. _No wonder Dracula acted the way he did – it was addictive._

Neville and company were going for a trip to the Eastern side of Romania for a change. Mrs Drakul had introduced with that ever-present smile of hers about how much fun they were going to have there, with the sleighing and scenery. She even said there were natural hot springs, which Neville now guessed were not so natural with the presence of nearby dragons. They were going to travel by the Romanian Floo Network, which Neville now considered as some sort of national train system that was individual to each country. The other way to travel was using Portkeys, which was more like travelling by aeroplanes.

Upon being expelled in a twist by a green fireplace again, Neville fanned his cloak out with a swing of his arm. He would say it was quite a spectacular vampire-like entrance if he saw himself as the others in the wooden cabinet obviously did. Some children even ran to their parents crying. The fireplace they exited was in the reception lobby under a tall slope for skiing, where visitors could have a rest and some warm cocoa.

" You must be the Drakul family!" A worker came and greeted them, to which Elena vehemently protested that Neville was not a Drakul. " We already have your sleighs waiting outside!"

Walking out onto the chilly but refreshing mountains, Neville's cloak blocked him from the winds as he squinted his eyes. There were various skiers and others sledging about the white slopes, enjoying their time in the snow. Snow blanketed the forest around them on this sunny side of the country and Neville could make out some puffs of steam in the distance, which he hoped were harmless hot springs.

The sleighs they were going on was pulled by two creatures that looked awfully like enlarged buffalos. Their horns were in the shade of an icy blue and swung in the air with a sound similar to hitting a crystal. Currently they were lapping up the snow on the ground as if it was some sort of delicacy. The sleigh cart itself looked quite ordinary though.

" I bet I can get to the summit before you!" Elena jumped onto one of the five sleighs and with a flick of the reins, the pair of Rimehorn Aurochs dashed up the slopes. _She really wasn't kidding about having driven one of these._

As Mrs Drakul shook her head while her daughter quickly grew into a small dot, she asked for help with that mischievous daughter. " Neville, could you please chase back Elena for us? We'll be heading towards the hot springs to the west, so come join us when you find her."

" There're only four sleighs left." Neville tried an excuse. He had thought the two children would share with one adult each, but Mrs Drakul reassured him that the sleighs could easily take up to two adults.

_She expects a mere kid like me to ride a sleigh? I'm not her deranged daughter!_ Neville glanced at old Al for help, but only saw him exchange a knowing glance with Dracula. _So much for that idea. Old Al wants me to get lost in the mountains! That's what it is, isn't it?_

Either way, not giving Neville time for another word, the other adults were already gone with the other three sleighs as fast as an assassination squad would move out for an operation. The two Rimehorn Aurochs stared back blankly at Neville, as if wondering why he was still standing there.

" Oh all right! You guys better listen to me!" Unfortunately, unlike wizard owls, Rimehorn Aurochs mostly did not understand human language. Almost falling off his sleigh at the abrupt start, and henceforth being dragged all around the mountain, never in a straight line, Neville quickly regretted his blind bravery.

0

0

0

It felt as if he was going uphill, as the Aurochs dodged past yet another tree, and Neville ducked under yet another branch. Instead of following the ski slope, or any hiking paths, the Aurochs rushed into the depths of the forest a while ago. Even for Neville, who was apt at exploring from Hogwarts castle, he quickly lost his directions and would not even be able to go back to the cabinet he started from even if he so wanted.

Eventually learning enough of the controls that he pulled the Aurochs to a halt, he was completely lost. _If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? …Damn it! I must be miles away from the cabinet now!_

Just as Neville wondered if he should just start heading straight downwards, blasting away any tree in his path, he noticed a roll of steam not far away from where he was. _It could be a dragon. It could be chimney. It could be a fire. It could be the hot springs. Heck, I don't think I'm that unlucky, I'll gamble._

" Mush!" Neville yelled and pulled at his reins. The Aurochs stayed quite still, licking a branch overhanging from one of the short trees. _I'm going to eat a steak tonight. Definitely._

After much effort, even more threats, and a few Reductor Curses later, Neville finally reached the origin of the steam. His gamble was half-won. Surrounded by trees was a large clearing full of rocks and stones. There were some hot springs – or it could just be very hot puddles of water. Steam seemed to be coming from underneath the ground though, which made Neville think again before stepping foot into the clearing.

Liking his steak medium rare, he prodded the Aurochs to step into the clearing first, and only followed when they did not seem to have flaming hooves after a few moments. During this time, Neville heard some noise behind a particular large boulder and carefully made his way towards it, wand in hand. Walking closer on foot, he slowly made out that there was a melody to the noise – actually it sounded feminine. Unsure whether harpies or sirens really existed, Neville gripped his wand tighter, side stepping slowly to try and see past the boulder.

_Okay, behind it is another puddle of water. But I see some ripples! Heck, did sirens not live in the sea? What's it doing in a puddle? Is this clearing the work of some dragon? What's harder to run from? Dragons or sirens? _

The melody stopped suddenly and a small object flew out from behind the boulder at the same time. Neville pointed his wand immediately at the object and could only blink his eyes repeatedly at what it was. _A bar of soap?_

" Oopsie-daisy! My so…soap…" Following that bar of soap was the source of the melody. A young girl, one arm covering her body with a towel and the other half-stretched towards the soap, stared back at the pair of wide eyes that were staring right back at her. Only the '_plank_' of Neville's wand falling out of his hand followed during the brief few seconds of complete silence.

" Ginny!" Neville's scream was not nearly as loud as hers though. " Hey! Why're you here! Eh? Wait, stop screaming! Hey! Ouch!"

Ginny screamed while flinging whatever she could get her hands on at Neville. " No! No! Now I'll never get married to Harry Potter! It's all your stupid stinking fault!"

Deciding her ammo was not enough, Ginny had ran back to the side of the hot spring and threw her clothes, broomstick, then proceeded to nearby rocks when she ran out of possessions. All Neville could do was evade her attacks with his eyes closed – which meant getting hit by them. This foolishness finally stopped, but not to neither of their relief, since it was spurred by a roar that was louder than the both of their screams combined.

Out of a pile of inconspicuous rocks erupted a pillar of flames high into the sky. It turned out the rocks camouflaged a deep underground cave where a dragon slept, avoiding the winter cold. Everything went well for the dragon's nap until he was stirred by Ginny's arrival. Her singing had initially soothed the dragon back to sleep, and all would be fine if it was not for Neville's intervention. For all their ruckus, the two of them were about to face a very crabby Romanian Longhorn.

" I-Is – Is that a dragon?" Ginny, completely frozen wit fear, loosened her hold on her towel.

" Whoa!" Neville was also stunned by the appearance of the dragon, but luckily for the slip of the towel, otherwise he really would have stayed petrified until they were char-grilled alive. Immediately pulling off his Dracula's Cloak and wrapping it around Ginny, he lifted her with both arms in front of him and ran back to the sleigh.

_She feels so soft… and smells so nice… Hey wait! It doesn't matter! I'm not really eleven! Isn't this illegal!_ Very much contrary to the valiant saviour image Neville was externally displaying, that was the shameful thoughts going on inside his head.

For the first time since getting on the sleigh, the two Aurochs actually listened to Neville's commands and escaped into the forest. Ginny just stared dumbly up at Neville, who had one arm holding her to his side and the other lashing at the reins, and only one thought went through her head at that moment. It was not how brave he looked, or how selfless he was – she just wanted to know why bad things happened to her whenever they met. Nevertheless, she clung onto his cloak, which was surprisingly a perfect fit, and pulled the lingering warmth and trustworthy smell tighter around her.

Giving a glance back over Neville's shoulder, Ginny's eyes widened as the dark-green monster thrashed away a tree in its path with its powerful golden horn. She quickly decided never to look back again and buried her face in Neville's chest, sparing her other arm around his neck. If anything were to happen to her, she was determined that Neville had to take responsibility.

Neville by now recognised no matter how good at dodging trees the Aurochs were, it was only a matter of time before the Longhorn, travelling in a straight by tearing down anything in its way, would ultimately catch up and devour their remains. Just at that moment, they passed something that jarred with the rest of the branches in the forest.

" Did you fly here on a broom?" Neville did not know how fast brooms were, but if they were to climb over the treetops, they could travel in a straight line and that had to be faster than the Aurochs.

" Yes, I threw it at you and it shot away somewhere." Ginny, after being reminded of the prior embarrassing 'incident', regardless of their current life and death situation, started punching Neville with her tiny fists. " Why are you even here? It's all your fault!"

" My fault? Why were you naked in the middle of a forest in the first place?"

" I was in the hot springs!"

" Do hot springs have dragons living under them?" Neville quite obviously won the argument here.

" How was I supposed to know? Charlie said there were natural hot springs next to the reserve and I raced him there." Ginny was now adamantly averting her gaze. " A-and – and then I saw that place there in the forest and thought I'd won."

" Who would put a hot spring inside a dragons reserve?"

" We're still in the reserve?"

" How am I supposed to know!"

" You should've seen a sign!" From avoidance, Ginny rebounded back in a flash and carried on berated him with a flaming face .

_Oh yeah, a big green dragon is chasing us, and you have time to argue? What are you? Ten years old? …Actually, that might be about right…_

Truth was, Neville probably missed the sign on his way being led all around the mountains by the Aurochs. Neville just shut his mouth, feeling the heat of the Longhorn's flames getting hotter and hotter. Pulling on one side of the reins, which was one of the tricks he learnt during his earlier mad dash, the Aurochs skidded left and then at once hit the ground running again in a completely different direction. The Longhorn, who could not halt as quickly, flew several yards down the original path, bulldozing some trees. With a heavy beat of the wings though, it steadied itself and shot after them again.

Neville gritted his teeth, trying to remember where they past the broom. If only he had not dropped his wand, this would be so much easier. _Who needs to practice the Disarming Charm if you can just conjure a half-naked girl instead?_

" Hey! Ginny, hold the reins and keep going!" Neville shouted when he saw the broom, trapped struggling in a tangle of branches a few feet off the ground. It was twisting around trying to free itself, probably semi-malfunctioning due to the absence of a rider and had it thrown at Neville's head.

" What? Are you crazy? I've never –" Completely ignoring Ginny's response, Neville had already leapt from the sleigh, hands gripping onto a low branch just as they passed under it.

" Me neither!" He shouted after her, but was probably drowned out by the Longhorn that sped past him.

" I hate you!" Was all Neville could hear as Ginny was chased into the trees by the green dragon. _How much of a bad guy do I look to her right now?_

Turning back to the task at hand, Neville swung his legs up and caught onto another branch. He did not climb trees much, but this was a dire situation and it only took him a few leaps and scrambles before catching a hold of the broom handle. At that moment, he lost his footing and plummeted downward with the broom.

" Up!" Bellowing out whatever he learnt from his flying lessons at Hogwarts saved his imminent kiss with the ground. With a shudder, the broom shot straight upwards like an arrow. _Heck, is this always the way I'll mount a broom?_

He was out above the treetops in flash and clambered into a sitting position. He then leaned forward and pulled down the nose. The broom shot forward, the wind hitting his face so fast he could hardly breathe. Nevertheless, he kept his eyes squinted open and spotted the steam coming from the clearing not far away – where his wand was. He directed his broom towards it while keeping an eye out for Ginny, but she was regretfully nowhere to be seen. _Damn it! What the heck repayment is this if I lose her daughter for the fudge and sweater Mrs Weasley gave me!_

Coming back to the hot spring, and doing an otherworldly dive that no one, himself included, would ever see again, Neville's wand was back in hand. Executing his most familiar trick of sharp ascent, he hoped he could spot a glimpse of Ginny's red head through the haze of white and brown below. He involuntarily thought about how Harry's eyes would be much better suited for this moment. With how he could pick up a fast-moving miniscule Snitch, Neville had never even played Quidditch before.

Thoughts reaching here, he was once again chased back to the idea that stumped him during the school year. Fate as they called it now – or just the plotline in his original world. Harry would have no problem saving Ginny, just as how Hermione was so head-over-heels with Ron now. Ginny would probably still be alive if he was not to do anything right now – just because it was Fate. Right?

" Why are you reverting back to that idea anyway? Didn't Hermione already make you see… Heck, this is definitely _not_ a time for melodramatic crap like this!" Neville tightened his hand over the wand. " Yes, I've already messed this all up! I'm no longer the original Neville! Neither is anyone else! Now think! …! _Accio_ _Sleigh_!"

Pointing his wand straight upwards towards the sky, a crash could be heard below him. Bursting out of the sea of trees a second later was the sleigh, which rose under the weight of the two flailing Aurochs that did not know what hit them. Neville saw Ginny hanging on with her life to the reins, dangling higher and higher into midair.

Ginny knew this was the worst time to look down – but no one could ever help themselves from doing exactly that in such a situation. At least below her was not the expected fall. Below was the gaping jaws of the Longhorn that took flight after her, set with shiny sharp fangs that would pierce skin on the slightest touch. Her eyes finally started to swell, and she felt herself closer and closer to crying just as she felt her fingers sliding gradually off the rough texture of the reins.

" Harry!" Ginny screamed as she lost grip of her lifeline. Her eyes were clamped shut, waiting to experience the pain of the dragon's jaws clamping her together.

" UP DAMNIT!" Neville did not know the specs of the broom he currently had, but it heeded to his command even after the sharp dive that could break even a Nimbus Two Thousand.

At the hairpin moment when Ginny was suspended in the air between the sleigh and the Longhorn, Neville had cut underneath her, even feeling the warmth and stench from the dragon's mouth right beneath him. He sworn he had even kicked the Longhorn in its front teeth before screaming for the broom to do a Longbottom Ascent.

" Neville!" Ginny shouted in shock under the gravity they were experiencing during the ascent. Her eyes had finally opened when the expected pain did not come and she stared dumbfounded up at her saviour.

" Sorry I'm not Harry Potter! But after this close shave, we at least break even for that 'incident' before!" Neville shouted back, but he did not have time to wait for her response. Dragons could fly too, and after the unfortunate sacrifice of the two Rimehorn Aurochs, the Longhorn continued after the duo that disturbed his slumber.

_That dragon must be a female to be this cranky! It might even be its time of the month._

Thoughts once again contrary to his externally gallant performance, Neville pushed the broom handle to sharply change direction again in the air. This time without the hindrances of trees, he was free to accelerate and turn however he wanted – not to mention how he knew how to control a broom instead of that sleigh. The Longhorn was having a hard time keeping up, even if it started breathing streams of fire behind them.

" Neville! Your hair is on fire!" Ginny started patting the tip of the spike that was caught in the last assault of the flames with her cloak.

" Oh that's it! No one messes with my hair!" Neville spun round sharply and actually flew back into the dragon's face. Of course he remembered the magic resistance of dragon scales and he needed to get closer to aim for its eyes. He knew he only had one shot at this. " I didn't want to do this in a dragon protection zone! Forgive me Charlie! This is all for your sister!"

Unleashing a roar at the supposed capture of its prey, the Longhorn accelerated towards the two of them with the tip of its golden horn. Ginny's scream did not hinder Neville as he executed a barrel roll away at the last moment while shouting an incantation, " _Depulso!_"

The dragon and the broomstick passed each other in midair. After another second, the dragon howled in pain and agony as one of its eye were probably blown way back in its socket by the Banishing Charm. Not waiting for it to recover, Neville dived back into the thick of the forest. Running away was one thing, but the forest was great for hiding, and the dragon would just thrash and lumber about aimlessly in its half-blinded state. Neville had no idea where he was heading, but at least it was away from any sources of steam.

Neville would remember for the rest of his life how he mastered the Summoning and Banishing Charms by battling a Romanian Longhorn.

0

0

0

A/N: You guys can look back and you'll find the Weasleys went to visit Charlie in Romania in book one. I could only assume Ginny tagged along and not been dumped with a baby-sitter.


	13. Book 1 Chapter 12

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

Neville spent his Christmas holiday in Romania, and went on a trip to the eastern ski and hot springs resort – that was right next to a dragons reserve. He is unexpectedly reunited with Ginny Weasley, but his 'joys' were very quickly chased away by the sudden appearance of a Romanian Longhorn (a dragon).

Chapter 12 – Being rammed by the truth?

Once again Neville had to suffer the exaggerated gnawing and chewing noises from opposite the table, courtesy of Elena. It was night time now and they were having dinner back at Dracula's castle. The Weasleys, at least the ones that were in Romania, were also invited to have dinner together.

Charlie, who did not imprint many impressions from the books, looked similar to Ron but was built even heftier than the twins. His freckles really were overloaded to a level that Neville counted them as a single scar spanning his face. He probably did not start his job for long, but he was already very tanned, and probably for the same reason, his inexperience earned him burns on many areas of exposed skin. He sounded like a pretty easy-going guy, but was pretty boyish from the winks he kept throwing Neville all through dinner after hearing about the 'incident'.

Mr Weasley, with the same trademark Weasley hair he passed onto his kids, was a thin man with an awful sense for picking glasses. Neville knew where Ron got his lankiness from, but Mr Weasley was still not tall enough to hide his balding head from view. He was a guy that Neville had good impressions of since the books, especially with his amusing fascination with muggle stuffs, and he completely forgot about the 'incident' within minutes after talking about car engines.

Mrs Weasley was still the same old plump woman that Neville remembered. He thanked her for the fudge and sweater, which he was wearing at the moment they met each other. She was amazingly touched, saying how if only her children appreciated it half as much as Neville did and promised him another one for next year. Regarding the 'incident', she of course overlooked it and was completely at a loss at how to repay the person who saved her daughter's life twice already.

The 'incident' was dictated, to the displeasure of Neville, in its entire truth thanks to Ginny's intervention. He would otherwise had very gracefully covered up here and there, possibly even skipping over the 'incident' all together and diverted his report's attention fully on the battle with the dragon.

_Did Mrs Weasley ever teach Ginny that telling others she was seen in the nude was not a good thing? I so wanted to just cover it up but nooo… It's all that half-vampire's fault anyway! Who cares if we turned up with her in my cloak? And why would she point out Ginny was not wearing shoes, and eventually, anything at all underneath. By that point, if I didn't tell the truth, then things really would've been messy trying to explain where Ginny left all her clothes. I'm not Pedo Bear damn it! _

" You just glanced over at her didn't you," Elena spat out with all her venom as she cut through the small conversations that was going on around the table. " You just looked at her. You pervert."

Neville dropped his cutlery and threw up his hands. " Seriously! We were being chased by a bloody dragon! I can't exactly go around picking up little panties while being set on fire!"

" Elena!"

" Neville!" Mrs Drakul and Gran rebuked simultaneously. Charlie once again looked as if he was going to suffocate keeping himself from laughter. Mr Weasley would have actually laughed if Mrs Weasley did not give him a warning frown. Ginny's chin was touching her chest as she blushed to her roots – the colour of her hair and face were not much different now. Though Elena was angry at Neville, she did not seem to take Ginny to heart much either to embarrass her with the 'incident' like this at almost every chance she had.

" So, Neville," Mrs Weasley quickly changed the subject. " How is Ron doing at Hogwarts?"

" Oh yes, he's doing great." Neville quickly took up her line of conversation, his face clearly posed sideways for Elena to glare at. " Great at the Levitating Charm, even used it to battle a troll."

" Oh that's nice – A WHAT?" Mrs Weasley's reaction clearly showed him Ron did not tell her about that. " He was battling a troll? How on earth did that ever happen?"

" Ah, yeah… a troll somehow got into the castle at Halloween. But he only did it to save a girl in our class…" Neville added quietly, " Who will most likely be your future daughter-in-law."

Again letting trouble slip from his mouth, Mrs Weasley heard exactly what he added. " What? An indecent relationship at his age? Arthur! We're sending a howler immediately tomorrow morning when the post office opens!"

" W-wait! Wait! That's not what I mean!" Neville actually panicked. He had never thought he would somehow put Ron in so much trouble with just a mere few words.

It was already too late as Mrs Drakul leant her head to the side and commented, " Oh, children grow up so quickly nowadays."

" It's all just a misunderstanding! Ron doesn't like Hermione's nagging and she thought the chocolates were from him but it really isn't but I'm not saying he doesn't like her back or at least in the future – BLURH!"

" I see it's complicated." Gran calmly pointed a wand at Neville to clear his throat from the dumpling that got stuck there.

" Mrs Weasley, Ron is safe, behaving, and fine." Neville, after gathering himself again, gave her a serious look and put a firm note in his tone.

Mrs Weasley studied him for second, then smiled in that motherly way and nodded. " I believe you Neville. Please watch over Ron when you get back, he can be such an idiot at times."

" I will." Neville breathed a short sigh of relief.

" Um… what about… Harry Potter?" Neville really would have thought he just heard a mouse if he did not understand English.

" He's fine too Ginny," Neville sighed again, but this time shaking his head. _Fate eh?_ " He's suiting into the wizarding world very well. So far, his time at Hogwarts is probably the best ever in his life."

" Who would have thought that thin little boy was the famous Harry Potter back at King's Cross," Mrs Weasley recounted. " He looked so frail back then. I sent him some fudge but I'll have to ask Ron to invite him to the Burrow for summer. That boy really needs some good cooking down him. Neville, please feel free to join us as well if you don't have anything else planned."

" Thank you very much Mrs Weasley," Neville tried not to laugh while imagining her cramming food down Harry's mouth as if she was stuffing a turkey. " And thank you for the fudge too. It's incredibly delicious."

" This guy's only good at eating." Elena's snide remark caused a round of laugher around the table.

Dinner soon ended in a merry mood, and with the festive season still to be completely left behind, alcohol was once again flowing in the drawing room. Charlie was laughing with old Al as they cheered to another pint of mead. Dracula levitated his glass of Firewhisky as he showed off his new purple hat to the Weasleys. Excusing himself quietly, Neville slipped out to the balcony.

The balcony had vines growing up it on the outside like those old castles imprisoning princesses, but the platform itself was very clean. Two small statues of vampire bats were on either ends of the banister, but were partially covered as the long red curtains inside were swept about in the gentle breeze of the night. Putting a hand on the sandstone-like banister, Neville watched the gentle snow that had began to fall and caught a flake in his hand. He had his drunken parties before in his past life, but he never liked the hangovers afterwards.

" Yooo Neville!" Another thing Neville disliked about excessive drinking was taking care of the drunks. " What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

" Ginny…" Neville held onto her arm before she tipped over the banister. While waving him away, muttering how she was perfectly fine, Neville sighed. " You completely stink of alcohol."

" Oh yeah, dad left some Firewhisky for me to try." The sentence was very timely followed by a hiccup. " So why're you out here all on your lonesome?"

With a bemused smile, Neville turned to watch the snow again, but keeping attention on the staggering girl beside him. " I wonder what Harry's views are on underage drinking."

" I lowve Harry Potty!" Ginny threw her short arms in the air in celebration. " If only – if only I'd seen him that day when you guys were boarding the… Hey wait! Oh yah, you fell out with him didn't you… And my brother! Ron told me in a letter! Why?"

" We made up, didn't he tell you? It was something trivial." Neville figured with how protective Ron was of her, it was not surprising for Ginny to receive private letters instead of those for Mrs Weasley. He caught Ginny smirking while he mentioned the troll earlier.

" Oh come off it! About a lame bet?" Ginny gave him a light slap on his chest, and he really had to catch her this time before she fell. " I was probably the only one who understood what you said at dinner, because I know the whooole thing. You were jealous!"

" Excuse me? I'm having problems following your line of thought." Neville quickly rolled his eyes, " Oh yeah, you're drunk. Come on, I'll get you back inside."

" Give me that cloak!" Not waiting for a response, she already stole Dracula's Cloak from his shoulders. " Ah… this cloak is so warm, you know that?"

" Yes, it's magical. Now I don't want to freeze, again. Let's go."

" You were jealous! Je-Lous!" Ginny once again picked up from her last thought.

" Okay, jealous whatever. Let's –"

" You lowve that girl don't you? That Her-min-ninnie Ron mentioned."

A snowflake happened to fall on Neville's head at that moment, but he felt as if the weight of a mountain had crashed upon him. Replaying that day at Hagrid's hut in his head, Neville's memories highlighted how he had only got angry after Hermione put in a good word for Ron. _I can't have possibly fallen out with them just because she took his side right?_

Then looking back to the night they apologised, and the moment Hermione clearly admitted she sided with Ron, Neville literally saw in his mental image a red circle being drawn around his retracting hand that patted her on the head. Then a few moments after that, there was an evident frown on his face as he nursed his sore arm – but possibly not because of the arm. _Not, it must be the arm. She did hit pretty hard._

Just as he was about to dismiss the notion, his brain involuntarily played through everyday moments where he had unconsciously been against Ron. Purposefully making sure he rejected Ron the most during their argument, like in Potions. Picking Lavender Brown, who Ron would go out with in the future, to be Draco's target. Frowning only at Ron as he took some of his chocolates. Many scenes of him being harsher towards him ever so slightly in the daily life that he had not done before Hermione and Ron made up at Halloween.

_No, _I_ was the one who covered up the fact that I sent the chocolates!_ Though he reminded himself that was before Hermione and Ron were even friends. Finally ending the wave of mental images, the scene where Hermione was the first to run over to an injured Ron at Halloween after defeating the troll stuck itself at the front of his mind.

" T-this… No way." It was Neville who fell to the floor on his butt this time. " I – I'm not from this world. I'm not eleven! How can I –"

" What're you babbling about?" Ginny raised an eyebrow as she stood watching him half-consciously with her eyes half closed. " Of course you're eleven! You look eleven, smell like eleven, and started Hogwarts this year – you are eleven years old! I wish I was eleven years old, then I can be in the same year as Harry Potter."

Ignoring the little drunk and the consequences she heedlessly led him into, Neville ran straight back into the castle, swept a bottle of Firewhisky from a very slow and red-faced Algie, and downed it.

0

0

0

Being the person that hung about Neville the most ever since his arrival in Dracula's castle, Elena obviously noticed the change in him after that night he drank so much he fainted into a soundless slumber in the bathroom. First, she thought it was just his hangover, but she never heard of hangovers that lasted the whole week.

The Weasleys stayed the night they were here, but left next morning, with that girl Ginny having completely lost memory of the night before. Elena laughed inside her heart at the little girl and was proud of the fact that she did not even get weak at the knees after half a bottle of nettle wine. She proudly decided it was the vampire blood in her.

Today was the day that the Longbottoms would go back to Britain. As they got off the horseless carriage in town, Neville was still in that distant mood, which Elena refused to believe had anything to do with the departure of Ginny. He had never once bit back at any jabs she threw at him throughout the past few days, and was a complete bore in the Study reading books as if he was deaf. This annoyed her greatly, especially when he was swishing around in that Dracula's Cloak her Daddy gave him.

" Stop it, you're not a vampire." Her comment did not have as much edge as they originally had. As expected, Neville did not take heed of her at all, and walked down the road with the wind blowing his black cloak out behind him.

" Neville, you're always welcome to visit again whenever you want." Mrs Drakul fixed the fastenings at the top of his cloak as they all got into a public telephone box, magically enlarged inside, which was actually an elevator leading down to the hall with the many fireplaces.

" Yes, yes young Longbottom! It was a pleasure having you as guests of the castle!" Dracula then added to the side of his ear, avoiding his wife who gave him a mean look. " And then we can duel again and see how strong you've become."

" Thank you, please come over to Britain when you have the time too so we can repay the favour." Neville answered politely. To the others, nothing was really different about Neville, but Elena always caught the moments he looked dazed behind the grownups. She had no idea what sort of problems he had, but she decided to give him a final push before he left.

" Hey, come here for a bit you idiot." Elena pulled him away from the others, who all exchanged a few smiling looks between them.

" Is that another one to my titles?" Neville retracted his hand from her grasp, which had wakened him from his thoughts, or rather, the knot he had been worrying over since his realisation that night.

_Okay, I seem to have… have strayed from the books a bit here with Neville. I even strayed from my original plan of charming all the hot girls, I mean Hermione isn't exactly pretty at this stage and – Ah, but all that doesn't matter now. The most important thing is how I'm gonna deal with Hermione and Ron and… Heck, maybe I can go sit with the Slytherins again._

" Listen to me you," Elena recovered from the blush she got from impulsively taking his hand. She snapped her fingers and started berating. " What is it that's bugging you for the past few days?"

" Nothing interesting –"

" If it's 'nothing interesting' you won't have that sorry smile on your face! Don't treat me like the stupid kid that you are."

Neville found it quite amusing to be talked down to by the girl who was about five years younger than his mental age. Watching her with her hands on her hips, glaring at him with those faint red eyes, it made him feel quite strange. It was comforting that he had a second cousin that was worried about him despite how she always put up a face of irritation while doing so – but also a bit irritated himself at getting lectured by a kid.

" You know, since the first time I saw you I hated you!" Elena continued, her fang teeth bared since they were longer than average. " You think you're not being arrogant, but you are! More arrogant than I am! You always act as if you're some old man that knows everything in the world!"

" Haha," That made Neville laugh out loud and moved to pinch her on the cheek. " Ah you're too young to realise –"

" And so are you!" Slapping his hand away roughly, she prodded him on the chest. This was the first time she had ever agreed on something he said without a rebuke. " You're eleven years old and nothing will change that! Even younger than me! I don't know what it is you've been worrying about but I know you probably don't have to worry over it. Why don't you just try and stop acting so stuck up, and just… just do what you truly want for once?"

Her words, though he really did not want to admit it, made a bit of sense. Ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, he had been thinking less and less about his original plans. Did he not vow to change Neville's future? He got himself on newspaper, and Ginny to miss her brief meeting with Harry, and even tamed Peeves. As the year went on though, he cared about how Draco would turn out, the relationships between the Trio and others, what he should reveal about Voldemort, and even avoided Dumbledore whenever he could just in case they made eye contact.

_I'm a damn selfish person and _why_ the heck am I worrying about all those things? I've schemed about Ginny before right? Why did I not plot a continuation when I saw her a few days ago? Anyway if… and only if I really do like Hermione, then there is really nothing to stop me going for it, is there? She even helped me break out from being bounded by the books' plotline and I decided to 'just do it'. Well, as Elena said, I am just eleven. Time warp as it may, my life has gone back a few years, and my eleven years old identity really is my only one. I _do_ have every excuse to act like eleven!_

" I think you're onto something," Neville whispered, half to himself.

Elena sudden felt withdrawn at being recognised by him and avoided his eyes, " W-what thing?"

" I am really… just eleven and I can't ever change that… My only identity is a kid… Do you think I can sneak into the girl's baths without getting into trouble?"

" Pervert!"

" Neville! It's time to go!" In the middle of dodging Elena's fury of slaps, Gran reminded the two children that it was time to say goodbye.

Walking towards the fireplace, old Al's couple were the first to leave, and Gran would follow after Neville. Turning back for the last time to wave goodbye to the Drakuls, he spotted Elena standing behind her mother, adamantly looking in the other direction.

" Hey Elena, you're a pain in the ass." Elena gasped and took a step towards him, drawing her wand. _At least it really did get her attention._ " But come visit some time."

With that, Neville, once again with a fan of his cloak, walked through the free fire. Gran apologised laughingly for her grandson, which the Drakuls of course did not take to mind, and followed after him.

" Elena, let's head back shall we? You're leaving for Beauxbatons tomorrow too." Mrs Drakul led her daughter, who was still staring transfixed at the fireplace, back towards the elevators.

" So my dear, what do you think of young Longbottom?" Her father's question seemed to have jolted her back down to earth.

" What? That idiot? …He's alright I guess." Elena gave a small harrumph after that. Her parents, of course knowing the temperaments of their daughter very well, only shook their heads at each other.

In the clearing not far outside town where Neville first arrived in Romania, old Al was already waiting on one of the stone platforms as he waved Neville and Gran towards them. Funny enough, old Al asked him the same question.

" Elena? She's an okay kid, a bit too… vampire-like if I have to use your drunken words." Neville reminded old Al the night he and Charlie had a drinking contest. Old Al lost quite miserably, explaining the blush he developed right now at the reminder.

" Oh yeah? Well she –"

" Now, now Algie." Gran stopped right there. " Let's just let things go the way it goes. That's what we've all agreed upon even before we got here."

Neville was then reminded of the scheme that he was seemingly thrown into by this trip. He had completely forgotten about it until now after Ginny made him realise his alternate reason for falling out with the Trio. Though he did somehow get himself into life-threatening dangers again, old Al did not once seemed to have dabbed a hand in it. Gran gave him a meaningful look as if to say she understood the whole situation and what he was curious about, but was not about to reveal the answer yet because 'it was not time'.

_That's why Harry hates being left in the dark by Dumbledore. Now I know how it feels…_

0

0

0

Neville, after a long lecture on things to keep away from, Mountain Trolls included, finally boarded the Hogwarts Express. Stepping onto the train, he took a glance back out the door, only to find Gran smiling devilishly again.

" Are you searching for that friend of yours Neville? That polite young lady?" Gran metaphorically shot an arrow on bulls-eye.

" It's only logical. She could've got the dates wrong because she's a muggle-born." Neville quickly changed the subject. " Please tell me Gran, what was it that the Drakuls and you had planned with this Romanian trip?"

" Hoho, I know there is nothing we can hide from this smart grandson of mines." _I really wonder how happy the original Neville would get if he heard this._ " Well I can tell things aren't as simple as we had thought, so there was a slight change of plans. But it'll all turn out for the best I'm sure."

" Stop that smile. Seriously." This was probably the only time Neville talked to his Gran with a lack of respect, but it only made her look taken back for a second, then widen her smile.

" Have a good year Neville," Gran went up to hug him, which he found awfully embarrassing. Hermione chose that exact moment to walk in through the other carriage.

" Neville! I've been looking for you! Hello Mrs Longbottom," Hermione did not seem fazed and politely greeted Gran again.

" Why hello dear, had a good holiday? Well, I should be going. I'll leave Neville in your care." Gran, who continued to wear that godforsaken smile, waved farewell and headed away down the platform.

" Aw, I'm jealous of you Neville. My grandparents live overseas so I don't see them much," Hermione had with her a trunk that Neville helped into an empty compartment.

_What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to act? Do I really like this girl? Why does she not look as young as she should? Is it because I've been a kid for too long. Heck, I am a kid. What?_

" Neville? Neville!" Hermione was actually explaining what was in her trunk, which were just miscellaneous new books. " Are you even listening to me?"

" Y-yes, of course. Great book that… that… So what did you do through Christmas?" Neville quickly changed the subject at her sceptical look.

" The same old. Being with my family, eating turkey – and _not_ getting a Christmas present from a certain somebody."

" Ah, yes… I think it better to give presents in person. More sincere that way." Neville quickly fumbled in his backpack for the book he bought in the Romanian dragons reserve. " Here, this is a book on dragons. I'm sure you'll find it useful."

" Thanks!" Hermione's eye lit up and quickly flipped through the pages. Books were probably the best present on any occasion to give to this girl. " But one: I really don't know why you think it'll be useful. It's not like we'll even deal with real dragons in Advance Care for Magical Creatures. Two: Christmas gifts should be given at Christmas. Just admit you forgot to send out presents."

" Okay, I admit it…" Neville quickly avoided the playful glare she threw him. _What am I? Eleven? Well – yes I am, but I can at least act a little less disgraceful in the face of a girl…_ " Um, thanks again for your present by the way. I've always liked Millions."

" You've tried those sweets before already? Well, as long as you liked them. Oh yeah, where were you during the holidays? Trevor looked absolutely exhausted when I got your letter back."

" Romania?" Neville shrugged as best as he could.

" What? No wonder! How can you be so cruel? Trevor might be fat but to get him to fly that far!" Hermione raised the book she just got and was about to hit him when she stopped. " Actually… there is something I want to ask you."

Squinting open an eye behind his defence Neville asked, " What?"

" Trevor sometimes come and steal some of your breakfast right?" Neville's body immediately froze as she continued her deductions. " I remembered the owl that gave me the chocolates on my birthday looked familiar. That owl was Trevor wasn't it? I'm sure there isn't anyone else in the school with such a big owl, and the postal service won't use one either."

" Well…" Neville took a deep breath. " There's something I've been meaning to ask you as well. Why did you think it was Ron who sent you the chocolates."

" W-why?" Hermione immediately went bright red and hid her face behind her hands, averting her eyes. It seemed whenever confronted with this topic, her brain would start malfunctioning. " W-well… I-it can only be him right? He risked his life to save me from that Mountain Troll during Halloween. And he was so cool taking it out with such a simple spell… Oh wait! I _get_ it! It was you!"

_H-how did things sudden turn out like this so simply?_ Neville's eyes widened as she pointed straight at his chest. He had given his feelings more thought and it always ended up with a messy battle between his now and former self. While reading the books, he had never once thought Hermione and Harry would get together, and was on the Ron-Hermione ship all the way since they seemed to be absolutely made for each other. Coming into this world, actually getting to know Hermione though, somehow he started feeling closer to her than he was prepared to. _And to think it really depends on my whim whether they followed the plotline or not… Why did this happen! Hermione isn't even hot at this stage!_

Completely ignorant of Neville's silly internal struggles, Hermione pouted. " I had been wondering how Ron knew my birthday when I haven't told him! You told him! And then he asked to borrow your owl right? And how mean! You pretended not to know at all when I told you in the common room!"

Ignoring how Hermione flew into his arms and hit him with light punches, Neville's gaze softened, looking into that red face of hers. _Did girls really get this stupid when they're in love? Elena told me to do what I want right? Well, I'm blaming it on you, my gut instincts._

" You were the one who bubbled over and told me everything that night." Neville only received another round of punches and slaps to his chest. Putting a hand on her head and ruffling her hair finally got her to jump back. " Well… you know what I think? After getting to know both of you in person… I really think you two would make a great couple."

Neville took a deep breath after voicing his final verdict and before Hermione could drop back to her Ron-adoring mode, began to talk about some Romanian dishes he tried through the holidays.

0

0

0

A/N: Ron/Hermione ship? Possibly… Anyway, thanks everyone for the reviews. Managed to write more with the motivation :D. Was busy so didn't update until now, but my updates aren't really regular. Better to use Author Alerts boys and girls.


	14. Book 1 Chapter 13

Synopsis: Selfish, bold and equipped with knowledge of the future and his past life, Neville Longbottom settled into his first year of Hogwarts. Neville continued to change his future – and also the future of those around him.

Neville, with the help of a drunk Ginny, realises another reason for falling out with the Trio before. He quickly resolved it though and cemented the misunderstanding of Hermione towards Ron, truly thinking they would make the better couple. Now back at Hogwarts, he'll have to deal with another by-product he created from entering this world.

Chapter 13 – Debate with Dumbledore.

" Where did you get that cloak anyway?" Hermione asked as they made their way up the rotating stairs in Hogwarts castle. " And why are you always swishing about? Are you trying to copy Snape?"

" Ah, no sorry." Neville still unconsciously tugged Dracula's Cloak in front of him. " This cloak is quite addictive to play with and Elena always hates it when I do this."

" Who's Elena?" Hermione perked up, but her answer was denied as Ron and Harry stormed them on the first step Neville took into the Gryffindor common room.

" Neville you prat! You fought a dragon?" Ron was the first one to confront him with a piece of parchment. No doubt it was a letter written to him by Ginny, and from his friendly attitude, the 'incident' was never mentioned. _I bet I'd be lying down with a very black eye right now otherwise._

" What? Fighting a dragon! Are you mad?" Hermione, who was within an inch of flying into Ron's arms at the reunion, suddenly changed direction and grabbed onto Neville's collar. " You could've been killed! A dragon! Do you know they're rated five X-es by the ministry? And not even that, depending on their breed and –"

" Hermione, Neville only did it to save Ron's sister." Harry explained and tried to calm her down.

" Oh! Is it that Elena you said?" Hermione pursued.

" What Neville? Already being unfaithful after what you did to Ginny?" The twins, appearing out of nowhere as always, joined in to tease him. " So that's the second time you've saved our little sister Mr Knight."

" Oh, thank you for saving my life, _again_, Sir Longbottom!" The twins carried out their play, which rendered the two other boys howling with laughter. Neville just shook his head, wondering if they did that with Harry in the original books.

Hermione nudged Neville on the ribs teasingly, " I never knew you're that popular outside school Neville."

" One of them is a brat who takes great joys in giving me cheek and the other is at the top of the Mrs Harry Potter shortlist."

" What?" Harry was closed to tripping over his own feet backwards after hearing that.

" Okay, we can all sit around the fire and share jolly good tales later. I'll just be handing out some long overdue Christmas presents now. Here Ron."

" Oh yeah! Neville you even got a Weasley jumper, we know!" Fred, or George, pranced on him the moment Neville pulled out a box from his bag. " Come on, hand it over. What'd you get us huh?"

Term would start the next day and after the twins got bored of watching Ron and Harry play with their new dragon chess sets, they went off to find Lee Jordan to prank Filch a last time – for the holidays. Only after they left did Harry start telling the two who were not there about the Mirror of Erised.

" If Filch had caught you." Hermione made a tut-tut sound.

" So the Invisibility Cloak eh? Can I give it a try too?" Neville wondered what the others would say if he told them he had been sneaking out invisible that since the start of the school year.

" Neville!" Hermione reproached to no effect as Harry promised him a trip about school with it some time.

Making a trip back to his dorm before heading to the Great Hall for dinner, Neville thought about the things he had heard from Harry and Ron and decide that the original plotline was still very much intact. That was apart from Mrs Weasley sending Ron a very angry letter about fighting a Mountain Troll, which cost Neville a fair share of his newly-refilled candy reserve. Trying to remember all the tasks they had to go through to get to the stone, the only one left was that large dog at the door.

_Oh wait… I'm just going to do what I want right? I think I really should just leave them alone with it. Sure, I don't want them dead, but it'll all be fine this year with Dumbledore around… Oh seriously, if three first years can get to the end of your so called high-security then what is stopping anyone else?_

Deciding on taking a page from Elena's book, Neville was determined to act like a normal eleven years old Hogwarts student. Until he saw the presents for Hannah and Draco. _A bit too late now to be normal. Well, I don't know how far my idea will go for this inter-house club, but I guess I'll just take it as an extracurricular activity._

Taking the gifts into the Great Hall for dinner, he found Draco and talked a bit about the holidays. The Hall was a lot noisier than usual because of the two weeks separation of many friends and there were gossips and catching up to do for everyone. In the meantime, Neville gave Draco his traditional Romanian handicraft. _What else can I give a boy as rich as he was? I just exploited the fact that he hasn't been to Romania._

" You know what I find strange?" Draco asked while Neville stuffed his face with Slytherin food. Funny enough, each house actually had a slightly different menu served for them. Gryffindors, as described in the books, had homely meals like steak pies and whatnot. The Slytherins actually had those high-up foods rich people ate, like smoked salmon and one time, even caviar. It was probably to suit each house's general taste and eating habits, but to Neville, all wizard food tasted good.

" What do you find strange?" Neville actually wished Draco's Australian trip had opened his eyes to the world. _Maybe he saw poverty and actually knew there're many people a lot less fortunately than he was and will now devote his life to charity work and –_

" I really am playboy material." Draco nodded to himself and Neville almost snapped the fork he was holding in two. " In Australia, the chicks just fall into my arms at a few silly words. Especially that time at the beach – it was summer there by the way – I dropped a stack of muggle notes whilst buying ice-cream. Those women just followed me everywhere for the rest of the day – too bad for them I'm not into muggles."

" Draco. I can see us having a long talk about this." Neville sighed, " But at least let me give my Christmas gift to Hannah first. Only the Hufflepuff's wide variety of desserts can brace me for this."

" Oh yeah, how is that proposal for Dumbledore going?" Draco's question surprised Neville very much. Draco caught his incredulous look and threw him a dark frown. " Get it here so I can take a look at it to check that she hasn't messed it up. Plus, when this club gets up and running, I won't believe that Lavender Brown won't fall into my arms coupled with what I've learned in Australia."

" As long as your heart is in it Draco." Patting him on the shoulder, Neville headed for the other table. _For whatever reasons initially, if it got him interested in communicating with the other houses, then it's a score._

Neville knew very well that in order to motivate any Slytherins to join, it would only happen after Draco, the vice-president himself, sincerely tried to make this committee work. Turning to search for his Secretary, Neville found her trading some Chocolate Frog Cards with Ernie Macmillan.

" Hey Hannah," She almost jumped a foot into the air after being tapped on the shoulder. _Still this edgy eh?_

Looking back and seeing it was Neville however, Hannah's previously scrunched up shoulders immediately broadened and growled. " You shouldn't sneak up on people like that Neville!"

" Why me?" Neville muttered to himself.

" I've finished drafting out the proposal by the way." Ernie smiled meekly at Neville for Hannah's blatant face change. Seeing this, she picked up her normal timidity again with a blush and asked, " When are we going to give it to Dumbledore?"

" Ah… Well isn't it better if we at least call a meeting before – Hey! Look what I got you Christmas!" Avoiding the subject quite bluntly, Neville pulled out a large box of Romanian Chocolate Frogs. Neville was still very scared of his eminent confrontation with the mind reader and wanted to procrastinate just a bit more.

" Move along Longbottom," Snape chose that moment to stroll into the hall. At one glance of Dracula's Cloak, his eyes narrowed. " What is the meaning of that cloak?"

Due to the pitying looks Neville could not help but gaze upon him with, Snape had always tried to treat the boy as thin air. Only that on more than one occasion lately, Snape had been mocked as having similarities to an overgrown bat. Just then, he had even caught a couple of Gryffindors doing so just outside the Hall. Seeing Neville with such an elaborate cloak indoors, he could not force himself to turn a blind eye on it this time.

Neville of course had no knowledge of his misleading outfit and explained, " Oh, I got this cloak for Christmas professor."

"Just like your friend Potter it seems you share the vulgar tendency to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Five points from Gryffindor for not abiding to the school dress code."

" Yes professor." _Just because you see James Potter in Harry, it pricked your memories regarding Lilly right? Oh Snape, I understand why you're being cruel to the boy, you just can't help it can you?_

" H-how dare you?" Snape pointed a shaking finger at Neville's face. For once, since Snape had willed himself to muster his best glare at Neville, which he had practiced for the whole Christmas to counter his pitying looks, Snape had managed to perform a semi-successful Legilimency. Initially he had wanted to see if Neville was really mocking him by wearing that cloak, but instead saw a scene Neville remembered from the movies at that moment. Although the re-enactment was by other people, Snape would of course realise it was the scene where he called Lily a mudblood.

" What? H-hey wait," Neville froze when Snape drawn his wand in his moment of panic and fury.

" Severus." Dumbledore's voice was not a boom, but had such a commanding tone that the whole Hall turned in their direction. That was if a student had not already turned this way from Snape's previous shouting. " Why do you have your wand in your hand may I ask?"

" I-I…" Looking with wide eyes, an expression completely contrasting with his usual composure, Snape switched his gaze between Neville and Dumbledore as if he was watching a tennis match. Finally, after a few moments of gapping his mouth like a goldfish, he spoke through gritted teeth, " I was just going to confiscate that cloak from Longbottom. It is not stated school wear and might even be a Dark artefact."

" Now, now Severus, you know the school doesn't have a very strict dress code. Plus, from what I can see, the cloak is of a vampire heritage." Neville instantly looked to the ground as Dumbledore turned to examine his cloak.

" Vampires?" Snape, now having regained most of his usual senses, grabbed the top of Neville's collar with his hand for a moment then sneered, " Indeed."

" Very well," Dumbledore smiled, radiating his charms, and turned back to the Hall calling out, " Okay everyone, back to your meals! Food is for eating and not leaving cold!"

With a backward glare that pierced like a sharp icicle, Snape whipped his cloak behind him and headed towards the staff table. Dumbledore patted his back and whispered something to him, probably asking him what the real reason for the confrontation was.

Neville let out a breath of relief as he stared after them. He had been too distracted by Snape's love for Lilly since their first meeting that he had completely forgotten Snape was a master of Legilimency and Occlumency. Neville did not know then that Snape had read more than his mere thoughts, but images from his past life even the Sorting Hat did not find. Hannah, who was sitting stiffly by his side, tugged him on his robe sleeve.

" Hey, I know you've just… just got shouted at by Snape." That was quite an understatement. Snape's eyes looked to have been able to kill. " But wasn't that a good opportunity to ask Dumbledore about our plans?"

" Oh… yeah…" Neville gulped. _Well, it's already been a tough day, and I've gotta do this sooner or later anyway, why not now?_ " I'll ask him now."

" What? That wasn't what I meant, you'll get –" Hannah sounded horrified at the thought of Neville walking back onto the sword-edge, but was already too late to be sorry.

" …Clearly I've been lacking practice in my Legilimency tech– Longbottom! What do you want now?" Neville had learned his lesson and kept his eyes to the ground this time. Even without seeing it, he knew Snape's eyes were now playing over millions of ways to torture him.

" Ah… right, I want to speak with Professor Dumbledore about something."

" Oh, and what would that be?" The old fox's pleasantly surprised tone could have fooled anyone. Though he was not doing anything wrong, Neville knew that after Snape's testimony, he was surely on a suspect list of Dumbledore's by now.

_Here goes nothing…_

0

0

0

" In summary, this new student-run committee would oversee social interactions between the four separate houses as a whole, including the organisation of events, gatherings, and meetings. It is therefore the club's aim to bring harmony in Hogwarts and encourage the students to share a common school spirit that is inhibited by their house affiliation."

Neville finished their speech, staring straight into Dumbledore's eyes, which were actually too busy scanning over their proposal once again. The old fox's clear disbelief was all under Neville's watchful eyes. He had not looked at him in detail since that day they first met outside the Quidditch stadium. Old people never seemed to grow old much though and Neville reached for his tenth Lemon Sherbet from the plate offered to them since the start of the meeting in the Headmaster's Office.

Hannah and Draco were with him also, explaining their proposal as part of the three high officials. Draco sat quietly beside Neville, as he had done during most of the meeting, and raised an eyebrow at the additional wrapper Neville put down on the table. Hannah was nervously twitching in her seat, her head lowered and was probably assuming she spelt something wrong in her proposal.

Neville was pretty relaxed though, determined their notion would be approved. Though they had used the house differences as a shield, and directed their club's spearhead towards that, the old fox must understand the massive implications behind it, and hence Neville's current attitude. Dumebledore was the 'Champion of Muggle-borns' after all, and had spent most of his life fighting against this blood prejudice. To have such a grave idea handed back to him like a piece of Lego from these three innocent kids would understandably render him unable to choose an appropriate reaction.

After what must have been an eon inside the head of a worried Hannah, Dumbledore finally put down the parchment and glanced back up at Neville, who once again met his eyes. " This is quite the concept you three have developed and I must applaud you for your spirits. However, do you know the serious obstacles you will face in establishing such an organisation? Even if you have approval from the school, it is entirely upon the student body in their way to receive you."

" Thank you for your compliment professor," Neville swallowed the sweet to talk in the business-like manner he had learnt on TV in his past life. " Your compliment also extends to the others who have helped us along the way, including Miss Granger and Mr Potter from my house. We are all fully aware of the problems we need to overcome in the future. "

" I see." Pulling out Harry, Dumbledore's special little student, only seemed to have made him furrow his brows more though. Neville decided to go straight this time, once again saying this while staring straight into Dumbledore's eyes.

" I know you are worrying about blood prejudices headmaster." Dumbledore's expression did not give, but Neville could tell he had at least scratched the surface. " However, have you ever thought about how this inter-house animosity is encouraging this notion? I am sure you would agree a child's experiences at a young age have great influences to their life as an adult. If we were to allow the different children to mix, regardless of their heritage and backgrounds, they would soon get used to it. By the time they leave Hogwarts, they would see that all wizards and witches were equal regardless of blood heritage."

Although Neville knew what he said was a bit risky in front of Draco, with just a sideward glance, he saw Draco observing Fawkes with great interests. Given Draco's personality and age, he was probably thinking of ways to persuade his father to buy him a phoenix, and would never take Neville's words merely for persuading Dumbledore to heart. Unfortunately, Dumbledore did though.

" I am astounded such complex thoughts came from the mind of one as young as yourself," Dumbledore was clearly attacking the fact that Neville was still an eleven year-old. Glancing at Draco, he continued, " but have you ever considered the reactions from some of the more… 'proactive' parents against this idea of equality? After hearing their children taking part in such an organisation, or the events or approach of it, they would surely ask the school to disband them."

" Could it be possible you have considered this notion before headmaster?" Neville was convinced he had. One of the reasons Dumbledore could not leave Hogwarts was because he took it upon himself the important task of influencing the children while they were still at their youths. " Then this is another reason for you to give us the go-ahead. It is one thing for the school itself to promote, or enforce certain ideas, but this is a completely independent organisation. 'Run by students, for the students'. It is not compulsory curriculum and all its dealings are completely voluntary. Just as how Hogwarts is a school for students from diverse backgrounds, it is the same case for this club. If they really had problems with it, they would not have allowed their children to enter this school in the first place."

" Interesting." Dumbledore brushed the long beard on his chin, to which Hannah looked up expectantly. Neville hid his frown, seeing the old fox was in fact taking time to build up another argument. Neville had never expected such a strong force of opposition from Dumbledore. " I think we've established what your aims and mottos are for the club. However, what is it that the club actually do? It mentioned in your proposal that you would like to provide more situations to increase social interactions between the houses, but as far as I know, Hogwarts already have numerous little clubs and societies that serves this purpose. There is the Quidditch tournament, Wizard's Chess club, Gobstone club, and even a Lemon Sherbet appreciation society I started a few years ago that still host its monthly meetings. And I am sure Mr Longbottom you would take a great interest in this club, seeing wrappers on my desk."

" The Quidditch tournament is part of the house cup. I am sure quite a few romantic couples from different houses had broken up just because one house lost to another." Pausing for a bit to think up another counter for Dumbledore, Neville continued after popping another Lemon Sherbet into his mouth. " All the clubs you have mentioned, yes including the Lemon Sherbet club, is very house inclined. Have you ever seen a Slytherin in the Gobstone club? Hannah, does the Wizard's Chess club have many members from your house?"

" Huh?" Hannah looked frantically between Dumbledore and Neville, and only after a reassuring smile from them both did she answer, " No, they don't go very much to the club. Others there keep saying they don't know how to play."

" As you can see professor," Neville posed as if he was a lawyer giving his closing statement. " House rivalry is encouraging on a friendly level. Too much, and it would just be a force of isolation from each other."

" That's it!" The Sorting Hat, who had inconspicuously sat on a stool since the moment they walked in, screamed out loud and shocked both Draco and Hannah. " Are you defying the wishes of the four great founders of Hogwarts? Are you saying students should all just be gathered together like a tray of sand and not have their individual talents ascended and mingle with others who thinks the same?"

" Of course not," Neville had never put the Hat into calculations, but as they said in warfare – expect the unexpected. " I know you don't have eyes, but do you remember the war with Voldemort?"

As if that was too much shock already for the night, Draco turned an even whiter pale on his face. Hannah just gasped and looked ready to fall off her chair. Not many people dared to say his name after all. Dumbledore looked on in what had to be increased confusion, and a tinge of expectancy at what Neville was about to say next.

" Of course I remember the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time! Those years at Hogwarts while at war were terrifying! I'll tell you at that time I –"

" Sorting Hat," Butting in before it wasted more of his time, Neville continued. " Please remember the years after the war. Many Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself were from Slytherin, am I right? Did you see any acts of bullying, at all, towards students of that house the years following the war?"

" W-why Dumbledore of course put a stop to that!" The Sorting Hat fumbled.

" So there were." Turning back to look at Dumbledore, he was showing a solemn expression, also thinking back to those days. " It is only human nature, after suspended time of oppression, to generalise and 'let out some steam' on the people related to their enemy. Just think headmaster. What if there is a second raising of Voldemort?"

Hannah really fainted this time, and Draco stood up on his chair and turned disbelievingly to Neville. " What are you talking about man?"

" Just think Draco," Neville got to his feet as well. This was an opportune chance to slip in some manipulation. " Many people believe Voldemort isn't dead. It is possible for him to somehow regain his strength, call back his old Death Eaters, and wreck havoc again. Everything is 'fine' if he stays in power, but what if he's defeated again? Once was bad, but twice? No one in the wizarding world would ever trust another wizard from the Slytherin house ever again. If something goes missing, they would point to the first Slytherin at the scene. After graduating, would they be employed by anyone else apart from shops in Knockturn Alley?"

There were a few moments of stunned silence in the room while Neville gently put a hand on Draco's shoulder, the boy obviously rendered into deep thought, and sat him back down. Picking up a shaking Hannah from the desk, who was gripping onto Neville's hand quite tightly, he offered a few soothing words while keeping a watch of Dumbledore.

" I see you've truly thought thoroughly into this Mr Longbottom." The old fox, this time his face a complete brick wall in front of Neville, let slipped no emotions even in his tone. _He's serious now_. " However, because of these issues, you will have to give me much time to ponder my own thoughts into this matter."

" I see," Neville, for the first time tonight, avoided Dumbledore's eyes. However, he was not prepared to have spent all this time for nothing. " In that case, when would you give us a reply?"

After another moment of thoughtful silence, Dumbledore peered over his half-mooned spectacles and asked, " Am I right in thinking the highest positioned personnel of this organisation would be you Mr Longbottom, Mr Malfoy and Miss Abbott?"

" Yes." It seemed Neville really was still not a match for the old fox.

Giving the still shaking Hannah a glance, Dumbledore came to the final verdict. " As affirmed by the Sorting Hat, Hogwarts had these four houses since its birth and are still very important and beneficial to the running of the school. Now, if this is an organisation that boasts house equality, then should there not also be a Ravenclaw within your ruling council? It is therefore decided. Until you can find a student from Ravenclaw to join your purpose, I will withhold my final decision in this committee's establishment."

_Without even asking he knows about us not having a Ravenclaw's help? Damn, I really don't know anyone from that house. They don't even allow me to go eat at their table because of that one time I spilled juice accidentally over some guy. They should know people make mistakes! That's the only table that serves foreign food like Japanese sushi, Mexican tacos and even Egyptian bread._

Neville saw it almost ridiculous that after all this, they were defeated by such a trivial matter, but could only comply and take his leave. After all, even if they had a Ravenclaw with them right now, he believed Dumbledore was bound to find another reason. Then again, this was like losing a battle but not the war. Dumbledore was seriously thinking about their proposal and it really was serious enough to warrant some time for consideration. Neville could also use this time to think up of more counters to whatever Dumbledore would put up against their notion next time.

" Oh just one more query Mr Longbottom." Dumbledore and him met eye to eye and after a dramatic pause asked, " Why are you still wearing sunglasses such a long time after nightfall?"

" Oh, it's just a toy I got while on holiday. Love it to bits and am just showing it off." Faking a smile, Neville was about to ask if their next meeting can be during day time but his suggestion was bottled expertly.

" Well it is pretty mal-mannered to have sunglasses on indoors and while talking with someone else, your headmaster for instance." Sounding as if he was forgiving Neville graciously, he added light-heartedly, " Oh but of course for our next meeting I will also take off these spectacles of mines as not to be guilty of the same crime."

" Of course. I look forward to our next meeting." Neville immediately thought about contacts. _Did they even make contact lenses back in the nineties? Where will I get them now at Hogwarts anyway? The home shopping catalogue?_

" Neville! See what you've done?" Arriving back onto the corridor with the gargoyle, Draco snatched the shades off Neville's face. " If you haven't worn these, Dumbledore would've passed our committee."

" Oh really?" Dripping with sarcasm, Neville revealed, " He'll probably just say we don't have a muggle-born between us or something even if we had a Ravenclaw. Either way, I expected him to take his time with this anyway."

" W-was it just me or… did I feel some sort of… like an argument when you were speaking with Dumbledore?" Hannah's voice got quieter and quieter as her question went on.

" Oh of course not Hannah. Here, have some chocolate." Not giving her a chance to decline, Neville stuffed a bar of chocolate that Draco could only guess to have came from one of Neville's pockets. _I've already got a Ravenclaw to recruit! I don't want to lose my only Hufflepuff!_ " What happened back there was… a discussion. For a discussion that was pretty mellow. Have you heard of what some muggles call an 'aggressive discussion' Hannah?"

" No… but I can guess…" Neville smiled when she took an obedient bite out of the chocolate.

" Since we're on this topic." It was now Draco's turn to start some fire. " How dare you say the Dark Lord's name out loud like that?"

The partially calmed Hannah, just at the memory, dropped the chocolate she had just been eating onto the ground in fright. _If it wasn't for your redemption I won't have to worry over this whole thing in the first place Draco!_

" I was born just a few days before he vanished you know? I don't know anything about him and don't care. It's not like he's going to come and kill me just for saying his name."

" W-why are you three wandering in the corridors after hours?" Although it was in a quivering and scared tone, Neville immediately froze at the sight of Quirrel. Eyeing the massive turban that everyone found funny apart from Neville, he gulped and hoped Voldemort did not hear their topic of conversation just there.

" We were just at a discussion with Dumbledore." Sounding self-important, Draco gave a snort towards the small man. _If only he knew_.

" Well we'll be off back to our dorms bye!" Neville sped out of sight faster than a speeding Firebolt.

0

0

0

A/N: Don't know about Hannah's blood status, but she should be half-blood since 1) Her mother was killed, so she'll mostly be either muggle/born/half-blood. 2) There is a grave with Abbott on it, meaning it's a wizarding family. Since she got her surname from her father, her father is most likely a wizard. Obviously, Mr Abbott could be just a muggle with that surname, but why complicate things.

And yes, here comes the intellectual challenges phase after all those action. Thanks for the reviews, those who reviewed. Hope the format and that are all ok with the changes to the site and all (one of the few times update delays had been posted in my profile).


	15. Book 1 Chapter 14

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

Coming back after Christmas, Neville brought forward the proposal of the social inter-house committee with Dumbledore. Contrary to his expectations, Neville was met with heavy opposition. The decision of the committee's approval is indefinitely delayed until Neville can find a Ravenclaw to join their ranks.

Chapter 14 – Detention with Sinistra.

" Hey! Wake up!" Harry shook Neville by his shoulder.

" Argh… I hate this class…" Groggily standing up from an armchair in the common room. Neville cursed when he carelessly stubbed his toe on a table leg. " Why would they have a class at midnight? Don't they know sleep is important for the growth of a child?"

" We can't exactly see stars in the middle of the day mate." Ron handed him his book bag and the four of them started their journey towards the Astronomy tower.

" Why do we even need to study the stars? I'm not going to pick Divination and it's not magical. We've just been plotting dots with ink that smudge easily."

" Neville, remember what Professor Sinistra said at the start of the year?" Hermione Know-It-All Granger recited, " The stars are still filled with mysteries and the workings of the cosmos itself are the greatest magic that no wizard could fully comprehend."

" Oh seriously, I don't see any wizards building spacecrafts. Sinistra even showed us pictures taken by NASA last time."

" What are spacecrafts?" Ron, the only person unfamiliar with muggle things, asked Harry. As he explained, Hermione gave Neville a frown.

" Well it's a compulsory subject so you'll just have to take it." She clipped and stole a quick glance to check her last week's homework. " I happen to like this subject and think Professor Sinistra is very nice."

" Well you can fall back on being an astronomer if magic doesn't work out for you." Gasping, Hermione gave Neville a slap on his arm. At least the boys thought the comment was funny.

Completely disrupting everyone's sleeping schedule, Astronomy was the class Neville detested. He admitted to being a night owl in his past life – if it was to play video games. He never had the problem of falling asleep during exams though because late night studies were never a concept in his brain. He definitely considered time spent sleeping was much more productive than staring at the moon for almost two hours. He was just glad it was a minor subject and only had one lesson a week.

It was however shared with Ravenclaws, which motivated him a bit more tonight as he dragged himself up the steps to the tallest tower in Hogwarts. Due to the teachers-students ratio, some classes had to be shared between houses. Herbology, Potions and Astronomy, all highly practical subjects compared to waving wands or scribbling on parchments, were somehow made the largest classes.

Reaching the rooftops that were not described much in the books, Neville looked around at the students that were busy setting up their telescopes. The roof was entirely covered with stone and was like a typical medieval battlement one saw in Lord of the Rings. It was a quadrilateral shape, and the staircase he just emerged from was covered by a cubic dome. Looking past the crenellation of the parapet was the mesmerising night-view of the Hogwarts grounds. The dark Quidditch stadium, the Forbidden Forest behind it, and the Lake on the other side, and even the faint lights of Hogsmeade nearby were all visible. Instead of the bleak skies above, if they were to sketch a painting of the tranquil night and impressive scenery, Neville would be a little more enthusiastic.

" Okay class, please pass your homework from last week to the front." Aurora Sinistra, a teacher that Neville had zero impression of from the books, seemed pretty out of place to him at Hogwarts.

She was one of those women who Neville could not tell how old she was, and her long hair did not help by covering either sides of her cheeks. She did have a flat fringe that was popular with those stereotypical bookworms, but if her blonde hair was any longer behind her back it would drag along the floor with her robes. More of her face was covered by her silver-rimmed glasses, though they were not that big. From what he saw of her though, she might be bombshell material with a bit of make-up magic.

Appearances aside, the thing that jarred with Neville the most was the way she handled everything as if they were made of glass – and vice-versa. Her head would always lower to the ground first after being asked a question, and even had a habit of wringing the sleeves of her robes. Neville was convinced even the worst Slytherin could not bare to bully her just because of how frail she seemed in her mannerism, and would not risk her crumbling to bits at one slight retort. Working in the dead of night all the time might have taken its effects on her since her voice was very quiet, and in turn influenced everyone else in her class to whisper as well.

That was another reason why students had a real battle with falling asleep in this class as much as they did in History of Magic. Also the source of why Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were not very familiar with each other, and ultimately the core of Neville's problem.

" Now please align your telescopes to Jupiter and compare its path of the moons to what you've recorded last time and…" Speaking in that hushed feminine voice, it was pretty difficult for people to chat in her class, but Neville risked it tonight anyway.

Neville could count with one hand the people he remembered from Ravenclaw: Penelope Clearwater, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, and sometimes Padma Patil if Parvati was around. Penelope Clearwater had no methods of contact because Percy had still to prove any signs of knowing such a girl at this stage, and Neville was not very friendly with the pompous boy anyway. Cho Chang was a year above Neville, and although there were not many Chinese people at Hogwarts, he still did not know who she was. In school, the difference of a year was almost like a generation gap. Luna was definitely the best choice – if she was at Hogwarts this year. This eventually left Padma, but having her twin in the same house sort of foretold how tiresome she would be if she was put into an executive position. Neville shuddered at the thought of her trying to make them wear giant pink badges or something. She would never survive a day with Draco.

He had discussed his problem of finding a Ravenclaw with the Trio, but they were also stumped. Hermione was unpopular even in Gryffindor, not to mention her stealing the thunder from those self-proclaimed intellectuals. Harry was an introvert really and could not really help apart from using his fame. Ron was surprisingly hopeful since he visited the Wizard's Chess club on a few occasions, but he had only met and challenged random Ravenclaws free at the time and did not keep contact.

" So? Do any of you remember the names of anyone over on that side?" Neville whispered, though still very self-conscious of his volume. As with all other classes, the houses sort of congregated to themselves in the sitting arrangements.

" I know which one is Padma." Ron only got an eye-roll from Hermione.

" Why would Dumbledore oppose to setting up the inter-house committee when it's such a great idea?" She adjusted her telescope and started jotting something down on parchment. Even whist chatting she could pay attention to the class.

" Well I agree with him, since it won't be an inter-house thing if we're missing someone from one of the four houses." Harry immediately jumped to his idol's defence understandably.

" I know but it doesn't matter now. It's best if we find a muggle-born as well, since he could pick that out the next time." Neville eyed the guy that was scribbling even more fervently than Hermione a few feet away.

" You're asking a bit much when we don't even know their names." Ron pointed out and they gave a collective sigh.

" This is why we need an inter-house club in the first place." Harry made an incredibly valid point that Neville stored away to counter Dumbledore if they really failed to recruit anyone.

" Neville? Su? I seem to be missing your corrected assignments from the week before," Professor Sinistra called out at the front of the class.

Just from Neville's expression Ron sucked in his breath, knowing all too well the look he himself always had in McGonagall's class. Being someone that only managed to stay awake because he knew Sinistra would cry if anyone dozed off in her class – proven by Seamus two weeks into the year – Neville had always copied homework with the Trio for Astronomy. It just so happened that he fell asleep during the last session with them and copied wrongly. With his brain filled with ways to counter Dumbledore, he was lucky to remember his usual homework, let alone corrections.

_Oh God, what's she going to do now? Forgetting homework is times worst than just nodding off in class… She might even have a mental breakdown! Why didn't she teach a random nursery or something instead of this prestigious magic school?_

" Neville? Su?" The whole class turned to look at the two of them when they did not reply, and the roof air was suddenly suspended in tension. Su Li was a Ravenclaw that Neville faintly remembered as J.K's prototype for Cho Chang before booting her up a year. Seeing Su in person though, she looked to have potential to become a punk rocker rather than a glamour girl. Short black hair that looked boyish, brown eyes supported by slanted eyebrows commanding obedience, and an exceptional intuition to others staring at her as she glanced back at Neville at that moment.

" Uh-ho." Harry disguised himself with a cough as he spotted Su's expression was the same as Neville's.

_You forgot! You forgot your corrections as well didn't you? Why of all weeks did you forget to do your corrections when you had them every week? Why do you even suck at Astronomy anyway when you're a Ravenclaw?_

" I-it can't be!" Sinistra's frill voice stopped Neville's mental ravings as he saw her take a step back. " Don't tell me you two… didn't do your corrections on purpose."

" Of course not!" Neville and Su shouted simultaneously in panic. It only brought a brief suffocated laugh out of Sinistra.

" And you two are in this together?" She shook her head in shocking disbelief at her own _wrong_ conclusion, and needed Stephen Cornfoot and Dean to support her on each side before she sunk to the ground.

" Hey listen miss…"

" Just calm down…" Su and Neville started to approach her, hands out in front and looking as apologetic as they could.

" I – I… you children give me no choice." Taking a deep breath and making her best effort to stand back up on her own feet. She put a hand in front of her heart and mustered, " I guess I really… have to give you two detentions."

Not Snape, not McGonagall, but Neville's first detention was given by the weakest teacher at Hogwarts.

0

0

0

" Haha! Really? Sinistra? Oh man, you'll never lift your head up again in this school!" Fred would have made another joke to give a comedy one-two with his twin, but he was currently choking with laughter as he had just inhaled some bits of his dinner.

" I know, I know." Neville irritably bit down on his spoonful of ice-cream.

" The last time I heard her giving detentions was like – never." Fred finally climbed his way back up to the dinner table, still sniggering red-faced.

" Look on the bright side. It can't be that bad," Ron tried to make up for his brothers' ill-manners. " At least it wasn't from Snape. He looks like the type that'll make you scrub the entire dungeon with a piece of rag."

" Yeah, and plus, you'll be in detention with that other Ravenclaw." Hermione suggested, " You can try and recruit her into the committee."

" What committee?" Turning their heads back, they saw Su scratching her head. Frankly, Neville really wanted to count on a girl to recruit others instead, since he did not like social situations like that. Remembering his past life where he had to recruit people to join the school fencing club, he was quite unsuccessful at getting any dearly soughed-after female members – or any other members in fact.

That was why he was glad when Hermione started explaining about the situation. Although Dumbledore had effectively said that the club will not go ahead unless they get a Ravenclaw, Neville still did not want just anyone to join. After all, this new recruit would automatically be in one of the high powered positions and they needed to be responsible and loyal to the cause. That was another reason why Neville put Padma out of consideration – she would probably quit the club if some boyfriend told her to.

After listening to a very logical and detailed explanation behind the aims of the club, Su's eyes actually lit up genuinely. " That sounds like a great idea, err…"

" Hermione," she offered her name.

" Yeah, Hermione. See? I can't even name most of the Gryffindors, so I think such a club would be great." Despite her approval, Su's eyes casted downwards after this and said, " But I don't think I'll have the time. I need time for studying and I plan on trying out for the Quidditch team next year, so I use the rest to practice. The reason why I forgot about the homework corrections was because I was too busy looking forward to the Ravenclaw-Slytherin match coming up."

" Oh yeah. We'd better get going or Professor Sinistra might commit suicide for us not going to detention." Hermione gave Neville a glare at his offensive joke.

" Cool, I came here to get you to go together anyway. Jeezes, we've told her a hundred times it's not her fault and we're not plotting against her. Sorry about not being able to help with your club Hermione." Su apologetically put her hands together in front of her. It was a typical Asian gesture Neville had read in Japanese mangas. He was quite an expert in that area and this reminded him how cool it was if there were wizard mangas that moved. _Well, that'd just be like Anime_.

" Oh, it isn't my idea. Neville's the president." Su instantly turned towards him with eyes filled with amazement.

" Wow, you?"

" Is it really that shocking?" Neville could not help but feel somewhat irritated at her reaction. " See you later guys."

" Bye!" Neville had not seen anyone else heading to detention by skipping there – but Su did just that as they exited the Great Hall towards the Astronomy Tower. Neville would bet his galleons she was a morning person as well.

" So what gave you this idea anyway?" Su asked and slapped Neville's shoulder behind him. For a person that she spoke to for the first time, she was acting pretty familiar. That was the case with her to Hermione as well. She probably would not go down too well with Slytherins, or possibly other Ravenclaws as well.

" It just happened. When I was sitting with the Slytherins. I had help from others too." Neville was not prepared to tell anyone that the idea was from a matchmaking attempt. That would only hinder his chances with Dumbledore.

" I guess that's why they made a big deal about you at the start of the year right? You were on newspaper or something. I didn't get to see it because I'm a muggle-born, but I heard you wrecked a Quidditch stadium."

" I didn't wreck it." Neville shook his head. Apart from the Gryffindors and Slytherins, most people did not know about his talents in Charms. The taming of Peeves were a great impression on the older students, who knew what Peeves was capable of, but these first years did not have a complete clue behind Peeves's true powers of annoyance. This led to Neville not being recognised that much, especially at the shadow of Harry Potter, amongst the other first years.

" You must've! How else could you have got that little floating Peeves to stay in line?" Su wiped round to his front, but Neville only side-stepped out the way and continue up the stairs " Come on! Tell me how you fixed Peeves since we're detention buddies. No one else knows!"

Neville gave her a sideway glance, seeing that her eyes were still smiling. " I prefer to keep it that way."

" Oh? Why?"

_If you were a guy I would have killed you right about now!_ Neville never really had much patience. _This girl acts nothing like a typical Ravenclaw at all! Well, maybe apart from the endless list of questions._

" Why are you my detention buddy anyway? Ravenclaws loves boasting how they never get corrections." Neville mentally consulted his book for dealing with small children and asked her questions back to keep her occupied. _Not long now! Have to get up those flights of stairs…_

" I dunno, I do pretty well in the other classes. I just hate Astronomy and it seems to hate me. It's like trying to read a map." Su waved her hand as if chasing away some floating demons around her head.

" Yeah, some people are just born with a bad sense of directions. I know someone who can't tell left from right." Neville recounted.

" Yeah, that's me." Su patted her chest proudly and he just gave a meek laugh in return. Annoying as she was, at least she did build quite a friendly impression in his mind for now. _Curious, candid and handles herself with zero feminism. _

Finally arriving at the rooftops, Neville saw Sinistra doing some paperwork at the teacher's desk. There were also pieces of furniture around the roof such as cupboards and lamps, which were all prevented from soaking on a rainy day by some sort of magic charm that eternally covered the roof like a glass dome.

Raising her head, and giving herself a fright, she shot to her feet and shuffled towards the two of them with worried looks. " Neville. Su. Oh my dears, I really didn't want to put you two in detention. Taking up a student's evening like this, oh I remember my time at Hogwarts…"

" Miss?" Su interrupted quite timely. " What should we do?"

" Ah, yes of course!" Putting a hand over her mouth, her widened eyes clearly meant she just remembered. " It's been so long since I've given a detention I forgot I have to have things for you to do… Hm… So what would you two like to do?"

Su and Neville looked at each other, daring the other to speak first. Unfortunately, Sinistra thought of something before the two of them could suggest letting them go free.

" I know! I heard Professor Snape gives out detentions all the time. Why not we go and ask his advice?" She actually said this with a genuine smile.

The Ravenclaws had Potions with Hufflepuffs, but were only reasonably better treated by Snape. From Su's shudder and what he observed from the sunshine girl so far, the dungeons were probably the last place she liked about the castle. She tried to protest, but just at her opened mouth , Sinistra's lips already curled downwards and looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

" I… I… I think I saw him at the Great Hall eating dinner." Su was as much at a loss at dealing with Sinistra as Neville was.

" Oh goodie. Mostly I don't go to the Great Hall for meals because that gives me more time to prepare for class. Let's go find Professor Snape then."

Grumbling internally, Neville blamed their wasted return journey on Snape also. Since the incident with Dracula's Cape, Neville had stowed it away just to try and avoid trouble. Too bad Snape never really convinced himself fully he messed up his Legilimancy and Neville knew he was trying to read his mind again inconspicuously every Potions lesson. Avoiding his eyes notwithstanding, Neville had looked up Occlumency in the Hogwarts library and learnt some basic ways of avoidance, and was successful up until now. The best scenario now was for Snape to just give a random detention idea and they would be on their way, even if it meant scrubbing every staircase in the entire school.

Entering the Great Hall, Harry was the first one to spot them with puzzlement. Neville tried miming a look of exasperation behind Sinistra, but it seemed as if she had sped up since entering the Hall and was already halfway towards the staff table.

" Ah! Aurora, what a pleasant surprise." Dumbledore stood up and gave her a quick hug. " It has been so long since you've joined us for dinner. I must say today's roast pork is especially delicious with a fine touch of cranberry. You really should give it a try."

" I'm afraid I can't Professor Dumbledore, I'm just here to ask um… Professor Snape?" Snape had stood up to leave the staff table after finishing his dinner, and did not seem to have even acknowledged Sinistra's entrance at all. " There is something I have to ask you."

Snape shifted his feet and he turned around, " Yes Professor Sinistra?"

" You see, it's been such a long time since I've given out a detention… Actually, I don't even remember if I had?" Sinistra shook her head and went on, " I just wanted to ask you for some ideas for how to occupy the students in detention."

_Oh God no!_ Just from the evil smirk on Snape's face that even brought up his hooked nose Neville knew things were just going to go downhill from here.

Snape figured that if he could not read the truth in Neville's mind, he should just punish the boy first anyway. " Actually, Pomona?"

Professor Sprout was mildly surprised that Snape, who hardly talked to the other teachers, chose that moment to start a conversation. " Yes Severus?"

" I think I overheard you talking about the arrival of the new batch of Sudowoods this morning. I believe you are still to carry them back into the greenhouse for the night?"

" Oh yes, you know how they need to absorb direct sunlight –"

" Oh! Do you mean you want Neville and Su to help carry them in? That is a marvellous idea!" Sinistra's enthusiasm only seemed to be shared by Snape though.

" Oh, but that can't do." Professor Sprout suddenly looked quite motherly in the eyes of Neville at that moment. " Sudowoods are violent plants in the same family as the Whomping Willow. First years can't do the Summoning Charm yet and those things kick and punch anything near them."

To Neville's horror, knowing how the Whomping Willow had the strength to annihilate a car within minutes, Snape still insisted. " Ah, do not worry for I have just the potion for such a job. Sprinkle the plants with one dose and their punches would be as soft as a feather."

" Don't worry Professor Sprout, I'm sure Neville and Su can handle them. I heard they're both very smart." Sinistra said while nodding continuously. " Well Professor Snape. I guess we'll just make a trip to your office and then –"

" No," Snape interjected quickly, already taken a few steps towards the door. " I will meet you three outside."

" Okay," Sinatra, looking every bit like a dejected wife at her idea being shot down, waved Neville and Su along after her.

Neville saw the expression on the twins faces at that moment and did not know whether to feel proud or devastated. _Who said it was shameful to take a detention from Sinistra? I bet nobody here would ever forget their Astronomy homework again for the rest of the year._

" So Neville, have you seen a Sudowood before?" Su whispered, covering a mouth from Sinistra in front, as they headed outside of the castle.

" No, but I know about the Whomping Willow." Neville thought he would not mind having detentions, since the Trio had them all the time. Plus, his expensive Temporarily Invisibility Potions were running short after all his night endeavours, and detentions gave him good excuse to roam after hours.

" Oh, you mean that big strange tree near the Quidditch field? It doesn't look very dangerous." Neville ignored the Question Machine and visualised daggers flying into Blondie's head in front of them. Funny enough, Sinistra nervously looked around while rubbing the back of her head at that moment as if there really were daggers.

Arriving near the Greenhouses, they saw rows of plants lined up facing the direction of the lake. They were about Su's height, which was only a bit taller than Neville because he had still to start his growth sprout. Frankly, they looked like Bonsai Trees, except that instead of the platforms of foliage, they had something in the shape of a boxing glove. Worst, they looked to be made from pretty solid substances.

Snape arrived not long after, Sinistra bounding up to him as the obedient puppy that she was in Neville's eyes now. _And I thought you were a good teacher apart from being weak!_ _What sort of teacher are you to listen to the Detention Devil so naively! _

Even without Legilimancy Snape knew what Neville was thinking and he gave a dry cough and started his induction, taking full reign of the session instead of the rightful teacher. Then again, Sinistra was only standing dumbly beside him, smiling dumbly as if she was going to watch some children play in a sandbox.

" Sudowood is a highly rare and exotic plant from the far East. Their leafs – yes Li, those are leafs, not mallets – are a precious and important ingredient for some potions. However, they will swing their branches at any moving object within a small radius about them and you must take care while carrying them into the Greenhouse. I have a potion here that will soften the blows dealt to you."

Neville saw it. Just a brief smirk as Snape said 'soften', looking directly at Neville's lowered face. He asked, this time staring at Snape's feet, " How softening is it?"

" Oh. Enough." Neville was counting his stock of Blood Replenishing Potions as Snape continued to layer snow on top of ice. " And remember! These plants are a protective species and you shall not harm them in any form during their transportation. Now go. You have two hours."

Snape pulled off the stopper from a flask of strange potion he took out of his cloak and sprinkled the rows of plants with a flick of his wand. Sinistra looked as if he just set off some fireworks for her and clasped her hands together, " Thank you so much Professor Snape. I wouldn't have a clue what to do otherwise."

" My pleasure Professor Sinistra."

_Pleasure to see me get smacked about like a rag doll maybe!_ Neville growled in his head while picking up some nearby stones. _I'll just throw these stones to get an approximate distance for safety and –_

" Hey you idiot!" Neville was too late and Su was already out of his arm's reach. That idiot had already raced towards the first pot of plant, eyes sparkling as if she was a kid outside the windows of Toys 'R' Us. " Rest in peace Su."

The Sudowoods were still in their infancy, and at most they had four branches. The one Su rushed to only had two, but they still lashed out and aimed for either side of her head. Snape did think about the innocent Ravenclaw girl, and was about to pull out his wand to stop her when he was flabbergasted. Seemingly out of nowhere, Su's arms shot over the branches and got tangled up with them like ropes, tucking both branches securely under her armpits. Its branches captured, nothing stopped Su from lifting the Sudowood by its main trunk and strolling into the Greenhouse.

Neville's jaws malfunctioned. _What the heck was that? Some sort of martial arts or something? Heck, but this is no time for that. What am _I_ going to do?_

Snape seemed to be on the same wavelength and bellowed, " Well Longbottom? Are you just going to stand there and let a small little girl do all the work for you?"

Neville tried to replay what Su just did in his mind, but her arms were too fast and unexpected for him to be able to imitate. Seeing the Sudowood with just one branch, he steadily closed in with his original plan of throwing the stones. Just as his last landed within half a metre of the plant, its branch lashed out at the rock so fast its pot seemed to shift along the ground a bit. Neville shook his head._ Phrase one complete… Now what is phrase two?_

" Neville! Hey Neville!" A voice that was unmistakably Harry's drifted from somewhere next to him. It was quite a feat for him not to have screamed.

" Harry?" Whispering back, inaudible to Snape, Neville searched around without turning his head and hissed, " You shouldn't be here! Snape would have a field day if you got caught!"

" I'm under the Invisibility Cloak." After saying this Neville felt a bump on his arm. " We heard what Snape was going to do to you back in the Hall. Hermione ran straight to the library and checked out this book. Here."

As if cutting through a rift in space-time, a leather-bound book slipped out of the air in front of him. Neville reflexively blocked Snape from seeing the book. " I know she might think this, but books really don't solve every single problem on Earth."

" It's a book on magical plants and stuffs. She found Sudowood in it and thinks it may help." From Harry's tone, although thinking the book was useless, Neville still felt thankful to his friends.

" Thanks guys. But don't do this again. Invisibly Cloaks aren't invincible, as Dumbledore had shown you. Now go before Snape finds out."

" Take care!" Not knowing if Harry really was gone, or waiting for a moment to do his hero thing, Neville gave a flip through the book.

_Ah ha,_ _Sudowood… Can grow to three metres in height, great… Needs direct contact with sunlight, blah… Originated in Japan and… roots cling to the Earth they were planted. Problems uprooting for transport…_

Looking up from the book and staring at the pot with the menacing plant, then staring at the Greenhouse Su disappeared to, Neville came up with an idea. Not foolproof, had its risks, but was worth a try nonetheless.

" Longbottom! What're you doing just standing there? Get to work!" Snape bellowed, clearly ready to push him into the rows of Sudowood.

" Alright," half answering Snape and half talking to himself, he tucked the book into his school robes and took a deep breath. Flicking a stone just over the Sudowood, it naturally reached up to deflect it away. Seeing the moment, though he was no football fan or player, Neville kicked the pot containing the Sudowood with the inside of his foot.

The distracted Sudowood, not quick enough to parry Neville, and its centre of gravity slightly lifted because it was reaching up, slid along the damp grass towards the Greenhouse door. Also because it was a semi-sentient being, its branch waved about trying to keep upright. Needless to say, referenced from the book, its roots tightened around the Earth in the pot and the plant was effectively transferred unharmed and upright.

" Hey! That's not bad!" Su chose that moment to appear at the door of the Greenhouse again, apparently having found the place to put the plants. " You just keep them coming this way Neville! I can't carry so many pots that far so you just kick them to the door."

Neville just gave her a thumbs-up and knew Snape would be indigently biting his handkerchief if he had one.

0

0

0

A/N: I wonder if anyone knows the source for Sudowood? Probably… Heck, I wasn't prepared to go through piles of mythology related resources to find something I can use for a detention.

It was a good writing week and thanks for the reviews. Frankly, I don't even know what DLP is until I looked it up, but if you liked the story then do promote it. I'm really an individual writer and isn't really on any forums or communities and such.


	16. Book 1 Chapter 15

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

Being distracted by the problem of having to recruit a Ravenclaw for the committee, Neville was put into detention for forgetting his Astronomy homework. Though this introduced him to Su Li, who rejected joining the club for being too busy. The detention Snape induced continued and the time is now February.

Chapter 15 – Finally victory?

" So, any luck with recruiting yet?" Draco asked as they worked together in Potions today. Someone from Slytherin was absent.

" What about you?" Neville answered.

" Their smarts and mines are quite different. I just can't mingle with those bookworms." Draco snorted. Neville did not put much faith in him anyway. " But it's been weeks since our meeting with Dumbledore, and still nothing?"

" I'll see if Hannah has anyone." Neville did not put much faith in her either. He could hardly believe how their club was going to fail so easily on the first obstacle.

Neville, as much as he did not want to, did make some conversations with some Ravenclaws, since he sat at their table a few more times under Su's introduction. Michael Corner was too pompous and Padma was just giggly. Terry Boot was nice enough, but he had no other interests at the moment apart from studying. Stephen Cornfoot was a pureblood and did not really care for the idea – Neville felt that boy had some sort of EQ deficiency. _Why won't the guy pass me some ketchup? He definitely knew I used up all three nearest to me with the way he stared._

" That will be all for today," Snape almost seemed reluctant while saying this. He was once again unable to read into Neville's head without first clamping Neville's head into a vice. " Dismissed."

The Trio, though used to his occasional socialising with Slytherins now, still stayed away from Draco. _Guess Draco and Harry's personality really just clashed._ Swiftly pretending to massage his temples as he sidestepped past Snape, Neville was just glad Snape stopped coming to the detention sessions. Actually tonight would be Neville's last detention with those kicking Sudowoods.

" Neville I want you to take a look at something." Glancing around and waving for Crabbe and Goyle to block others from view, Draco fumbled something out of his book bag. _What is it that is so conspicuous that he has to hide –_

Neville raised an eyebrow. " Oh yeah. Today is Valentine's Day."

" You forgot?" Draco looked incredulously at him. Frankly, he had completely forgotten about the whole pulling Draco and Lavender together objective. Also, there was no mention of much, or any, romance in the first book, and definitely no mention of Valentines until the chaos Lockhart imposed upon the school next year. " Don't you know anything? The three most importantly dates for a couple are Christmas, Valentine's Day and birthdays!"

" Where did you learn these things from?" Neville never would have thought eleven years old boys would care about these things. Girls maybe.

" Oh _Nevi_!" As Draco hastily stuffed his Valentine back in his bag, Millicent charged onto the scene, quite oblivious to Crabbe and Goyle's hindrances. Neville knew exactly what she had in mind, but even seeing Draco's two bodyguards to be of no match, realised this was his doomsday. " Do you know what day this is Nevi?"

" Yes! I do! Peeves!" Neville, who actually very rarely showed his dominance over the little poltergeist, screamed for help almost desperately.

With a _pop_, Peeves appeared with a bow in thin air. " You called your Nejesty?"

" I promised you about pranking people right?" Ignoring Peeves's confused but hopeful eyes, Neville continued. " Well you can start now. Prank _anyone_ at all – for the rest of today!"

Obviously emphasising the 'anyone' towards Millicent, Peeves started to laugh manically, rubbing his hands. " Yes Master! Thank you Master!"

" Neville you idi –" It was too late and all Draco could do was run for it as Peeves started throwing Dungbombs, wherever he got them from, at every direction around him. Crabbe and Goyle, while securing Draco's getaway as if they were from a witness protection squad, got a few landed on their backs.

" Nevi! _Neevvii_!" Millicent was of course soon lost in the mad crowd.

" What is the meaning of this? PEEVES!" Snape rushed out of his room and would hopefully control the situation. Neville took this opportunity to make a dash to the Great Hall to grab some rations before going into hiding from Millicent for the rest of the day.

" Neville there's something I'd like to discuss wi –" Hermione got that far with her original thought before finally giving up to her natural inquisitiveness. " Come back here with that roast chicken! Someone else might want to eat it!"

" Neville!" Percy chose that exact moment to come into the Great Hall and got in the way of Neville's escape. " Please eat your food in the Hall. You may take some with you, but please refrain from taking something others want to eat as well."

" I don't have the time to talk!" Percy just stood with his arms crossed.

" As prefect of your house I order you to leave that chicken." As ridiculous as that sounded, Neville knew he was just wasting time arguing.

Steadfast in his notion to disrupt the relationship between him and Penelope Clearwater in the future, Neville sat down on a random bench and started to disfigure the chicken with his bare hands. After all, skipping lunch was not an option even if he was in mortal danger.

" Neville? What's gotten into you?" Ron hazarded a guess, " Are you in a hurry to meet a Raveclaw you can recruit?"

" If only BUR –GRR –" Choking on a piece of meat, Harry handed him a pumpkin juice to guzzle down. " I have to run away from Millicent. By the way guys, watch out for Peeves today."

" That manwoman? Why?" Ron unknowingly earned himself a glare from Hermione.

" Today is Valentine's Day Ron," Hermione's warning tone was quite clear to Neville. He had a feeling he knew what she wanted to discuss with him earlier. " Girls like receiving Valentines or gifts on this day."

" Well guys don't! How embarrassing is that?" Ron's pre-puberty reply could be mistaken as a punch by the way Hermione tried to hide her wince. Even without Legilimency, and thinking back to what Draco had said, Neville knew she had definitely been expecting something from Ron.

" You mean Millicent was trying to give you a Valentine?" Harry turned a little green at the thought, clearly seeing it as a very good reason for Neville's earlier rush. " Skip lunch."

" But you know Neville can't do that," Ron patted him on the back. " Just be glad she didn't strike during Potions."

Hermione was quite red in the face and turned on Neville. _She's going to vent out on me isn't she?_

" Neville how can you just run away from a girl like that? Do you know the amount of thought she must have put on this? She could've lost hours of sleep, or haven't slept at all, all last night thinking about today! And you're just going to do nothing? – I mean, you're just going to keep her from giving you the thing that shows you how she feels? Oh, you're so heartless! Boys!"

Storming away to sit next to a surprised Parvati, Hermione concentrated on gnawing at a metal spoon. Neville's heart suddenly awoken to something from her words. Thinking back to his past life, he also remembered being young and hopeless once. Plucking up the courage to try and give a girl a Valentine one year… and to think she chose that exact week to have a fever. It was as if the Gods were against him and he moped about for quite a while afterwards.

" Hey Neville, don't look so guilty. You know how Hermione –" Ron was interrupted as a figure stormed into the Hall.

" Neville Longbottom!" Snape, very clearly angered, stalked straight towards the Gryffindor table shouting, " Did you set Peeves loose in the corridors?"

" Professor. You know Peeves. No one can control him doing pranks apart from the Bloody Baron." Neville eyes wandered while he said this, and it clearly aggravated Snape more. Though the rumours flew about the school, and Peeves did show the attitude, a teacher could not just blame a student for the castle's deity running amuck and they both knew it.

" Fifteen points from Gryffindor for not even attempting to help!" Snape would have punished him to clean off all the Dungbombs on his door as well if Millicent did not come running in at that moment.

Speaking the truth, she looked terrible. Not the usual terrible, but absolutely stinking – she was littered with Dungbombs from head to toe. A particularly glaring one stuck out from her frizzled hair in a blob, her robes were completely ruined, and the stench she gave off made many flee out of the metre radius from her. Despite this, her eyes still sparkled at the sight of finally finding Neville. It looked as if she had ran all around the castle with the way she panted.

" Nevi!" She bounded up to him in her usual fashion – as if her stomps would instigate earthquakes. " T-There is something I would like to give you."

" Run Neville! We'll cover you!" Ron whispered, and Harry nodded next to him.

_How can I run away now after remembering about what happened to myself before? I would just be doing the same thing to her… Actually worst, since I'd be doing it on purpose. Plus, she made herself look like this just to chase after me._ Neville gave a glance at Snape, who had a curious smirk on his face_. Oh this devil is definitely enjoying this._

" Well Millicent. Longbottom is right here, let's see it." Snape, probably for the first time, got involved in the Valentine's Day spirit. He clamped onto Neville shoulder and dragged him to the front like a shield against Millicent's stench.

" Oh Professor Snape!" With her shying away gesture that usually churned Neville's stomach, she pulled something one could only guess was a card out in front of her. " N-Neville… I want you to have this. Oh – sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was covered with Dungbombs! Peeves attacked me on the way –"

" It's ok Millicent." Neville felt as if the weight of his guilt could make a hole in the floor then. Under the watchful eyes of every student in the Hall, embarrassing as Ron thought it was, Neville reached out and took the card from her. " But. I do not have anything to return to you."

That made it clear enough that although accepting her Valentine, he did not accept her feelings. Millicent was already overjoyed though, " Oh it's okay Neville! I just wanted to give this to you, that's all!"

Giving a nonchalant nod, Neville said, " Thank you anyway."

" B-Barney!" A random girl, who Neville had only seen in passing, suddenly shot up from the Hufflepuff table. " P-please accept… this… from me… as well…"

Even though her voice trailed off towards the end, and she had her eyes closed, her shaking hands were stretched towards the boy next to her with a card in her grasp. The boy, obviously Barney, started blushing but took the card with thanks. As if it was wild fire, many others around the Hall started to pluck up their courage and give their Valentines to their respective recipients.

" Those people should thank Millicent too for giving them that little bit of courage." Neville glanced at Hermione, who was delightedly watching the romance unfold around her, and he left the Great Hall unnoticed.

0

0

0

Straightforward people were much more likable for Neville, even though he was the type that thinks too much himself. Maybe it was because he knew he could relax when around them instead of always second guessing – just look at him and Dumbledore. Also, just looking at the cases of Hermione and Elena, dealing with 'girls' were not his forte. Su being a complete tomboy very much made him deal with her as he did with Harry and Ron, and now they had truly become a pair of detention buddies.

Turned out Su had a psycho-conservative grandfather that actually trained her in the mountains in China, back when she could hardly remember. That created the basis of her martial arts, and Neville figured, the reason her parents emigrated to Britain. Funny enough, it was actually Sinistra who was sent to explain to her family about Hogwarts since Su was a muggle-born. The only reason Su's parents allowed her to attend some strange suspicious school was only because Sinistra had supposedly eyed the fruit knife on their coffee table with very teary eyes.

" So what did the Valentine say anyway?" Su asked while she watched Neville zip the Sudowoods into the Greenhouse. After Snape gave up on the idea of them getting battered by the Sudowoods, Sinistra also followed suite and trusted them enough to not supervise their detention periods. She decided that as long as the plants ended up where they should be in the morning then the kids would have done their work. Of course, she never expected Neville to actually know how to move objects magically.

Neville slid the last of the plants to their place and sheathed his wand. " I didn't open the Valentine. It was covered in Dungbombs after all."

" Quite true." Su nodded and got up from where she sat on the grass. She actually missed the bit of exercise and practicing of her Piguazhang, but was not going to complain. They were not about to go back to the castle yet even after the job is done though, or else Filch would probably blab about how they should never have finished moving those plants so quickly. " Okay, let's start my lesson."

" I thought you were going to teach me more Hakkyouken first." Su being in Ravenclaw naturally led her into wanting to learn Neville's spells. Also, Neville thought his Jujutsu might not be fully sufficient in itself, as seen in this situation, and they made a trade.

" Alright fine." From her height, no one would have thought she could convey such a display of strength as she rotated her elbow round, followed by a kick. She proceeded to show him a new set of moves that he had to remember. Neville knew he might never master this naturally for a fight but it was good to learn more things.

After showing him the set, and he taught her more about controlling the movable objects, and the two practiced separately, correcting each other along the way. Of course, with Su having unlimited ammos of questions, they chatted the most during this period of time. This was probably another reason why they became friends this quickly.

" So was that the first time you got a Valentine?" Su reverted to her previous topic.

" Actually… yes. It was." Neville thought back to his past life and answered. _I never should have complied to Percy about burning it… even if it was reeking up the dorms_.

" But you don't like that girl back right? What a shame." Su shouted an incantation and the rock a few feet away rolled along for a bit. She resumed, " But you did a good thing back then. That girl would've been devastated if you didn't take it. I was quite impressed you managed to stand the Dungbombs."

" I know." Neville lunged with an elbow, followed by a hammer, and ending with a straight punch with the other hand.

" Not only that, you managed to make all those people fess up! I can't believe one of our prefects stood up. I was sitting next to her, and she gave a Valentine to a Slytherin. If you'd rejected that girl, I bet my prefect would never have done it, thinking he would reject her as well."

" Ravenclaw is probably the house most friendly with Slytherin right? Then again, she probably didn't just like him because of his house. Quite the opposite probably… She would've had a hard time finding the moment to give out the Valentine if the Hall did not get caught up in the mood. There really are some smart Slytherins you know, except their smarts are possibly more wit and quick-thinking instead of the wisdom you guys like. Anyway, I'm sure if you get to know them, you'll understand."

" There are some smart Gryffindors as well I see." Flicking her wand, Neville spotted a stone flying towards his waist, and parried it with his palm. " You learn too quick."

" I'd forget the whole set by morning – as you know." Neville wondered if he had problems transferring data from his short to long term memory.

" Well, wushu is like that. You need to practice until your body remembers it." Su sent another few rocks flying, some of which went off course because she had still to master the spell.

" And you're doing good too." Neville was genuinely impressed by Su's progress. Even if she had practiced while they were away from each other, Neville remembered it took him longer to master these spells.

" Hey, I've been thinking about what you're trying to do. You know, your inter-house club thing." Su was actually a very good candidate in Neville's books. She was right in between Draco and Hannah in her bossiness-diligence stat. She was also really clever – baring directions and Astronomy. " And I think it really is a good idea. Especially today, when I've seen the actual lack of couples between the tables, I think such a club really would bring more people together."

" Alright! Thanks Su!" Neville could not believe his good fortune. _The best way to move a girl really is romance after all!_

Just as Neville wondered if he really should do something to thank Millicent for unintentionally solving his problem, Su squinted her eyes and took a step towards him. " On one condition."

Staring down at what the Chinese called 'Phoenix Eyes', Neville knew he seriously had to comply to her demands in order to recruit her. Sighing, he waited for the worst.

0

0

0

" Very well," Dumbledore smiled behind his half-mooned spectacles. Even if Neville did go to the meeting without shades, Dumbledore did not take off his glasses as promised, but Neville could not bring it up at that moment.

Neville, Draco, Hannah, and Su were all sitting in the Headmaster's Office, and had explained once again their objectives and the addition of Su. They even proposed an idea for their first big event, in which Dumbledore himself showed quite some interests in participating.

Just as Neville was convinced Dumbledore would recognise them as a proper Hogwarts organisation, his hopes were shattered. " Neville, as president, there are some details that I would like to ask further upon. Can the others kindly return to their dorms, and Neville can convey my decision afterwards."

_Sly old fox! _Neville screamed in his mind, but still not looking at Dumbledore. _The moment they leave, he's going to perform Legilimency on me! And if I fight back, he'll definitely dismiss our notion. Then I'll have to be the one who has to explain to the others why, leading to explaining why I won't let him read my mind in the first place!_

Draco was completely oblivious to how much Neville wished it was Draco staying behind instead, and even frowned at Neville on the way out. As the three of them exited the office, Draco was the last out and shut the door softly behind him. Now, apart from the portraits of previous headmasters, there were no witnesses or distractions Neville could use.

" So. Neville." Dumbledore began in a grandfatherly tone, but to Neville it was only like the pinging of the needle before it punctured his skin. " We first met back at the Puddlemere United game did we not? Just the summer before you started Hogwarts in fact."

" Yes." Neville nodded, but it was only to waver his glance away from Dumbledore's searching eyes.

" I must apologise for something I did very rudely that day." Dumbledore was not to be deluded, sitting back and keeping his eyes trained on Neville, waiting for him to make the slightest mistake. " I have always been a friend of Algie's and you looked quite solemn that day, and I knew you two must be troubled over something. I understand Algie, and knew better than to wait for him to ask for help, so I made quite an unorthodox and unauthorized enquiry directly from you Neville."

" I see." _I knew it! I knew he read my mind that day! What did he see?_ Eyeing the Elder Wand lying on the desk by Dumbledore's hand, Neville rotated his arm to check his wand was ready in his Armband.

" You do not seem surprised Neville. From Professor Snape's description of your behaviour in Potions, a chat to Madam Pince about what books you checked out of the library, and the fact that you've still to look me in the eyes at all this evening, I assume you have taken an interest in learning Occlumency. Am I also correct in assuming you are displaying an interest in this area because you know both Professor Snape and I are Legilimens?"

_Doesn't that question simply translate to, "Do you have something to hide from us?". It really seems as if nothing going on in this castle can escape the old fox… Wait. Does this mean he knows about me going around the school invisible? And stealing from places? What about my possession of the Marauder's Map? _

" It was natural to think professor, you would've dabbled in every single branch of magic, of course including Legilimency. Occlumency does interest me, just as many other things. I never knew Professor Snape tried Legilimency on me, and had just tried to blend practices into my daily life. I did avoid your gaze on purpose tonight just to see how I was progressing."

_First a complement. Then a seemingly fatal truth that was made ambiguous. Only then did I start lying, but with bits of truth in it. That's probably the best performance I can give at this moment… _

" Yes, you did well. Avoiding face-to-face contact, never meeting eyes with the target, in a highly alert state of mind, and quite the impeccable poker face. I tried performing Legilimency on you, just for fun after seeing an eleven year-old displaying all these Occlumency traits. I am also strangely curious regarding your knowledge of Lily Potter."

Dishing back out the same trap Neville had set up, and improving upon it with the deadly punch-line, Dumbledore's trick was completely successful. At the mention of Lily's name, Neville had snapped his head up in alarm. As if a crouching lion waiting to pounce, Dumbledore saw his chance to instigated eye contact. Of course Dumbledore was doubtful Neville knew anything about Lily Potter, but he knew no other subjects that could have made Snape react as he did in the Hall.

It was too late and Neville knew screaming would be useless. He was resisting the best he could, knowing he had to be void of emotions and thoughts. However, he felt utterly defeated by the old fox, and knew you could not hide things before taking them out first. The office started to fade away, Fawkes's flaming feathers seemed as if it was seen from underwater, and very soon Neville's memories flashed past as if it was right in front of his eyes.

The Romanian Longhorn's green scaly form flying out from the ground behind Ginny, who was in nothing but a towel… Stashing a weird object that looked like a Dungbomb in the Shrieking Shack, with still a pile to go right next to him… His disastrous first use of Gillyweed and an image of him keeping his head in the Lake in a very uncomfortable position… Handing some bruise-healing paste to Harry to apply on an injury he sustained from a Quidditch practice in their dorm… Ginny waving goodbye on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters while Harry was too busy reading his Charms textbook to notice… Gran, Algie and Enid spending Christmas together at the Longbottom manor two Christmases ago… Bubbles in the sea, flailing arms, and a constricting feeling in his chest as if…

The last image was from the real Neville Longbottom's memory, and as if a train went off the rails, the spell was broken. As if blown away by a small explosion, both Dumbledore and Neville flew back into their respective chairs. They stared at each other for a stunned moment before Neville immediately looked down to the ground. Apart from the whispering of those nosy portraits, debating what Dumbledore saw in Neville's memories, the two of them were deathly silent.

_I've never experienced that last scene! That must have been the moment when the real Neville had drowned. Since even the Sorting Hat couldn't read my past life's memories, then it seems Legilimency shouldn't either. But Snape must have seen something to do with Lily… but what? And how? I've never even seen her face apart from in that one movie…_

As Neville pondered the safety of his stolen identity, he could only express his current perils with a harrumph when Dumbledore broke the silence with a soft chain of laughter.

" Oh Neville, Neville… So this is what you were hiding." Dumbledore took a deep breath and continued while shaking his head. " I dare say that special Dungbomb was quite similar to the ones Ewan Henderson had caused our Caretaker to lose a whole month of sleep a few years back. And it seems like you were once under the influence of Gillyweed, at a place that looked strangely like a spot beside the Hogwarts Lake. Actually, though not quite the uproar, Madam Pomfrey did report some medicine missing from her cupboards…"

Neville knew Dumbledore would not suspend people easily, but this was theft really. Although there was a Magical Law Enforcement Department, Neville really did not get the impression they did things such as these like ordinary policemen.He was sure some sort of detentions, or points would be taken away at the very least._ God, he's going to hand me over to Snape and Filch… I'm so dead…_

" Marvellously executed Neville! Just how did you do it?" Dumbledore's compliment and question once again surprised Neville, but this time he refrained from raising his head. He knew when he should learn his lessons. " Both Severus and Angus were none the wiser to the culprit even till this day! I remember the first time I tried sneaking the corridors after dark and got caught immediately. Oh let me guess – did you borrow Mr Potter's Invisibility Cloak? Oh wait, but he was not in possession of that before Christmas…"

Seeing Dumbledore's genuine pondering at his methods, Neville was at a loss. " Um… so about the inter-house committee…"

" Oh yes, but of course." Dumbledore composed himself again, but this time with a much brighter smile. " Mr Malfoy, Miss Abbott and Miss Li, you can come in now."

Neville spun his head around and saw Draco's smirk behind the door, telling him they must have heard everything. Taking a quick glance back at Dumbledore, just from the expression on that old fox's face, Neville knew it was another set up.

_He knew they were outside eavesdropping and didn't do anything about it. If I really did reveal some big secret, it would run throughout the school by daybreak! If the secret was something, anything, negative, my wizarding life would be effectively ruined. No wonder Voldemort is scared of touching a hair on this old fox._

" Ah, youthful innocence. It really seems like I've stayed too long in this world." Dumbledore sighed, smilingly saying such morbid things really proved his age. " Neville, I must ask your forgiveness in yet another matter. I doubted your young heart that wanted to help this school and, at one point, even thought you were working for the Dark Lord."

Hannah gasped as she did in the meeting last time, but Su was here to support her. Draco snapped his head round to Neville and stared, regretfully it was in amazement, as if it was really true. Neville was also surprised himself, but it was understandable for Dumbledore to be cautious since Hogwarts was currently guarding the Philosopher's Stone.

" Of course, that was until you said his name aloud in front of everyone, as his servants never dared. But I still had my suspicions…" Dumbledore looked towards the ceiling as if he could see his memories there. " You see, many years ago, I had taught a student at Hogwarts. An exceptional student, not unlike what I've heard from Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick about you Neville. But unfortunately, he had been swayed astray from the correct path… And he had committed great crimes to the wizarding world."

Neville realised Dumbledore was talking about Tom Riddle and Neville's facial reactions said it all. Dumbledore saw his face and laughed heartedly. " Yes, I foolishly thought Neville might follow in his footsteps and extreme ideals. Wrongly so of course. The mistrust of others piled by age had made me commit such an offence. To think! Haha… Gillyweed to the Philosopher Stone! Haha…"

Dumbledore trailed off as he was overcome with laughter to the confusion of the other three. Neville started to get quite alarmed again. _Dumbledore first suspected ME to work for Voldemort and steal the Stone! Then thought I was getting the Stone for myself! How did he reach such conclusions?_

Neville thought back to everything he had done that looked suspicious. _Yes, Dumbledore said I performed well in class, but if that was the reason, Hermione would have been burnt at the stake by now._ _Oh! Sitting with the Slytherins? That's it! To sit with another table for meals was quite unusual, so Dumbledore thought I wanted to be a Slytherin… since I'm Pureblood… Oh, the committee members. That's why he wanted me to get another member. Draco and me were both Pureblood, and that stinking name of the Malfoys said enough. No wonder he kept studying Hannah last time – she looked so weak, with us two being President and Vice, she would practically be a dominated side-dish in the executives. Dumbledore had thought I was going to recruit a new band of Death Eaters with this club! Oh my God! That old man expected WAY too much out of me! _

Dumbledore had recomposed himself by now, and had his usual smiling face on. He also seemed to have a touch of pride on his face as he said, " If we can't trust the future of our society, what else can we trust? To think the ideals and visions I had possessed for all these years, trying to change our community, is so simply understood by you children – yet many adults unable to comprehend at all. Further upon this, a simple eleven year-old came up with such a subtle but intricate idea to implement them.

" Since our last meeting, I had been taking notice of many things I never had before. Walking out into the courtyard, I see student in groups often only in their own houses. In the last Quidditch match, I heard the most awful curses between two Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The sorting of the houses may be effective on the general teaching of knowledge, but I never noticed the strong dividers tearing across our school."

" Yes Professor, it really was difficult for us to find a Ravenclaw because we don't have that many chances to talk outside classes." Hannah added impulsively, then reddening and lowered her head again. Dumbledore smiled upon her and Su, who was nodding in agreement.

He then turned to Neville and said, " There are other things I'd noticed about you too Neville. Since you have been sitting with the Slytherins for meals, and proceeded to go about the other tables as well, I had seen quite an increase in others following suit. The Great Hall seemed to get louder and cheerier every time I go for lunches as if I had mixed Dryad Hair in with Blood Apricot – Oh pardon me. What I meant to say was, you had already tried, in your own way, to bring the houses together and even archived minor results."

Neville suspected the only reason the other students went to eat in the other houses was because they offered different types of food, as spread by him here and there. It was really just point out an observation others overlooked. Hannah was looking quite impressed with him at that moment though, and that made him keep his hypothesis to himself.

" Plus, that scene on Valentine's Day moved me very much Neville." At the mention of that, Hannah immediately blushed and looked away again. _Hey! What was that? I'm not in anyway related with Millicent that way! Hell no!_ " I think a person like you would make a great President for the First-Years Student Council."

" What's a student council?" Draco asked and Su seemed a little taken aback.

" You mean like those in Japanese schools? Including our initial notion of coordinating events, the Student Council manages other clubs, lead others during an emergency, helping with staff duties and such. Most importantly, it's like a trade union for the students and reflects what they think to the school. Some are almost like the PTA, and some are like a government itself, and can pass school rules for the students."

" Wow…" Hannah looked a bit overwhelmed and Dumbledore once again warmly soothed her.

" Don't worry, I will not put these great responsibilities on your shoulders all at once."

_A test period eh? Well, I know it was too lenient of Dumbledore to let us create this extremely powerful Student Council. I am a bit surprised he really trusted as this much to think about giving us this much power… It probably has to do with him knowing about how our notion really had a chance to archive one of his greatest wish for the wizarding world_.

" We are already in the later half of the school year, and I can not just force other students to recognise you. You must show the school your resolve and ideals through results.

" About the event idea you proposed Miss Li, I am deeply interested. Please regard the event as the First-Years Student Council's first big test. You may seek the help of other professors, prefects, and first years within reason. However you must not disturb the ordinary running of the school or forcefully make other students comply with your activities."

" Understood. I am sure you know already professor, a student council is run solely by the students, with no outside influences from the staffs at all." Neville, just to be cautious, made sure the 'council' was not one of Dumbledore's traps.

" Certainly." Dumbledore clapped his hands together and Neville finally felt he had achieved a victory. One with profits as well. If the school ever dab a hand into the council, it would just give parents like Lucius Malfoy a chance to disband it, following the reasoning mentioned before. " Well it is getting quite late. Please return to your dorms for now and I shall share this news with the rest of the school in the morning."

Just as they were about to take their leave, Neville was kept back by a call from Dumbledore. " Is there something else professor?"

" Oh, how can we forget our punishments Neville. After all, taking without permission is the same as thievery." Dumbledore's word struck a nerve and Neville sat down again. " Frankly speaking, the items in the Medical Wing are for the students, and the confiscated items are from the students. However, the potion ingredients, some very rare indeed, are private to Professor Snape.

" Therefore I will send you to Professor Snape for your detentions. He is a very skilled Occlumens and seeing as you've once again taken up your practice of avoiding my eyes, I will ask him to give you lessons on Occlumency for your time with him there."

Dumbledore had realised something during his earlier laughing fit. Even if Neville was just stealing Gillyweeds and Invigoration Draughts now – he was quite an adept thief. Adept enough to go almost anywhere in this castle, the third floor corridor included, without notice.

0

0

0

A/N: Chapter too long I know. I just wanted to get the scene finished though. I'm not sure if readers are familiar with this student council idea… They have it in the U.S and universities too, and has a lot of politics and whatnot involved. I hate politics, and is basing this on the ones most common in Japanese mangas. Well, we'll see how it plays out.


	17. Book 1 Chapter 16

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

His secret of replacing the real Neville was almost revealed when Dumbledore performed a successful Occlumency. Luckily, since he really did not do anything nearly as bad as he was suspected of, the First-Years Student Council was established. However, it had also cost him extra detentions with Snape that might make him spread everything out onto the table.

Chapter 16 – Chess by Hogwarts Lake.

" I can't believe you're starting anther detention just after we finished ours." Su patted Neville on the back and added, " But frankly, it's more like extra lessons. Dumbledore's actually being very cool about this, giving you a chance to learn more magic instead of punishing you."

" Yeah." Neville absentmindedly answered.

_ That sly old fox! You still haven't fully let go of my tail, have you? It's a do-or-die plan. Ask Snape to teach me Occlumency as a front, when Snape was dying to see more from the glimpse he had of my mind in the Great Hall. Dumbledore knew I can't give up these lessons. Not just because they were detentions, but because he knew I wanted to learn Occlumency – and fast. Having an instructor was the best way to do it, and since I already knew the basics, Dumbledore had put his bet on Snape. It was just a matter of whether Snape can find whatever 'ill-intentions' I had first, or I seal myself off forever by mastering Occlumency. _

" What we're doing here is like detention itself," Draco complained, even if he was really not doing much himself.

Dumbledore had allocated one of the many empty classrooms in the castle for the First-Years Student Council. Of course, it was littered with useless furniture amongst other things, and it was up to the members to clean up before anything else. Draco of course brought his two lackeys with him and they were currently moving some of the heavier stuffs out to the corridors. Hannah and Neville were picking up the pieces, while he tried to teach her some basic moving charms. Su was trying to bewitch the sign on the door to read First-Years Student Council in flashing lights.

Just the morning after their meeting with Dumbledore, he announced at breakfast the establishment of the Council. Of course he did not say anything about trying to break the pure-blood ideals, since the Council itself was a front for that purpose. He did not even touch upon the inter-house relations aspect much, leaving only the few students with a keen ear to deduct the notion. He merely commented on how the organisation would lighten the load off staffs and prefects (Percy looked outraged) at helping first years to settle more comfortably into the 'unique' lifestyle Hogwarts provided them. He kept the nature of the end-of-year event they were responsible for a surprise, but urged first years to visit the Council's office whenever they had anything they wished to reflect to the school.

The older years did not take much notice obviously, since the name alone meant the Council did not really concern them. The other first years perked up though, especially with the 'mysterious event' being planned. Already on the first evening did the Patil twins, Lavender Brown, and Pansy Parkinson come and ask about what it was. The only answer Su gave though, since it was her idea, was for them to wait and see, blaming it back on Dumbledore.

Calling it a night, the Council dispersed and Neville pulled his tired self back towards the Gryffindor common room. The Trio would have came to help, but since they were not really members, and with what happened at the last Quidditch match, Hermione and Neville thought it was better to keep them and Draco separated. As with the books, Ron had gotten into a fight after some of Draco's taunts, even after Neville tried to pacify things. Also, Harry heard Snape threatening Quirrell in the Forbidden Forest, worsening the misunderstanding for Snape despite Neville insisting that Harry did not hear their full conversation.

" Hey Neville. Did you tidy up ok?" The Trio were crowding around doing homework at one of the tables, and Hermione was the first to see and greet him.

" I'm surprise you can stand being in the same room as Malfoy." Ron snorted and unconsciously touched his nose, which was punched during their scuffle.

" It went okay." Neville restrained a sigh. This current situation was quite hypocritical for the Council with its hidden ideals underneath. " So what were you guys talking about?"

" We're thinking of ways to celebrate Ron's birthday," Harry informed.

" Yes, Sunday. Then I'll be twelve!" Neville restrained a wince. His mental self still had various qualms about moments like this, wondering when his friends would be legally able to come to the pub for a beer. Granted, he could not do so any time earlier than them either.

" Have you got any ideas?" Hermione asked purposefully. Having gotten over the lack of a Valentine's Day gesture, Neville felt she was getting a lot closer to Ron. After practicing the Leg-Locker Curse together (they were worried Snape would kill Harry in the last Quidditch match), in which Neville knowingly withdrew from, she had been constantly telling Neville how fun it was to watch Ron concentrate in learning. Neville mostly nodded through her girly-dreamy sessions. Now though, he had the perfect excuse of being busy with the Council to avoid similar predicaments in the future.

" I don't know what to do." Ron shrugged. " Mostly I just celebrate with the family you know?"

" I bet Mrs Weasley will send you a homemade birthday cake." Harry, who also had her fudge for Christmas, was starting to make Neville hungry.

" Let's throw a party for Ickle Ronnikins!" Once again appearing out of nowhere were the Weasley twins.

" And since Mr President's even got his own office now, we can use it for the party!" One of the twins went and nudged Neville on his side.

" It is an office. We can't use it for personal reasons." Neville stated with resolve.

" Are you Neville or Percy in disguise?" George rolled his eyes.

" You are so mean, it's Ron's birthday." Hermione gave Neville a pleading look. _She normally would not do something like this._

" No." Neville repeated, getting up to his feet.

" But isn't the aim of your Council to promote relations between houses? You guys haven't done anything yet." Harry put his foot in as well, and that was the last straw for Neville.

" I want to celebrate Ron's birthday too you know." Frowning at Harry, Neville took a few seconds to brainstorm. Then finally making such an evil smirk that Harry shuddered, Neville faced him and asked, " And you too right?"

" I have a bad feeling about this…" Harry scolded himself mentally. He knew he should have just kept his mouth shut.

0

0

0

" _Sonorus_." Making his voice sound like a loud speaker, Neville cleared his throat. " Excuse me ladies and gentlemen."

The Great Hall was currently packed with students enjoying their Sunday breakfast, which was a good time to make announcements for those not lazy enough to sleep in. Flitwick looked quite proud at Neville being able to control the spell so that no one's eardrums got blown off and everyone could clearly hear. McGonagall was involved in Neville's scheme as well and was smiling lightly at him. Snape was scowling, as always, since Neville had still to take his first detention lesson. Neville did not dare to glance at Dumbledore.

" As you know, the First Years Student Council has been very quiet even after it's formation a while back. That is because we are planning the 'mysterious event' – but let's not mention that again, since a lot of people are glaring at me for not telling… Anyway, today is the first of March and is the birthday of one of my dear friends, Ron Weasley. In the mixed purpose of a birthday celebration, boredom, and to sooth the general agitation our Council has caused, we will be hosting a small tournament of 'Chess' down by the Hogwarts Lake."

A few from the chess club and Gryffindor knew of Ron's chess abilities and actually looked interested. Many more people snorted at the anti-climax, and were even posing to throw their eggs at Neville. Catching onto this quickly, Neville quickly continued.

" It is however, not normal chess. Or even wizarding chess. It is… chess played as a team." Neville saw many people putting their eggs down for now and breathed in relief. " There will be eight players on each team. Each player will be given one of these masks."

Neville pulled out a white mask, not unlike the ones used for circus clowns, but it was full faced. On the left cheek were a clown's teardrop would be was a black symbol like the Knight of chess pieces and Neville lifted the mask to his face. With the blink of an eye, where Neville stood was a human-sized white Knight chess piece. It was also very surreal how the seemingly severed head of the horse's mouth began to move in the voice of Neville.

" As you can see, these masks are enchanted, courtesy of Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. Each player will represent a chess piece individually, as agreed upon in their own teams, and will move by their own accord on the chess board. Take note there will be no Pawn masks. The teams, black and white, will take turns moving, just as they do in normal chess – but each and every single piece on a team will move on their team's turn.

" Also, instead of 'taking' the pieces, an opposing player is sent off if they are 'captured'. In order to capture a player, the opposing team must surround the four squares adjacent to an enemy. The object of the game is either to capture five opposing players or capture the King. Also note that no player of the same team can step into a square adjacent to their own teammate."

By now the whole Hall was a buzz of excitement and questions. It had actually taken Neville a very long time to think of this game. He knew Ron liked chess, but he expected the reaction of the students if it was just a chess tournament. Instead, he combined chess with the Japanese board game Go to create a new game. He also knew McGonagall was capable of making giant chess pieces, and decided to brainstorm a bit with her. She was actually an avid chess player and would have entered a teachers team today – if only she could have convinced Snape to make up the numbers.

" Now for motivation," restraining a smirk towards Harry, who knew what was coming and lowered his head to the table, Neville continued. " The winning team of the tournament have a choice between two prizes. One, a stroll and picnic around the Hogwarts Lake with The-Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter!"

Many of the girls squealed at this. Idolising was a prime in many teenage girls' lives after all. With their close celebrity always hiding himself away, it really was a rare chance to talk to, or hunt down, the latest Hogwarts superstar this year. Of course, many of the boys were green in the face at this and snorted, including Draco.

" The second option is a study plan, a years' worth of notes, and immaculate past paper answers from Miss Hermione Granger." This perked up every first year's attention. Who did not know Hermione was the smartest witch that year, and to have those things would mean an immediate pass at the upcoming exams. " Unfortunately, we are only the First Years Student Council. Therefore, every team must at least consist of three first year students. Please make your own team of eights, mixing students from other houses is also possible, and enter by noon today at our office. Those who fail to make a complete team can also come to the office and we may be able to put together some scratch teams. That would be all."

_Hermione's notes only covered first year anyway. But this first years team regulation was ingenious from Draco. Not only did it encourage house mixing as a front, but it also pulled senior years students into the event. Dumbledore would see we're carrying out his ideals, and we could use the excuse of making up numbers for teams to involve older years that were otherwise out of our jurisdiction. If the seniors enjoyed this event, they would automatically put pressure on Dumbledore to give more power to the Council. Slytherins really did have a way with gaining power…_

" I still hate how you dragged those notes out of me by the way." Hermione congratulated my first successful public speaking session as the President with that.

" Harry sacrificed himself for Ron's happiness, why can't you let go of some study plans?" Neville knew he hit home and Harry nodded vigorously.

" Yeah, it's only fair… And gives me a chance to worm out of having a picnic with random girls." Harry shuddered. _That boy just doesn't know yet…_

" Thanks guys, you are the best." Ron was smiling from ear to ear and Harry quickly told him not to mention it. Hermione was blushing to her roots and just nodded.

" I have to stand guard at the office now." Neville picked up a piece of toast and left.

Hermione shouted after him, " Our team's going to win you know! I'm going to get my notes back!"

0

0

0

As expected, there were plenty of half-made teams that came to the Council office. The Council members were all squishing around the rowdy crowd in the jam-packed room, trying to get a hold of each other to see if they had exact numbers to create a team of eight.

" Hey! Where're you grabbing?" Neville growled and shoved his way from the hand that came out of nowhere. Just as he was getting elbowed in the chin, he saw Hannah not far away, stuck with a tall guy wearing a cheesy smile. He had an arm over her slumped shoulder, gesturing animatedly with the other, his hair as slimy as slime could make it. " Hannah!"

" Oh! T-the president is looking for me and we'll register your name for a scratch team and you and your friends might get sorted –"

" Why would I need to be in a team with some other snot-nose first years while there is such a pretty little doll right here in front of my eyes?" The sleazebag was in Neville's hearing range now as he clawed his way towards the now trembling Hannah.

" I-I'm really sorry, but I don't plan on entering and, and, and –" Hannah did not see Neville though, and looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

" Now, now, if you make up a team with me I'll guarantee to make you experience something you've never – Hey! Watch it!" The sleazebag held onto his nose and was lucky he did not get a nosebleed.

" Oh? Sorry, a bit crowded here." Neville faked a smile and took a step forward, purposefully standing on the sleazebag's foot to make a statement. " This girl is the Council's secretary and is currently very busy with event organisation. We have enough senior entries already to make up teams, you may leave now. It sure is getting crowded and who knows what I'll step on next."

" You just watch it shrimp!" The senior harrumphed as he stormed off. _Barking dogs can't bite._

" Thanks…." Hannah stood with her hand over her heart, no doubt beating wildly. Neville pulled her to a relatively quiet corner to get some air, throwing a backwards glare at the sleazebag who huffed out of the office. " I guess I'm really not good with this kind of thing."

" You're doing great Hannah," Neville assured. " It's really my fault to selfishly start an event like this."

" No, I don't think so. One of the reasons we started this Council was to organise more social events right? I thought Draco looked as if he was getting one step closer to being bored to death every time I see him in the office."

" Haha, that's a good one!" Neville laughed, comparing Hannah to how she was in the books. _She even made a joke regarding Draco_. " Did Lavender Brown register yet on your end?"

" Yeah, I was just going to come over to you about it. The Patils and her just entered their names." Hannah pulled out the parchment and showed him the highlighted names. _If only they had computers with intranet here…_

" Draco's only got Crabbe and Goyle. We can probably find two other seniors somewhere."

" Excuse me?" A clear voice asked from behind them. Turning back, Neville saw a senior girl, with brown curly hair that looked as if it was styled in Hollywood. Her face was also above average as well, and had on some makeup that boosted her more mature look. _This should be the sort of girls I should be chasing around… I wonder what year she's in._

" Hello, how can we help you?" Hannah asked automatically.

" My name is Penelope Clearwater. Professor Flitwick sent me to see if the Council needed any help from us prefects."

_This is Penelope Clearwater? Girls her age really can make themselves look mature… So she's Percy's future girlfriend? Bwahaha! Percy is in Ron's team: as a Weasley he was dragged into it by the twins. It was probably this year that they got close because they were both prefects! Mwhahaha! She's too good for that traitor! I never liked Percy for how he shouted at his own father._

" Thank you Penelope, can you and some prefects help organise this room a bit? As you can see, it's a bit crowded." Hannah took the lead and also asked for the prefects to come to the tournament site later to maintain order. When Penelope and the other prefects with her left to tell the other students to queue up orderly, Hannah turned back on Neville and rolled her eyes. " Come back here Neville."

" What?" Neville had unconsciously took a step after Penelope, head filled with little snide remarks about Percy that he thought Penelope should hear.

" I bet you thought she was really pretty." Hannah shook her head and took the commanding tone she always held for him in Herbology. " Go and help Su with drafting the matches!"

" Ok, ok." _Was it really good for the President to be bossed around so easily like this?_

Neville was kept busy even after the deadline for applications were finished since there were still a lot of things to sort out. Then after the matches got underway, Neville was even busier. Draco had his own team and the other two were dragged off by Hermione since her team were missing players. This left only Neville to feverously think up of new rules and fair modifications to the many in-game problems that occurred.

After all, this was an untested game: Teams took ages to make their moves, games lasting for ages as both teams sucked, people cheating by making illegal moves etc. Amongst other things, Neville had to limit each team's moving time to five seconds each turn, and asked Filtwick to charm all the masks again to restrict the players.

Neville did find a way to relieve stress through the tournament though. By the lake there were three 'chess boards' set up, with games going on concurrently. He had made some lame excuses and kept the beautiful Penelope Clearwater right next to him for most of the day – always in front of the board with Percy's team playing. Even if Neville looked to only be concerned about his friends' matches, he was actually there to cast Trip Jinxes inconspicuously on Percy while pointing out his 'Weatherby' side out to Penelope. Neville also made quite sure Percy was the first piece to be captured every game, and made quite timely remarks for Penelope to hear.

" Percy! You again?" George screamed exasperatedly as the white Knight piece, glancing around him comical as of someone was pulling the horse's reins, was surrounded by four black pieces. Light shone from the tile underneath Percy and with a bang, he was blown through the air to the side of the board. That was one of the new features Neville suggested for the 'extra fun factor'.

" Who would've thought Percy was this bad at chess even if he's always buried in a book?" Neville shrugged and Penelope hid a giggle behind her hand.

" I'm telling you! There's something wrong with my mask!" Percy protested to the ears of no one.

" You already switched masks with Harry you git," Fred shook his Bishop head. " Neville, you're on for him in the next match! It'll be the finals and we can't afford –"

" Move Fred!" Ron screamed and Fred fumbled along one square before time ran out for their team. If a piece did not move after five seconds, the piece automatically got blown off the board as Percy did.

Ron's team consisted of the Weasley brothers, Harry, Hermione, Hannah and Su. They were the favourites for winning the tournament according to Lee Jordan's betting tables before it was confiscated by McGonagall. It was a lazy Sunday and almost the whole school was out by the lake since the tournament began till now, when the last shimmer of sunrays were reflecting off the tranquil surface of the lake. It was almost like a festival with the students cheering on their friends, or sharing a sandwich from a picnic basket…

" Neville! Are you eyeing that girl's sandwich?" A black Knight piece chose that moment to bump his muzzle on Neville's shoulder.

" I take it your team won?" Neville waved his wand at the parchment floating not far above him to record the matches' results, knowing Penelope was impressed at his early mastery of such spells.

Where the frowning black Knight was standing just a second ago stood Draco with a black mask in his hand. " You think? I've no idea why Lavender isn't flinging herself at me by now. We're in the finals thanks to me."

_That might have something to do with how you ordered her about for most of the whole day._ Neville kept his thoughts to himself. Draco's team consisted of his two grunts, Lavender, the Patil twins, and two random Hufflepuff second years. The mental capacities of the three girls were not much to begin with, and with the two Hufflepuffs being intimidated by Crabbe and Goyle, Draco had near absolute dominance over his team. Although there was the five seconds rule, Draco was efficient, quick, and assertive in his commands while the others diligently followed, especially after his commands led them to victories. It might not be of as much team effort as Ron's team, but it sure was efficient.

" Nice one Ron!" From Harry's voice, Neville knew the outcome of their match. Ron's team was a competent bunch, warnings and advices were shared by all the members equally. Since half of them were family, they played great as a team and could communicate with each other with even simple looks. For instance, the last play of this match, Fred and George tricked the other team's Queen out of the way and the other four managed to surround and capture the King.

" Ha! I never thought Potter and Weasley could get to the finals, but now it's even better!" Draco laughed maniacally as he sauntered off back towards his team. " Now I'll beat him fair and square and show everyone just who they should be bowing down to!"

" No one bows down to any of them Draco." Neville muttered but Draco was out of earshot.

" Neville! _Please_ sub in for Percy in the finals!" George took off his mask next to the very disgruntled Percy.

Percy was wearily trying not to glance at Penelope, who was restraining a giggle. " I'm telling you! I didn't mean to move that way but it felt like someone casted a Trip Jinx at that –"

" I'll go check up on the other prefects and see if they need help." Penelope told Neville while shaking her head, giving a pithy glance at Percy, probably thinking he was just not admitting to his own mistakes.

" See you back here for the finals." Neville let her go, but not before giving her the debonair George Clooney smile.

" Penelope! Wait! I'll go with you! I'm a prefect as well!" Percy hurriedly followed, but not before turning back round to give the twins a glare.

" So the final show down is with Malfoy huh?" Ron came up to them and punched his palm in front of him. " I'll pay him back for everything by capturing him first."

Neville looked away from Hermione's slightly dreamy gaze at Ron and saw that Hannah was fumbling the mask in her hands nervously. " Our opponent is Draco?"

" Don't worry, it's just a game." Neville reassured her and added out of habit despite Penelope having walked away. " You can't be worst than Percy."

" B-but it'd be the Student Council's members against each other. I don't think that's so good… What if Draco lost?" Hannah involuntarily remembered Draco's icy glares and shivered.

Harry stepped up at this moment, " Then we can all laugh at his face." _This hatred really goes two ways with Harry and Draco doesn't it? Did anyone make a prophecy about those two being enemies?_

" Draco won't take it to heart. Just do your best Hannah." Su gave Hannah a supportive pat next to her. " At least, I know he won't hold back."

" Yeah. Draco only hates Harry and Ron really." Neville saw that Hannah looked marginally better after their encouragements.

As the early moon began to emerge and the sun was waving its last goodbyes, the final match of the tournament went underway. Neville persisted that team members could not be changed, much to the dismay of the twins, and stood as the referee instead.

It felt as if the whole of Hogwarts was here now, including Dumbledore, who casted a spell to conjure two tall stands on either side of the board for spectators to see clearly. Neville had merely lined the chessboard edges with Bluebell Flames and never would have been able to perform such a spell. Even Snape was out there, smiling approving at Draco for facing off against Harry. It was quite rowdy with all the students supporting their respective teams – and they were quite a good mix. Though all Slytherins were on Draco's side, each team had a mix of houses and some student even looked confused as to which stand to sit behind. Not many people were wearing their house coloured scarves, even if the night wind was getting chillier.

" Penelope, if you please?" Neville of course did not let being referee hinder his time away from the gorgeous Ravenclaw.

She and Neville had actually been discussing some of the games earlier and he found her extremely perceptive and smart, in a sports commentator sort of way, and invited her to commentate this final. It was not a fast paced sport on a broom, but some moves could be explained in detail about its motives that would make it more interesting.

" The white pieces will move first!" Neville casted a _Sonorus_ charm on Penelope, which earned him a kind smile in return. " And the timer starts… now!"

The white pieces went first, which were Ron's team. Even with the masks' transformation, the King pieces were blatantly glaring at each other. Ron did not issue any commands, and neither did Draco, probably out of pride. The rest of the audiences did though, and some of them even waved make-shift banners – Neville wanted to know when and why they wasted time doing those. Under the dim evening light, the pieces on the chessboard circled each other: approaching inconspicuously, backing a step, spreading away from teammates.

" And the Birthday Team does not even use most of the five seconds available, and it seems each player knows what they should be doing. I'm sure they were discussing tactics earlier before the match started. And the… Malfoy team, as they've registered themselves…" A black Bishop piece made an annoyed expression at these words, obviously having succumbed to Draco unwillingly. Penelope continued, " They were taking a bit more time and – oh, their King is starting to issue commands like he's been doing in their matches before!"

" B-Seven, Goyle! E-Two, Parvati!" Draco barked succinctly. Immediately the game seemed to have sped up. The pieces moved past each as if they were dancing with the flickering lights of the Bluebell Flames, each turn ending on the sound of pieces landing on the wooden chessboard. The crowd knew the initial approaching phrase was over and soon the first piece would be captured, all of them now sitting just that bit closer to the edge of their seats.

" The Malfoy team's control tower, Draco Malfoy, using his efficient command system, managed to isolate a white Knight!"

" Percy! Get your ass outta there!" One of the Bishops, Fred or George, bellowed at the Knight that had been forced into the side of the board and was just one turn away from being captured by three black pieces.

" And the Knight tries to slip away from danger in the direction of his opponent's end! His teammates try to get closer, but their paths are blocked by Malfoy's two Rooks – and the white Knight is getting closer to the corner of the board! No, wait! Here's a chance for the white Knight to checkmate the black!"

" B-Three, Goyle! C-Two, Lavender!" Draco bellowed but in a tone Neville could tell he had another card up his sleeve.

" Fred, or George, or whoever you are! I'll go to the corner and you surround the King!" Percy, seemingly having seen the opportunity, abandoned his escape plan and moved to the corner tile in hopes of uniting with a white Bishop and Rook to capture the black King with three pieces.

" No you idiot! They'll block –" Ron was too late with his warning. Lavender, who was the black Queen, shifted positions with a Rook and intercepted the white Bishop's path to capture Draco.

" A-Two, Goyle! Ha! First one down!" Draco's cheer was nothing compared to the crowd as the Bluebell Flames flared ominously beside the panicking white Knight stuck in the corner. With a loud boom and cheer, Percy was blasted high into the air and crash landed behind Neville in a cloud of dust.

" And Percy Weasley! Once again! Is the first piece to be captured on the Birthday team!" Penelope's flaming red face plainly stated that she was having great difficulty containing her laughter, opposed to the whole audience. Some supporters of Draco's team were even screaming their thanks to Percy.

_To think I didn't even shoot any Tripping Jinx at him this match._ Neville shook his head. Then again, that was only because he knew the mass audience, and Dumbledore, would pick up the referee pointing his wand at Percy.

" That has been the usual play for the Malfoy team, with their King smoothly interacting with the other pieces to make the critical captures. The white Knight was forced to escape, then baited, hook, line and sinker! A marvellous performance for the team that's made up of the most first years!"

Percy looked as if he was ready to dig a hole with his mask to bury himself in about this time, but Draco did not even give him a backward glance. The black King's face smirked and advanced towards the glaring white King.

0

0

0

A/N: I know this feels more like a filler chapter but there are reasons (just like the Christmas incidents). One of the reasons is that in the book, there is a massive time gap here where nothing much goes on. I didn't want to waste the time slot and it gives good hints to character development and current progresses. Plus, these incidents are going to be of use in the future.

About this game, I don't know if it's exciting enough, but it doesn't feel bad. I've been thinking about how to make it more… magical. I don't mean having them all riding brooms, but if you have suggestions, please contact me. Much appreciated.

Below is a list of the players and the pieces they represent in their match.

Ron _King_ Draco

Harry _Knight_ Goyle

Herm _Queen_ Lavender

Fred _Bishop_ Patil

George _Bishop_ Patil

Percy _Knight_ Hufflepuff

Hannah _Rook_ Hufflepuff

Su _Rook_ Crabbe


	18. Book 1 Chapter 17

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

It's Ron's birthday and after the establishment of the First Year Student Council, Neville came up with an idea to celebrate Ron's birthday along with hosting their first Council event. The tournament is in its final match, where Draco's team faces off with the Weasleys.

Chapter 17 – Detention with Snape.

" A brilliant save from Harry Potter, the remaining white Knight on the board!" Penelope Clearwater really had a voice that suited her name. Even though she was using the words of normal sports commentators, Neville still swooned at her refreshing voice singing over the Hogwarts Lake.

" E-Five, Padma!" Draco ordered, and even though the black Bishop gave the King an annoyed look, she followed anyway. This was the confidence built upon by results of previous victories.

" Harry, Su, don't chase after her!" Ron called out while he himself moved away from the edge of the board. The white Knight and Rook backed down, and right on the next turn Su saw why as a black Bishop occupied the square in front of her. If she did not trust Ron's judgement, she would be in no position at that moment to think about how she wanted arms to wipe some sweat off her forehead.

" And the two teams are still evading each other as – oh wait! An attacking white Rook is being shadow by Malfoy's Knights! Even though standing in a square next to a piece means the opponent takes one less step in being captured, it goes the other way round as well! And the Malfoy team's Queen is about to go in for the capture!"

" Hermione!" Harry's call was unnecessary as the white Queen had already got in the way between Lavender and Hannah.

" Gotcha!" Draco's King piece smirked, taking a momentous move forward. Hermione was good as trapped in the tight-knot black pieces.

" And what is the white Queen going to do? Three of her adjacent squares are covered, and if she moves diagonally she'll hit the corner or the black Knights. The black King is one step away from capturing the Queen! Oh? And Harry Potter makes an almost suicidal safe again! The white Knight flew in out of nowhere in front of the King, but two of Potter's adjacent squares are filled. …And he's gone! The Birthday team will have to go on without Knights!"

" Take that Potter!" Draco laughed in his badass maniacal way and Harry could only glare at him at the side of the board. " Just what I'd expect from the hero who thinks he's saved us all."

" Was saving a Bishop really worth then getting the Queen in danger and losing your only knight?" Neville asked Harry in a low voice beside him.

" Humph. Just you wait and see." Harry beamed and stared right back at Draco defiantly.

" You know, people won't take the words you say seriously as a horse." Neville reminded Harry as he was still to take off his Knight mask.

" And the Birthday team is on the move again – but wait! Is this what I see here? The King, who moved back after the white Knight got captured, is slowly getting cornered in his own side?"

" Patils! Cover me!" Draco yelled as he left the square that had two white pieces next to it. " O-oi you! No, not that way you idiot Hufflepuff!"

" A bad move by the black Rooks caused them to be surrounded by the Birthday team! Malfoy is bellowing out at least three orders a turn now to try and save them as the Birthday team's offence changed targets… The Malfoy team is like a well-oiled machine as their Rooks work with the Queen to break out at one point – Oh? One of the white Bishops is now in trouble… Oh I see it! The white Bishop who was just previously going to support the capture of Malfoy is now in real danger of getting captured himself at the edge of Malfoy team's edge!"

Neville was not good at chess at all, and did not know when the transition happened, but he knew Ron had not given a direction all through the exchange, and even hung back from the main circle of activities. The white pieces were all keeping an eye out for themselves or each other while Harry cheered them all on. Neville could only guess their plan was going well.

" And Draco Malfoy, the Murdering King, once again goes in for the capture! And it's gone! The whites are down to five pi – what? That Rook is still there? Hannah Abbot! The white Rook that was saved earlier by the Queen has checkmated the Malfoy team!"

The black King's face was a portrait of disbelief as he stared wide-eye at the white Rook, her tower head bent downwards to the chessboard. Harry already began clapping, " Nice one Hannah! He fell for it!"

" Surrounding the two black Rooks earlier was just a diversion to let the King's guard down. The white Rook was tailing and leading the King's movements all along, and by capturing the white Bishop himself, the black King was stuck next to the border of the board. And now none of the black pieces can save him! Using two baits and two sacrifices, using the Murdering King's playing style against him, the Birthday team has won the tournament!"

The crowd all stood up on the stands in applause, while Harry, one of the twins and Percy ran back onto the chessboard to have a group hug with the rest of the white armless chess pieces. Neville found the sight highly amusing himself and wondered if he should start a theme park with chess pieces as the mascots.

" I lost to Weasley?" Draco's mask fell from his face, and was in too much shock to even throw a tantrum.

" Actually Malfoy," Ron would have got pulled back by Hannah if they had hands, but their masks were still on. The white King piece continued, " It was Hannah who came up with the plan. I was only responsible for staying alive and telling everyone the big picture from time to time."

Neville could clearly see that the white Rook, without eyes or nose or any facial instruments, was frightened to the point where she bounced, almost comically, off the board in the other direction of Draco. She did not get far though as some Hufflepuffs surrounded her and threw her up into the air. Neville caught her eyes after her chess mask fell off and gave her a thumbs-up.

_Who would've thought Hannah had it in him to best Draco? Chess isn't everything but it's a game that takes a fair amount of talent and intellect. The books probably didn't do her justice enough… Well, it's only reasonable since she was a minor character that didn't break through that 'shy' cover as Ginny obviously did by the end. Well, I'm just glad she somehow ended up as the Secretary – _

" Neville! I want my notes back!" Hermione held out her Queen mask to Neville as if she was expecting to trade her notes for it hand by hand.

" Actually, I left them at the castle. I'll give them back to you later." Hermione looked completely unconvinced, especially since Neville had taken a step backwards.

" I'm not going to let you keep them for yourself! And you call yourself the President of the Student Council?"

" Well, just First Year Student Council – Hey! Don't hit me with that mask! It's a charmed magical artefact and – Ouch! Stop it! Ow!"

0

0

0

" Well, you didn't look too happy." Su commented and Neville let out a groan, knowing where this conversation was once again heading. He was very much tempted to join the game Crabbe and Goyle currently played of slapping each other in a corner.

Draco harrumphed and continued slashing at the parchment in front of him with his extravagant quill. " I was just shocked! As I've said a million times! It's not my fault if Abbot is scared to come to the office just because I'm surprised she's got a brain!"

Since the tournament, Hannah had not come to the Student Council office once, and Neville had put his foot down that Draco should take up all the event planning work she left behind, since he had not been doing much before anyway. According to Su, since Neville had already given up, Hannah was still scared that Draco would take revenge on her for the plan she suggested during the tournament finals.

_Maybe I did overestimate Hannah…_

" I'm going to go now. Putting some things back to my room before… seeing Snape." This was another reason why Neville could not be bothered with this little conflict in his Council right now, since he had finally failed to avoid the detentions with the able Legilimens. Tonight was the night of truth.

Su and Draco continued to argue, and Goyle and Crabbed continued… playing their little game and the unappreciated Council president left towards the Gryffindor common rooms. Su and Hannah, being the only two girls, got along pretty well together and Su had taken it upon herself to side by her timid friend. Draco of course thought he was a perfectly approachable and jolly kid and held his point. Without saying, their argument today would once again fail to bring back Hannah.

" Hey, why the long face Neville?" Ron waved as he bumped into the Trio in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. " You weren't the one spending this sunny day studying in the library for hours."

" I was in the office again." Neville sighed, wondering how much he sounded like he was already part of the rat race.

" I'm not saying you should leave all your Council work Neville, but you know how important these exams coming up are." Hermione stepped forward with a wad of books she had checked out of the library that looked too heavy for her to carry. As Harry said the password, Neville helped her with a few books as she continued, " Thanks. Anyway, if you tell me the amount of time you plan to spend with the Council, I can make one of my study timetables for you too if you like."

Ignoring Ron's wild gestures of negativity behind Hermione as Neville climbed into the common room, he shrugged. " I'll cram when the exams gets closer."

Hermione gasped. " What're you talking about? It's already close! That's why we have all these extra homework! You can't copy off us forever! I-I won't let you! Even if you bribe me with Sugar Quills again!"

" I feel like we're doing nothing else apart from schoolwork for the past weeks. That History of Magic essay this time? You really should make a start now…" Harry acted similarly to the other two boys as they ignored Hermione's rant at the foot of the stairs while they climbed to the boy's dorms.

" I can't. I have detention with Snape. I'm just here to drop my school stuffs off before going." Neville sighed.

" What? Then you can't come to Hagrid's hut with us tonight." Harry dragged them to visit Hagrid all the time and Neville figured he would not miss one or two Rock Cakes.

Bidding the Trio goodbye and trudging down the stairs to the dungeons, Neville found himself outside Snape's office a lot faster than he would have liked from his familiarity of the castle now thanked to the Marauders Map.

" Come in." Beckoned the cold bitter voice from within – and even before Neville knocked. Taking a deep breath before lowering his gaze to the ground, Neville walked into the room. " Well, well, look who we have here. The ever so busy First Year Council President Longbottom."

" Good evening," Neville uttered and glanced out the corner of his eyes at the various objects around the room that reeked of strange potions and moist with weird concoctions. There were a lot of shelves filled with bottles that reminded him of a mad scientist's lab, some even seemed to be glowing in the darkness of the room.

" You do know why you are here, wasting my time?" Snape's voice was from behind the desk and Neville steadied his gaze on his shadow.

" Yes. Dumbledore sent me here for Occlumency lessons with y –"

" Wrong boy!" Snape's voice boomed through the small room and continued to echoed, " You are in _detention_ for stealing! I personally think Dumbledore went too soft on you – thievery not straightened out at your age can only lead to more swindles like Mundungus. You should have been here weeks ago but you slipped by with your puny excuses. I have no interests in your poor time management skills and should you miss any more detentions I will nominate Draco as the new Council president to Dumbledore instead, do I make myself quite clear?"

" Yes." Neville answered evenly, knowing Snape was either trying to provoke or intimidate him to open up his mind.

" Look at me when you speak boy!" Snape snapped. " And call me sir or professor!"

" Yes, sir." Neville looked up, but only to Snape's chin and squinting his eyes.

" Humph. I heard you know the fundamentals of Occlumency, correct? And your daily behaviour sure does show it if you're not just some shifty character." Snape's mouth curled into the smirk that Harry detested most and gave out his first assignment over the numerous ones from the other first year subjects. " I want an essay, at least a foot long, on all that you know about Occlumency to be handed in at your next detention. After all, how can we start learning when I don't know the extent of what you know? It's not as if I am just wasting your time and delaying your Occlumency progress."

_You know full well that is exactly what you're doing! I didn't come here to get my mind read for writing essays. If this isn't Dumbledore's command I'm sure you won't want me to learn anything about blocking my thoughts. Where else will you find a reminisce of Lily Potter? Snape must've seen something about her back in the Great Hall to react that way against me… But how? Even the Sorting Hat and Dumbledore can't see beyond my memories of eight years old. How?_

" Well, in that case I will take my leave and write that essay now." Neville quickly turned to leave but ill karma caught up with him.

" Not so fast." Just as he took a step forward, he was hit on the back by Snape's Trip Jinx. Neville landed flat on his back and before he could help it, his eyes reopened with Snape staring down at them. " At least I can teach you the feeling of being subjected to Legilimency. _Legilimens_!"

For the second time in his life, Neville saw flashes of memories resurfacing inside his head as if someone was flinging files from a cabinet. An instance where a white Knight piece was sent flying in a suicidal direction to be captured… Pots of Sudowoods being magically levitated and transported into the greenhouse… Hogging all the pudding on the table with Ron and Harry complaining beside him…

" Not trivial things like this!" Neville felt he could breathe again after being suffocated as Snape angrily glared down on him. Thanked to his Armband, Neville's wand was at the ready in his hand – though he was still not as fast as Snape as he again bellowed, "_Legilimens_!"

The argument about Snape with the Trio at Hagrid's hut, and Neville storming out with a hard slam of the door … Stealing some Boomslang skin from Snape's private stores… Sneaking out of the trap door in the Shrieking Shack for the first time to Hogsmead… Old Al lifting the sheets off the cage to reveal Trevor… Gran putting a blanket over his shoulder when he fell asleep in the study… Unwrapping some sort of floating broomstick model, which was his first birthday present as Neville… Murky waters and rapidly escaping oxygen from his lungs…

" _Expelliarmus_!" Unlike the first time with Dumbledore, at the memory of the old Neville drowning, Neville was able to grasp some sort of consciousness and when his mind was fully back in the present dungeon room, Snape's wand was on the stone floor a few feet behind him.

Getting up and dusting his robes, while telling himself mentally to stay calm and quench his distaste for Snape's not so chivalrous attack, Neville harrumphed. " Well, thank you for the lesson. I hope my memories are not too… trivial for an eleven year old."

" Y-you –" Neville did not wait for whatever Snape was trying to stutter out in his embarrassment or rage, and left his office without him giving away any information he wanted.

_At least this shows my Occlumency skills are somehow improving. If I made sure they can't get anywhere further than when I switched into Neville's body, then whatever else they can read isn't so important. Though the Council started up from a silly intention, it was not something evil as Dumbledore suspected. They can't even read my exact intent and thoughts, just my memories and possibly feelings at the time. But this doesn't explain how Snape saw Lily Potter… Heh, if only Snape knew I was using him as my method of testing how far my past life's memories can be read into…_

In a much better mood than he was before he took the lesson, Neville returned to the Gryffindor common room to do that silly essay Snape set out for him and the extra homework the other professors gave out for exam revision. The Trio were probably at Hagrid's hut since they were nowhere to be found.

A few hours later, the Trio were walking back up to the Fat Lady's portrait under the Invisibility Cloak, and whispered amongst themselves about what they saw. As Harry told a puzzled Fat Lady the password, Hermione finished up her sentence.

" I have a book about dragons that Neville gave me for Christmas. I haven't read it yet – like we're not busy enough already nowadays and I never thought it'd really be of use to first years – but I'll take a look and give it to Hagrid too."

Spotting Neville writing in a table next to the fire, and the common room basically empty, the Trio found an inconspicuous corner and threw off the Invisibility Cloak.

" Neville! You won't _believe_ what Hagrid is up to in his hut!" To Neville, Ron sure did look shocked when they just suddenly materialised out of thin air.

" I'm sure some of my guesses aren't suitable for Hermione to hear." Neville got a glare for that from her. " Well I just don't like how you guys suddenly popping out okay?"

" Sorry… But Hagrid is hatching a dragon's egg in his fire!" Harry shared with his friend.

" Oh… OH!" Neville had completely forgotten about the dragon – once again something that should be important. Unfortunately, he could not remember too well what happened to the monster. _It was the first book after all! It had something to do with Charlie for sure though… But why get rid of an awesome weapon like that?_

" Oh? Just oh?" Hermione looked as if she was going to flip. " Even these two reacted better than you did! Don't you know it's illegal to breed dragons? Plus, no one's ever tamed a dragon before, they're just wild creatures. And I was counting on you to help me convince Hagrid to get rid of it!"

" We… really can't tame it?" Neville hazarded the question, and he lost his eardrums thanked to that.

" NO! Did you not hear what I just said? I'm going to bed!" Hermione growled and stormed up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

_What's worst? A giant or a dragon? After all, if Hagrid can teach some sense into this brother, a massive spider, a herd of invisible flying horses and all those other creatures – even a dragon is possible, right? It really is a great waste to just give away a dragon! A dragon!_

" Hey Neville? Are you okay? Are you drooling?" Harry waved his hand over Neville's blank gaze.

" It's still just an egg Neville! Are you thinking about eating it already?" Ron screamed.

0

0

0

" Come in," Dumbledore answered to the two curt knocks at his office door. Just one look at Snape and he knew the lesson did not go well, but he asked anyway. "How was the lesson with young Neville, Severus?"

" Trivial for an eleven year old. Absolutely trivial!" Snape growled, balling his fists. Not only did he not get a glimpse of the image of Lily's actor he saw that day at the Great Hall, but he was countered and mocked by a brat. " If I don't know better I'd think he's already mastered Occlumency with the things that came up after I dug for his most guilty memories. Memories of his birthday gifts and his grandmother, heh."

" Each person sees a different painting Severus. It is still best to be polite and stay out of Neville's personal feelings." Dumbledore shook his head, as he had also aimed for guilt while performing his one successful Legilimency on Neville last time. " What other memories came up Severus?"

" Trivial matters," Snape repeated that word as if it was an evidence of extreme ugliness. " Things I already know, like stealing from my cupboard or hogging the food like the pig that he is."

" Nothing… unusual towards the end?" Dumbledore thought back to how his Legilimency was broken as it had never done before. He had dismissed it as a simple case of a child drinking some sea water last time, but upon closer thought, the emotions he had felt was that strong it felt as if the memory was something from the brink of death.

" Yes, on my second attempt, I saw the dumb boy getting himself thrown into the sea or something of the sort." Snape had to utter these last words through his gritted teeth, " Before I could read deeper, he managed to perform a Disarming Charm, to my surprise."

" Then Neville is by no means dumb Severus, to have already showed this amount of talent for Occlumency without prior instructions." Dumbledore's brows were slightly furrowed while saying this though. He had wanted Snape to find out, truthfully, if Neville really held innocent intentions for the Council and his actions, just as Neville had predicted. It seemed Snape would have a tough time with cracking this shell though, if it would even be possible by the end.

" Of course. Someone with a personality for sneaking around such as him would no doubt be suitable for this skill…" Snape gave a dry laugh but with a bemused look from Dumbledore, the Occlumens realised he had made a slip in his words. " Well, I'll have you know Albus, Potter and his friends already know too much about the Stone from your loudmouth gamekeeper."

" You know Hagrid. He means well."

Snape frowned when he noticed the pointed stare Dumbledore was regarding him with. Snape growled, " You know better than to try and read my thoughts."

" I know you are skilled to a point where even Tom could not read your lies. I just thought I would practice a bit and possibly find out what is bothering you, even though you've obviously not seen an image of Lily from Neville."

" Goodnight Albus." Snape stalked out of the headmaster's office with a violent swish of his cloak. He had unconsciously let slip some foul resentments for the boy because of the bafflement he held for Neville's intentions. From the argument with the Trio that Snape saw, Neville was actually standing up for Snape, to a point of falling out with his friends.

Sparing a moment to watch the Gargoyle shift back in place before the stairs, Snape shook his head and decided to forget about that particular memory. " A student sticking up for me? A Gryffindor no less! How absurd."

0

0

0

A/N: Frankly, if it wasn't for reading book one again for this fic, I would've totally forgotten about everything related to this dragon incident.


	19. Book 1 Chapter 18

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

The exams are drawing close, and the Trio is even more burdened with Hagrid hatching a dragon egg. Neville, along with their troubles, had to work in the Council, with Hannah avoiding Draco, and having his mind read by Snape in detention. Luckily for him, none of his secrets had shown its tail, so far.

Chapter 18 – Where can I hide a fire-breathing monster that'll grow taller than a house?

The note at breakfast read: _It's hatching._

As the Trio debated if they should skip class to watch the dragon being born, Neville was in his little world again. He had still to think up of a way to keep the Norwegian Ridgeback without receiving vehement objections from the Trio. Those three seemed to hate the dragon with a passion, and was terrified for Hagrid's safety. Neville conceded that Hagrid's wooden hut was not the best place to keep a fire-breathing monster, and the centaurs would definitely have something to say if it was put into the Forbidden Forest. The only place Neville could think of to store a giant beast would be in the Chamber of Secrets, which he had no form of access to at all.

Their morning class was Herbology and Neville was even in less of a mood than usual to care about the leafs he crumpled with his trowel. Hannah was positively furious and looked as if she would shove her own trowel in Neville's ear after he ignored her scolding.

" Hannah, can't you stand up for yourself like this in front of Draco?" Neville brushed some dirt that she had thrown at him off his spiky hair.

" B-but… he's scary…" Hannah had switched personalities again and had lowered her head as if she was a berated child.

" Draco might not be all sunshine and smiles, but he's not going to eat you alive."

" He's going to boil me in a pot then eat me?" Hannah's eyes steamed up and Neville sighed.

" No Hannah… Look, I have enough to deal with already so please don't quit the Council, and preferably come back." Neville took up a flower pot and filled it with mud, hoping to do some work in case Professor Sprout really kicked him out the class.

" Am I troubling you so much?" Hannah sniffed and made Neville feel incredibly guilty again as if he was picking on a kid.

" Sorry. It's just that I haven't had much time lately. With you not being there, I have to spend more time at the Council. Coupled with my weekly detentions, all those extra pre-exam homework just doesn't have time to get done. I've been scrapping by, but sooner or later I know I'll just forget my Astronomy homework and have to take care of those Sudowoods again. My mind is already full of thinking up ways of keeping that blasted dragon as –"

" DRAGON?" The whole Herbology class turned their heads in their direction at Hannah's scream.

" Dragon – DUNG! Yes, Hannah, we have to use dragon dung as the fertilizers!" Neville tried his best to cover up, but it had not fooled the Trio at all.

" You told Hannah about the dragon Neville? Why? Do you want Hagrid to get caught?" Hermione's face was scalding red as she continued to shout at him on their way to Hagrid's hut for break time.

" Of course I don't want anyone to get caught Hermione. I just used the wrong choice of words during our conversation. Hannah won't believe such ludicrous tales as a dragon being hatched in our gamekeeper's hut. Plus, if she does know, she's not exactly the type to blab."

" Oh, I guess you're so busy thinking about her that you didn't notice Malfoy listening into our conversation this morning, and might've heard about Hagrid already." Hermione persisted and Neville spotted Harry sighing behind her. _This was the sort of thing Harry hated most – Hermione arguing… Well, it's only natural from what Harry's gone through. I really don't get those Harry-Hermione shippers at all._

" Hannah hasn't even seen Malfoy since Ron's birthday because she was too scared of him to go to the Council." Neville tried to resist a comeback for Harry's sake, but failed terribly after seeing Hermione glancing at Ron's direction at his brief mention. " You're the one who dragged her onto your team and now left me without a Council member, remember?"

" Oh? I saw you enjoying yourself very much with that senior girl –" Hermione was cut off by Harry's harder than necessary knocks on Hagrid's door.

The look of an excited father waiting for his first-born outside the operation theatre was on Hagrid's face as he ushered them into his stuffy hut. Neville spotted the huge dragon egg on the table, deeper cracks ruptured its surface by every impact from within. They drew up more chairs and kept their gazes on the egg, then quite abruptly, something black and scaly burst out and showered the table with eggshells.

_My precious!_ Hagrid tried to pick up the black skeletal potential of mass destruction, but its sharp fangs snapped at his stubby fingers. _Just look at the size of those wings! After it's grown up it might even cause mini-hurricanes! And those eyes! It looks more fearsome than those dinosaurs back in Jurassic Park! We can't just give him away! We can't!_

" It's Malfoy!" Even Ron's panicking voice did not draw away Neville's adoring attention to the window.

0

0

0

A week or so went on and none of Neville's problems were resolved – one more even appeared. The Trio were convinced Malfoy saw the hatching of the dragon, but upon Neville's questioning, Draco denied any knowledge of the incident.

" For the last time, I asked him in the office and he thought the idea of a dragon at Hogwarts was laughable." Neville repeated again in the late night common room.

" Then how can you explain his smirks every time he sees us?" Harry stubbornly pursued. He had been a bit stress since the Trio had been spending whatever free time they had to help Hagrid take care of Norbert the dragon – Ron was currently away with the Invisibility Cloak feeding him. Harry must be worried sick about the seemingly obsessed half-giant since he was the closet to Hagrid between them all here.

" He thought the idea was 'laughable'. If you guys keep thinking he knows about Norbert, then of course it'll feel like he's smirking at you. Though Draco doesn't like you, and obviously vice-versa, won't he have gone to Snape by now if he really knew?"

" Or maybe he just wants us to feel uneasy for weeks on end." Ron, who materialised out of thin air in front of the portrait hole, even after Neville told them not to, apparently returned. The common room was empty and that was why they were able to discuss this matter openly.

" Well you guys just let Draco succeed." Neville sighed irritably, planning on changing the subject, but Hermione got to it first.

" Oh my God Ron! What happened to your hand?" Hermione rushed towards Ron as if the couch she was sitting on had just burst into flames as Hagrid's curtains did one day from Norbert sneezing.

" That horrible thing bit me! Look at it!" Hermione was already tenderly examining the bloodied handkerchief, but not of much practical help at all.

" Ron. You should go to the hospital wing." Neville and Harry unanimously decided.

" And tell Madam Pomfrey what? A baby Norwegian Ridgeback mistook my fingers for kippers?" Ron was being cooed by Hermione when Hedwig tapped its beak on the window.

" What's Hedwig doing here this late?" Neville asked and opened the window to let her in. " She's got a letter Harry, here. Who's it from?"

" Oh! It must be Charlie's reply!" Ron quickly strode over behind Harry to read the parchment. Harry on the other hand had a blush on his face as he pretended he was reading the parchment to avoid Neville's questioning stare.

" We would've discussed it with you, but we know you're probably second to Hagrid for loving that dragon." Neville turned to Hermione for a full explanation and she tried her best not to look away from his deepening frown. " See, we want to send Norbert to Charlie so it can be properly taken care of in the Romanian reserve and –"

" Don't look at us like that Neville, you know full well dragons are wild." Ron finally realised he slipped up and even grabbed his wand in his uninjured hand under his robes.

" Ron. Dragons are illegal." Neville's calm response took the Trio by surprise and relief. They had seen how Neville doted on the dragon, discussing how Norbert preferred steak over dead mice to Hagrid, and had thought Neville would have posed a major obstacle to get rid of the hassle.

" Good! I knew you're a rational person Neville." Harry patted him on the back but Neville shook his head.

" Ron. Your brother will get in serious trouble if he gets found out." Neville picked up Hedwig and stroked its feathers, provoking a comfortable hoot from the bird as he sat down. " Dragons are illegal to own, yes. But to smuggle to another country? I'm sure that's an even more serious crime. Can you tell me when did Charlie get his job? A year ago? Definitely not long. Now what sort of career can he have left in this field if he was found smuggling illegal species already? Getting fired is the least of his worries… Imagine your big brother being ushered home by the Ministry to the Burrow, possibly even accompanied by your father – oh, and the _look_ on Mrs Weasley's face –"

" OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?" Ron was actually on the verge of tears as he collapsed onto the hard floor on his knees, seemingly determined to pull out every last strand of his flaming hair.

" Neville! How could you scare him like that!" Hermione breathed fire on Neville, giving him a warning glare before getting down on her knees to comfort the now trembling Ron.

_I'm only speaking the truth… even if it's advantageous for my standpoint._ Neville actually had no idea whether Charlie had thought about all this technicality with the law when he accepted about taking the dragon, or if he had just thought a free dragon was definitely something worth the risk. Neville hoped Hermione would use half the brain she usually had to think about this later away from Ron. _Bringing in Mrs Weasley definitely scared off Ron and Harry. Either way, I had to make their idea sound ridiculous if I don't want Norbert to be sent away… Even if this feels like I'm picking on kids – it must be done._

" No… Hermione… Neville is right… How could we've asked that from Charlie…" Harry was the original person who came up with this idea and with the list of consequences Neville so 'casually' rattled off, Harry once again regretted not confiding in Neville. Imagining the teary face of the kind woman who sent him his first Christmas presents, Harry implored, " We have to tell Charlie's friends to not come and pick up the dragon."

" But how else are we going to get rid of Norbert? He's growing bigger everyday and sooner or later, either Hagrid's going to get caught or his hut will burn up in flames!" Hermione resumed her glare on Neville. _Funny how she keeps her glare on me, without coming up with a solution at all… I guess It has to be me…_

Neville frowned as he looked down at Hedwig, who sensed the atmosphere and cooed softly, nuzzling her feathered head on Neville's hand. She actually felt softer than Trevor, his own owl, and probably flew faster too. At that thought, he came up with a temporarily idea to mop up this fiasco – at least for tonight.

" Hermione, remember I told you about Trevor being an endangered species?" Neville pulled out his wand and pointed to the direction of his book bag, giving Hedwig back to Harry. " _Accio parchment! Accio quill!_ Well, Trevor was given to me by my great uncle Algie. If he had experience in smuggling something like that before, he must have channels to smuggle things out too."

" Y-you mean… you'll help us get rid of Norbert Neville?" Harry's voice quivered.

" But we thought you loved it to bits!" Ron's eyes were wide as saucers, but his voice was very hopeful since here was an opportunity to dug Charlie back out from this trap he had landed his brother in heedlessly.

" I'll write a letter to my great uncle, and Ron, you write a letter to Charlie immediately. I'll use Trevor and you send Hedwig. Saturday is the meeting time is it?" Neville glanced at Charlie's note as Harry held it out in his hand and continued writing in his own parchment.

_Dear great uncle Algie,_

_ Hello, this is Neville and I hope you are well. I have a favour to ask of you – one that could count as my birthday and Christmas presents if you will. There is a crate I need to deliver out of Hogwarts, unseen. It is a bit of a late notice, but the package will be waiting on the tallest tower at midnight this Saturday. The content of the package might seem a bit strange, but I trust you to handle it appropriately._

_ I am sincerely grateful for your help. Please reply immediately if you decline or require alterations to the plan. Once again, I will thank you very much if you accept._

_Your only great nephew,_

_Neville Longbottom_

Without letting the Trio see the contents of the letter, Neville picked up Harry's Invisibility Cloak from the table and told them he was going to post it with Trevor now. Harry halted him from behind, putting a hand on his shoulder.

" Wait Neville," Harry sighed. " But isn't this just changing the person in danger from Charlie to your great uncle?"

" What? Neville you can't do that!" Ron's expression changed from his prior relief to resolve at Harry's words, which Neville retuned with a gentle smile.

" Guys, my great uncle is decades older than Charlie. He knows exactly what he's doing." Neville would not let Old Al be subjected to such dangers anyway. " You guys just rest assured."

" B-but –" Ron's protests were cut off as Neville waved his wand at him.

" _Silencio_!" Neville gave a quick nod to Harry, meaning he did not want to do the same to him. Another reason Neville had been busy was because he had also continued his extra spell work on practical duelling and the such even under his other commitments. " What're friends for? Anyway, if you guys insist, then I'll sit out of the dangers on Saturday of delivering the dragon, okay? Well, I'll be right back."

With that Neville jumped out into the corridors and left Hermione to try different counter curses until Ron could speak again. Ron tested his voice with a few out of tune notes then said to himself, " That idiot… I'll have to send him a good birthday present this year."

As Neville re-read his letter after activating the Marauder's Map, he was ninety-nine percent sure Old Al would accept his proposal. Firstly, Old Al spoilt him anyway. Then he had weighed on his birthday and Christmas presents, which were something Old Al took importance in choosing. Then signing it with 'Longbottom' reminded Old Al that he was the sole heir to the family name. Coupled with the polite, formal tone throughout, it was just devious.

_Tricking those three, manipulating Algie – Ah, and I'll have to make a lone visit to Hagrid's too… They'll all know my intentions are pure when a fire breathing dragon swoops out of nowhere and incinerate those Death Eaters in a few years but – Oops, got to go the other way, Filch is just ahead. But I've still got the damn problem of finding a place to keep that beast… What's with tonight? Flitwick patrolling the corridors? Where else is there apart from the Chamber of Secrets? I'll just have to think up of a way for Harry to speak in Parseltongue but – Heck, maybe I'll take a detour to that bathroom for an attempt now myself… Wait I don't know which bathroom it is… _

Neville pulled himself from his thoughts and sighed at the tapestry next to him. He quizzically tried to make out what was in it with some trolls and a wimpy-looking wizard dancing. Shaking his head, he turned around and walked right through a door that he had mistook as a hidden passage.

_Oops, one wrong turn and you'll really get lost in this damn castle… _

0

0

0

" Very well. Leave." Neville was convinced Snape made a very small harrumph as he left the dungeon office. Then again, he was too tense to think about the joke at that moment because he had used all that he knew to hide any information about the dragon from Snape's Legilimency. Thankfully he had succeeded – though not before Snape had a glimpse of his not so innocent observation on Penelope Clearwater at lunch.

" Neville!" Harry and Hermione were rushing towards him in the corridor. They had received a letter from Charlie earlier, impressed they could analyze all the dangers and touched that Ron cared that much about him – whatever Ron wrote in his last letter. Charlie agreed to stop the previous plan, and Ron had reassured him they could dispose of the dragon in some other way. Ron himself however, was stuck in the hospital wing because of the dragon bite.

" How is Ron? How is his bite? Was it poisonous?" Neville asked as they told him before his detention that they were going to visit.

" Why do you look excited?" Hermione frowned but Harry got to the point.

" Malfoy knows! He was gloating to Ron at the hospital wing, pretending he was borrowing a book. But the worst thing is, the book he took had Charlie's letter in it! It's the same date and time, so he'll know about our plans for Saturday!"

" What?" Neville could not believe his plan had already hit a wall even before it started. " I'll speak to Draco."

" Neville… I know you're friends with that guy – god knows why." Harry shook his head as if clearing a fly from his glasses. " But we hate each other and this is a perfect chance for him to get us expelled. There's no way he would pass upon this chance."

Neville could not remember the exact events in the book, but at least he knew no one was expelled back then. Including Hagrid. He would make sure it was kept that way. In the past week or so, spending much more time with the half-giant, Neville was every bit as fond of Hagrid as he had imagined. Especially compared with the learning of Occlumency, where Neville had to be on alert constantly, he felt relaxed chatting to Hagrid about Norbert's teddy without wary.

Striding into the Council office, Draco was actually on his own for once, writing whatever it was in Hannah's absence. Draco lifted his head and with one look of Neville's face, his half-raised smile turned downwards as he rolled his eyes. " Neville, save it."

" I thought you told me you didn't know anything about a dragon." Neville stood in front of him on the other side of his long desk. Each of the four members of the Council had their own desk lining each side of the wall, with the centre of the office occupied by spare tables and cabinets. Not much else in terms of decorations was put up apart from a few stray chairs.

" I lied." Draco admitted, throwing his eagle-feathered quill to the side. " Big deal. Yes I know about that dumb gamekeeper stowing away a dragon, and I know Potter wants to save his ass by sending it away on Saturday. Don't look at me like that Neville, you really expect me to not nab him in the act?"

" Draco, why? What's this got to do with you? What's Harry ever got to do with you? If you just want to best him, do it fair and square, as I've said –"

" Oh yeah, like that Lavender Brown thing is going anywhere." Draco stood up as well, slamming his hand on the office desk. " I can get him expelled with this! And it is an honourable act, as you certainly know. _They_ are the ones keeping and smuggling illegal magical creatures! Of course I need to inform the authorities, as every student, especially the Student Council, should rightfully do. You're the President Neville, I really hope I won't see you there with them Saturday."

" Let them go Draco. They're not harming anyone, but saving Hagrid." Neville moved to block the doorway from Draco before he could escape to the quiet corridor outside.

" I've _had_ it with them showing off! Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Weasley, the so called chess master! Granger, the smartest witch of the year! I hate them all and I'll get rid of them once and for all this time!"

Draco would never have lost it to this level in front of anyone else. Neville had been his confidant at Hogwarts, sometimes even being told things Draco would not share with his parents, and possibly his first ever taste of a true friendship. It was no surprise Draco could explode everything he felt on Neville, and would even use him as a punching bag if Neville would not hit him back. For the first time in his life, his wealth and family name were offhandedly brushed aside, and Neville treated him as he did with his others friends, like Su or Hannah or even Harry. Draco was, for once, equal to the others in Neville's eyes, and though this did not put him in a position of superiority, he did not feel bad about it at all.

" Draco. You're going to be the one in trouble if you go." Neville by now had a fully developed plan for Saturday. Sure, it would ruin a lot of things if Draco stopped Norbert's delivery, but Neville could still fulfil his main objective. He just did not want any extra unnecessary casualties along the way. " I've told you almost since we first become friends. You have things that others are jealous of and you don't need to feel as if you're below anyone –"

" Below them? Who thinks I'm below _them_?" Draco continued to rave about the office, knocking chairs over and sending papers flying. " I'm a Malfoy! I'm rich! Why would I be below any of _them_?"

" You've got to get that stupid notion out of your head!" Grabbing Draco by his collar, Neville glared into the surprised boy. Not even his parents, let alone someone of his same age, scolded Draco Malfoy like his. " If those things really are this important you, you won't have such a low self-esteem."

" Me? Low self-esteem? Ha!" Draco shoved Neville into a wall and pulled out his wand. " You take that back Longbottom!"

" If what I said isn't true you won't have drawn your wand in agitation. You won't be jealous of Harry for being famous. You won't be jealous Ron for winning the tournament. You won't be jealous of Hermione for being smart." Neville continued to pile on the truth, hoping it would wake the boy to some sense. As difficult as it was for him to hear all this, Neville knew nobody else in the world would understand or care for Draco enough to say such things for his own good. No one would dig behind his money and his father's shadow to tell him how he really felt.

Draco's wand was shaking as it continued to point at Neville's heart, and his face was that of menace. Neville saw his eyes though, and it was covered with a thin layer of tears and filled with a storm of hysterical perplexity. Finally, with a grunt, he shoved past Neville growling, " I hate having a friend like you."

Neville did not pick up what Draco said in such a low voice, but the trembling figure crouching outside the office door did as Draco ran straight past without noticing anyone's presence. Neville did not realise their conversation was overheard either as he sighed and tidied up the office, trying to think up of any cover plan for himself if Draco really were to tell the teachers about Saturday.

0

0

0

A/N: In the books, Norbert was picked up by Charlie's friends on broomsticks and a harness of sorts. I don't know how they could just fly into Hogwarts airspace (compared to HBP, but possibly they had less enchantments around the castle in PS) and J.K did not deal with any legal aspects of smuggling, but this is my version.

All these events relating to the dragon is in the chapter Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback in the first book. I've dragged this incident out a fair bit… Should resolve by next chapter.

Somehow, I had a burst of author/story alerts added this week for this story, which is really cool. Not as many reviews, but I'm taking it as a sign that everything is going well. Though Ron in this chapter feels a bit too much of a prat, this story is mostly in Neville's POV and we know he's just influenced by Hermione.


	20. Book 1 Chapter 19

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

Norbert hatched and Neville was reluctant to part with the magnificent creature – opposed to the Trio. Neville blotched up the Trio's plan of getting rid of it and replaced it with his own scheme – but already he discovered a foreseeable risk. Draco knew of the plans to transport the dragon and could not be convinced to let go of this chance to expel the Trio.

Chapter 19 – Quidditch Tryouts.

Harry was patting the back of an uncontrollable Hagrid in the dark boiling room of the hut on Saturday night. Hermione and he were here to collect Norbert, who Hagrid had packed ready in a large crate, and would take it to the Astronomy tower soon for the pickup. Ron was still in the hospital due to the dragon bite, which was a position Harry wondered if he would prefer to be in compared to the nervousness he had now for the task at hand.

Hermione switched her worried gaze from the crate emitting thrashing noises from the inside to her wristwatch. " We have to go Hagrid."

" Oh? Ah yeah, it's almost midnight…" Hagrid stopped temporarily from his wails and blew his nose on a huge dirty handkerchief. " Put the Cloak on now, both of yer. Be careful when yer go up the tower and watch out for that Malfoy kid."

" We will Hagrid, don't be too upset, we have to send Norbert away or you'll be found out." Harry patted Hagrid's arm for a last time before disappearing under the Cloak.

" Aye, I know… I'll check outside." Hagrid opened the hut door, poking his big head out to check that no one visible was in sight. " Alright you two. Hurry!"

" See you later Hagrid. We'll visit you tomorrow." Harry's voice got quieter along with the crumpling of grass towards the castle.

Hagrid sighed, wiping the last of his tears and snot from his face and went back into his hut. He cleared away the two mugs that was out for Harry and Hermione, and then pulled out a clean mug and filled it with his kettle. Just as he set the mug of tea on the table, a new shadow filled the hut.

" I really didn't wanta lie to them like that. 'Specially after they've gone out ter way to help me." Hagrid drooped his head to his chest as he sat down in front of the fire.

Neville, his Temporarily Invisibility Potion worn off, sat down in front of him and took a sip from his tea. " I didn't either Hagrid. And frankly, I'm even starting to feel a little regret right after they went away. What if you can't tame him? Then what? Do we really have to smuggle him out again?"

" Leave it ter me Neville!" Hagrid puffed out his chest and slapped it with enough force to flattened a small tree. " There's no magic creature I can't take care of. All they need is a bit of love and time… He seems ter like his new home a lot. I knew you were a good kid Neville, when I saw ya playing with Fang. Should we go an' have a look at Norbert now?"

" No, it's too risky tonight. That is why we moved him to the Room of Requirement last night." Neville stared out the hut window, its curtains pulled open for the first time in weeks.

While on his way to deliver his letter to Algie, who had expectedly replied back immediately the next morning to agree, Neville had stumbled upon the Room of Requirement while trying to avoid the roamers of the castle that night. Since he had walked back the forth three times undecided, but thinking about a place to hide Norbert, the room had appeared just for that purpose. At hindsight, he should have turned it into the Room of Hidden Things first to loot a few things, but he really did not have much time.

He went and sought out Hagrid, his only ally, as soon as he could and told him about his whole plan of keeping Norbert in the Room of Requirement, transformed into the Dragon Room from now on. Hagrid, though reluctant to hide the fact from the Trio, was finally convinced using the reason that the Trio would stop at nothing to get rid of Norbert otherwise. Sure, the house-elves might notice the missing Come and Go Room, but no one would stumble upon it accidentally from Neville's wish of the room. About the classroom for Dumbledore's Army… Neville figured he would think of something by then.

After a few more idle exchanges, Neville left the hut, swallowing another capsule of Temporarily Invisibility Potion, took out Marauder's Map, and went back to the Gryffindor common room to wait for Harry and Hermione's return. Neville was sure they would return without getting suspended, even if they might completely fall out with him. The crate they had taken up to the tower under their supposed risks contained a bewitched rock Neville had charmed to make thrashing noises as if Norbert was in there. When Algie opened the crate, as Neville expected of him out of his curiosity, whatever he then did with it would not cause any big fuss.

If Draco really were to get a teacher on his side, and forcibly open the crate, Hermione could make up some lame excuse. The worst punishment they would get was probably for wandering at night and strangely carrying about a rock. The real punishment was installed for Neville, who would have to explain where Norbert had disappeared off to. He had been troubling over it for the whole day, losing sleep the whole night before, but he had still to come to a good solution.

Neville, left alone in the common room, continued to ponder on this final hurdle but to no avail. There was only one solution and that was to stop Draco. One arm grabbing his wand and the other another capsule of Temporarily Invisibility Potion, Neville strode over to the portrait hole when it slid aside. _Too late!_

" Neville…" Harry sure did not look happy at all, and Hermione looked as if she was on the verge of tears behind him. Neville wondered if he would prefer it if they looked angry instead.

" I… I… Where is your Cloak?" Neville dumbly asked, only to heave a sigh from Harry.

" We were so stupid!" Hermione stepped forward and Neville scampered away as if she would chop him into pieces the next moment. What he heard next turned his mood one-eighty. " And to think Draco got caught!"

" He got caught?" Neville knew he should not feel elated, but this meant that his scheme was not uncovered. " Then, what is wrong?"

The two of them sat next to the fire and dictated their little adventure. They had sent the crate away to old Al's friends after seeing McGonagall catching Draco on their way. In their moment of joy, they forgot to put on the Invisibility Cloak, which was now missing from the astronomy tower, and was caught by Filch. McGonagall went and thought they were just provoking Draco to get into trouble and took points off them, which would have been exactly the same as the books until here.

" Hannah was there? Why?" Neville cried in disbelief.

" We don't know. McGonagall said Hannah was out to find us. She wanted to warn us about Draco out to stop us sending away the dragon." Hermione said this in a quiet voice, considering how she shouted at Neville for almost telling her about the dragon.

" Hermione… I really didn't tell Hannah anything about the dragon or you three." Neville furrowed his brows, not knowing Hannah had just filled in Neville's places in the books. " Most importantly, I didn't tell her anything about tonight's plans."

0

0

0

" I-I just overheard… Draco talking about it." Hannah stuttered the answer to Neville's enquiry on Monday Herbology.

" I'm sure Draco won't announce it to the world about his plans to foil Harry. After all, people like you might warn them." Neville did not know Legilimency, but since his detentions with Snape, he at least had to keep his own expressions natural and well-defined. This in turn made him a lot more sensitive to others' facial reactions. " Hannah… You weren't out of your bed to warn Harry were you?"

" What? Erm… well… I… You're going to be mad." Hannah snivelled and Neville started to get nervous, glancing around the greenhouse to check they did not draw attention to themselves. He had already casted the _Muffliato_ spell he traded off the twins with three large boxes of Honeydukes confectioneries, keeping their conversation a secret to their classmates, including the Trio. Depending on Hannah's answer, Neville would just let them believe what they would.

" Hannah, I promise I won't get mad. If I do, you can… you can have my entire stash of food in my dorm." Hannah looked as if she just had a heart attack, which somewhat irritated Neville, but at least that put some confidence in her.

" You see… I was going to go back to the Council… after thinking about what you said last time about needing me… well you were busy and… Anyway, it took me a while to work up the nerve to go then… but I –"

" Please get to the point." Neville did not snap, but Hannah still jumped as if she was a frightened kitten.

" Remember you promised! Remember! Anyway… I was outside the Council office and I heard… shouting." Neville motioned for her to elaborate and she took a deep breath as if bracing herself for an attack. " I heard you and Draco. Draco said something about a dragon and Saturday and then I remember what you slipped out about a dragon last time and it was related to Harry and –"

" Remember to breathe now… It's okay, continue."

" …All I gather is that you said it was for Draco's own good to stay out of this business and so I… I thought I would convince Draco, because you can't be lying to him and we're all in the Council… But when I found him –" She involuntarily shuddered at the memory. " He shouted at me to 'sod off' and 'get lost' and 'get back to where you belong' and 'I don't want to see you' and 'stay out of my business' and –"

Neville one again waited for her to collect her breathe, but now with a bemused look. _Draco said so much while he was in danger of getting caught by a teacher and failing to capture Harry? Heh, either that or Hannah was just annoyingly persistent._

" So I finally left him when he shoved me behind a tapestry on fifth floor…" Hannah pouted slightly and harrumphed as if she had travelled back to that moment. " But I thought to myself, 'Draco hated me anyway, he's going to fry me and eat me alive, so it can't get any worst than this'. So I followed him up near the astronomy tower to try and convince him again… But when I found him, he was already caught... and McGonagall caught me too… Why are you laughing? Stop it! I'm going to get angry at you!"

" Tell me one more thing," Neville dodged the garden scissors she really threw at him. " Did you listen to the end of our argument back at the office?"

" Ah! Well… well…" Hannah lowered her scorching face and Neville knew she heard the whole thing. If she had half a brain, which he was sure she did, the motive for her to convince Draco was not because she believed Neville's warning. She believed in Neville's judge of Draco's character instead.

" Well, think about Draco this way." Neville hid behind his smile, giving Hannah a push in the right direction as that she would find out Draco's qualities herself. _After all, I really want my secretary back – and the best way to do it is for her to realise Draco really isn't that bad a person. _" Was he really telling you to get away from him and stop bothering him? Or was he trying to tell you to save yourself and don't let yourself get dragged down with him?"

Hannah gasped in surprise, then thought hard at the question while staring quizzically at the sky above. Finally she gave her answer, " I think it's the former… He looked like he meant it when he threatened he'd bite my head off if I did not shut up and leave him alone."

Neville was rendered without a response from the brilliant Hufflepuff.

0

0

0

" Oh seriously! You really thought I was into cannibalism?" Draco growled and glared daggers at Hannah behind her desk on the opposite side of the office.

" Oh you're horrible Draco! Scaring Hannah in the Forbidden Forest like that." Su shook her head, but was still concentrating on the notice that would soon be posted out in the house common rooms regarding the Council event.

Neville was very glad he had an animated and complete Council again two weeks before the event was planned to take place. They were just discussing the night of Draco and Hannah's detention, and if Neville remembered the books, he would find most of it was the same apart from subbing Hannah as Neville. After Draco convinced Hannah that she was not about to be cook, eaten or seasoned in any way, their misunderstanding was cleared with Draco's signed 'Forgiveness Note' insisted by Hannah as proof.

The grudge between Draco and Neville was settled much more quickly. Neville just dropped in by the Slytherin table one day, picking up a slice of smoked salmon and said, 'I told you so'. Draco looked livid for a few seconds before bursting into roars of laughter, to the utter bafflement of Crabbe and Goyle. _Arguments are much simpler between men._

Though he should be getting caught up with the festivities in the office, Neville's latest problem had swiftly appeared and burdened his thoughts. Harry had still seen the dead unicorn and Voldemort drinking up its blood. He had flicked into some sort of paranoia mood and was disturbing many nights of Neville's sleep, thinking he could be murdered by Voldemort at any moment. Neville wondered if Harry really was supposed to appear this psychotic in the books, or if it was because Neville had tried to redeem Snape again. He had once again manipulated Harry out of his original guess of Snape stealing the Philosopher's Stone for Voldemort and instead persisted the point that Voldemort was every bit strong enough to come into the castle and take it whenever he wanted.

_Yeah, I really might be the cause of his paranoia…_

" Well I'm done here – and now have to tutor Crabbe and Goyle." To balance Draco's foul mood at that prospect, he held out his hand regally as the vice president, as smug as ever. "Su, are you done with the notices?"

" Vice president, I don't see you helping me much." Su complained but gave him one of the four notices she had finished off just today.

" I was the one who asked Professor Snape for our timeslots!" Draco protested.

" You two both helped a lot with event." Hannah tried to pacify things between them but of course to no avail. Neville closed the door with the sign that read 'First Years Student Council', now flashing much slower than it first did, and bided them goodbye. Hannah was the only one who replied since the other two were still chittering away. Neville debated whether Hannah was really the one who did most of the work.

Climbing into the Gryffindor common room, Neville dragged his tired body towards the notice board when he did not see the Trio, and pinned up the Council notice amongst the rioting Gryffindors. Slumping down on a nearby chair, Neville took out his book stuffs and some empty parchments for taking down names of those who would sign up for the event. In the mean time, waiting for the first years to eventually read his notice, Neville started doing his History of Magic homework. Reading past the lines of questions, the only one that stuck to his brain was one completely unrelated to the subject though.

_Should I let Harry Potter save the Philosopher's Stone. As much as that's the title of the epic first book, there really wasn't that much of a point. I remember this part and Voldemort was evidently stuck on the Mirror of Erised. He and Quirrell would never be able to take the Stone even if they were given a millennium with it. The most important thing is that Dumbledore managed to come back in time to save Harry at the end and with him around, nothing is there to worry about… Or should be… After all, there's this massive uncertainty factor that is _me_ now… Dumbledore even sent back Harry's Invisibility Cloak, still hung up on that prophecy and egging Harry to take on Vodemort. _

" Neville!" Fred, or George, shook his shoulders to break him out of his rumination. It seemed only a second ago that the students were all going about their usual business around the room, but now as Neville looked up, they made an arc about the notice board and eyed him with expectancy. " Is it true? Is it?"

" If 'It' means I'm just so dashing that everyone can't take their eyes off me, then yes." Neville was immediately booed and thrown various objects.

" Nice one there," George, Neville guessed randomly, picked up from his brother. " The thing on the notice board! The end of year event you guys were planning was Quidditch?"

" Not just any Quidditch my dear brother. But a Quidditch match against our beloved professors!" Fred's word seemed to have rallied up the crowd, but George put them out the next moment.

" And representing us would be little, tiny, innocent first years… President Neville I think you are making a serious mistake."

Thus began the dual assault from the twins, one after the other in rotation. " Do you know this is the first staffs versus students match in the history of Hogwarts? This will go down in history!"

" And what would happen if _us_, the students, lost? That would forever shame every student ever to cross the gates of Hogwarts ever again."

" So we can't lose this match! Why hold tryouts for a first year team Mr President? Perfectly able Beaters – I mean players – are right in front of your eyes for the picking."

" Age is proportional not only to maturity you know – but Quidditch skills! I –no – _we_ strongly suggest the Student Council to do away with the age restriction for the event."

The twins were backed by the majority of the room expectedly and Neville only yawned. " Read the notice Fred. We're the First Years Student Council. We only deal with first year students. The reason for this event is because first years are all banned from Quidditch and we thought that was a bit unfair. This is now some sort of token match the teachers agreed to in order to make up for it."

" But the ban is lifted for all houses since Harry became Seeker!" Fred protested and the twins' assault threatened to restart.

" We are the ones that were unfairly subjugated to the rule, not you new first years!"

Neville pulled out the excuse and strategy Draco suggested all the Council members to adopt. " We're just the First Years Student Council and any older students are beyond our power. If you have a problem with it, you'll have to speak to Dumbledore."

As if hearing free money were given out, the common room emptied quicker than the speed of light, with overturned chairs and tables wheeling around the floor. Neville dusted himself and picked back up his quill. _I don't feel sorry for that old fox at all with all that he's put me through up till now._

" All of you left – well, first years. If you want to tryout for any position on the team please leave your name with me here."

" This is brilliant mate!" Ron bounded up to him from out of nowhere and scratched his name down on Neville's parchment himself. " I don't know what position I should try for though – I mean, I've played all of them before…"

" Harry, I'll put your name down for Seeker." Neville looked up at the boy, who was looking about him as if someone would shoot an arrow through the window any time now. " It'll take your mind off things."

" Sure. I guess…" Harry's meek reply brought Neville back to his original train of thought.

" Listen. Voldemort –"

Neville was cut off by Ron's shriek, " Don't say that name!"

" 'That guy' won't come for you unless he'd taken the Stone first, so don't worry. Remember what you told me about how to behave as a student on Halloween? You've already used up your 'out-of-ordinary student quotas' after that and the dragon business."

" Actually Neville, what happened to Norbert?" Hermione asked to his surprise, since he did not think she liked the dragon at all.

Taking Dean's name down, Neville answered offhandedly. " Yeah, my great uncle got him fine."

" And then?" Hermione continued.

" I don't know, he sent him away I guess." Neville was in no mood to make up more lies as he was too preoccupied already. " Ron, just make up your mind about a position. Keeper good? No? Come on…"

Hermione continued to study Neville's face as he and Ron rattled on about the decision.

0

0

0

Although everyone was looking forward to the teachers versus first years match, the inevitable nightmare of every student's career stood in their way – the end of year exams. Neville was driving Percy crazy every time he spotted him walking in the corridors with a tornado of notes flourishing around him. Neville just considered him jealous after an incident earlier that week when Penelope asked him a Charms questions.

" Neville! How many times have I told you magic is prohibited in the corridors!" Percy fumed uselessly as Neville did not even flick an eye on him, reading an example question from a note that just flew past and needed to think up of an answer before the paper made its orbit about him.

" Damn it! When were the self-stirring cauldrons invented again?" Neville might not have problems with Charms and Transfiguration, but the only other subject he was sure of was Potions since he no longer needed to avoid Snape's overbearing stare as much as he used to.

" Neville! Are you listening to me at all? There are other ways to study and answer questions without showing off – I mean, without using magic here. I am your prefect and if you do not stop I'll have to send you to Professor McGonagall!"

" Neville! There you are." Neville understood what a dog felt like when it heard its dinner bell at that moment.

" W-Why – Penelope! I must say, you look as charming today as ever." Percy, thinking he just got some reinforcements, turned back to the paper hurricane. " We, together as prefects, must stop Neville at once. Magic should not be used –"

" Neville can you teach me that charm? It's like I can give myself pop quizzes without asking others for help – and I won't be tempted to cheat." Letting slip a short giggle, she continued, " Oh, but can you answer some questions about Charms for me? I have that next and I can't find Flitwick."

Halting the pages of parchments spinning around him, rearranged into a neat pile on his hands, Neville shot out his George Clooney smile and purred, " Always a pleasure to have the chance to hear your voice Penelope. Always a pleasure. Unfortunately, I am on my way to my last exam now so I can't talk I'm afraid. A regretful shame. Regretful."

" You're still studying on your way to the Hall? Penelope, how can you rely on a poor student like that?" Percy sounded appalled at the notion.

Neville flatly imparted, " It's called cramming Percy."

" No matter, I know you're busy Neville. It's the Quidditch tryouts for the first year teams after this exam right? Pick the right players okay? We have to beat the teachers!" Percy looked scandalized at her idea but quickly changed when Penelope spotted someone not far away. " Oh! There's my classmate, I'll ask him. Good luck with your exam Neville."

" Wait Penelope! You can ask me anything you don't know! I've been studying till three o'clock this morning!" Percy chased after her pathetically and Neville gave up on doing his last bit of revision.

Arriving in the Great Hall, it sure reminded Neville of his past life. _J.K really based the magical education system just like the Muggles' GCSE and A-levels…_ Spotting Hermione, and her spotting Neville back, he immediately looked the other way in silent protest for her not helping him with studying at all. Though Neville knew she was flipping out, nerdy as she was, at her first ever magical exam, he convinced himself he was too busy with his own businesses to comfort her much. He did take time to point out her dilemma to Ron, but the ignorant brat ended up adding to her workload by helping him revise. This was what Neville was grudging about all throughout his last exam.

" Put your quills down and roll up your parchment." Professor Binns gave a yawn after saying this, clearly having just woken up from his nap. The Great Hall erupted in cheers and noise, but it was rapidly emptying because of the tryouts. Those who did not participate would definitely cheer for their friends anyway. For the past few days, Neville had innocently received plenty of sweets and food from many first year candidates. Of course he accepted all of them and promised none of them. _It wasn't like I'm going to decline a gift when they said themselves it was completely without intentions. I wonder if they have a magical Dictaphone or something like that for legal evidence purposes._

" Neville, how was the exam for you?" Harry got to him before the rest of the Trio and they queued to the exit.

" Would've been much better if Hermione did not take back her notes from Ron's birthday." Neville said, straying his gaze away from Hermione in the other queue, asking Ron feverously about how he did in his paper. Ron was of course a face of exasperation, clearly not wanting to prolong his exam experience.

" Sorry Neville, she threatened not to help Ron and me otherwise." Harry, though two-time Quidditch hero since his debut, still looked a bit nervous at the coming tryouts. It was his first after all, but it kept his mind off Voldemort ever so slightly. " About the tryouts… I saw Terry giving you a large bag of Cackling Crackers last night…"

" They taste great by the way, I have some left, you should try." Neville reassured him with his tone, but could not help himself but give the books' protagonist some leverage. " Just so you know, not many people applied for the Seeker position. After all, you are the only first year house player."

" Neville… Now I know I'm your mate but… you know…" Ron and Hermione met up with them and Neville remembered Ron's case of nerves. Frankly, he really did not have much of a chance here. The only thing he and Hermione could do was emptily say he would do well on their way to the Quidditch Stadium.

The last House game was this Saturday, Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, but Draco managed to book this stadium session and all other times after that match for the first years to practice. By the time Neville arrived at the stadium, the stands were packed with almost the entire school. The turnout was within expectations though since it was a fabulously sunny day after the exams. Lee Jordan and the twins were even at the commentary box, ready to comment on the trials and complain about the first years only rule again as they had been doing nonstop.

" Neville! I've told the candidates to stand in their groups already." Hannah hurried up to him and pointed to the various parts of the field. " Harry, the Seekers are waiting in the teachers box and Ron, the Keepers are to line up under the nearby goalposts."

Once again, Neville was silently glad to have Hannah on the Council. Su was of course contending for a place on the team, since this event was her idea. Though muggle-born, she had fallen in love at first sight with Quidditch and thought it was completely unfair that first years had to wait a few years before they could play. Draco was of course the second most in favour of the idea, and after wasting hours of laborious convincing, he was persuaded to try out for the only other unique position apart from Seeker.

" _Sonorus_! Okay Chasers! Your tryouts are first. Split yourselves into groups of threes and pass the Quaffle about you. Our judges below will observe and mark you guys from the numbers you're wearing on the back of your robes."

" Wow, you guys seemed to have organised this quite well." Hermione nodded appreciatively.

" Yeah. Hannah was the person to have persuaded the players from various house teams to be judges – but it was Draco's idea to offer them front row seats. The numbers were charmed by Su." Neville walked towards the possible Beaters, spotting Crabbe and Goyle, which might actually make not a bad duo.

" So you haven't done anything then?" Hermione quipped and followed across the field behind Neville. Plenty of commotion went on above their heads: Quaffles were falling from the grasps of incompetent players; incompetent players were falling off their brooms; the twins and Lee's laughing at the brats; and some prankster had let off a Bludger from somewhere.

" _Impedimenta!_" Neville pointed his wand at the Bludger and it fell limp onto the grass. He turned his voice back on the stadium and yelled, " And if anyone disturbs the tryouts again I'll curse them with something worst than that!"

" Don't you think you're being a bit reckless?" Hermione warned.

" No. I don't put up with pranksters – against me anyway."

" I'm not – Look, I've visited Hagrid a few times. He hasn't said anything but I definitely suspect –"

Hermione was interrupted by Neville after he looked down at his watch. He turned to address the Seeker candidates, " Those who haven't mounted their brooms yet can get off the pitch now. We've given you over ten minutes and if you still can't read the sign on the other side of the pitch to tell you to wait on your brooms, I don't think you guys can spot the Snitch. Harry and whoever you are left, the first one to catch this Snitch is the Seeker!"

In a murmur of complaints, the few failed Seeker candidates trudged away to join their friends in the crowd. Harry and some kid Neville did not care about flew straight up at the Snitch he flung from his pocket.

" See, I _do_ do something Hermione. Let's face it, Harry's the best Seeker in first year and we don't want to waste time on that. They left me to think up of this plan just yesterday." Neville reached the Beaters and at one look of Millicent, who blew him a kiss, turned green in the face.

Hermione began, " Back to what I was saying Neville. I think –"

" I don't think I can stomach this at the moment… Tell me about it when I get back to the common room." Neville covered his mouth, thinking something was about to escape.

" Fine! Gosh! Men and Quidditch. You'd better come listen to me later, okay?" Hermione stomped back to the other side of the field where Ron was nervously waiting in line to guard the hoops.

The tryouts continued until sunset quite smoothly, and no one even got injured. A point of interest was how teachers on the team had been coming by to 'spy' on their opposition. Filtwick patted a dejected Chaser's shoulder as if he was a master at the sport and Sprout just gave a shrill laugh before turning to go again. The twins at that point threatened that they would leave a firecracker under each of the Council member's pillows if the student team lost.

" Ha! Did you see Weasley's face? How can he ever compare to me?" Draco boasted to his two grunts, the few students still left in the stadium. Neville was packing away a stubborn Bludger near him when McGonagall strolled in to complement the Council on a job well done today.

" It was all very organised and disciplined – apart from that threat at the start Neville – I'm sure Dumbledore would have been proud of the Council. It's a shame he was called away to the Ministry this afternoon or he would've really much liked to join in the great atmosphere we had here today."

" Dumbledore's not at Hogwarts?" Neville snapped his head up. _I think I've forgotten something important again…_

0

0

0

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, and even some critical ones. In another online writing site I know, reviewing is more like dropping a note, and I feel that's more a more appropriate concept. Now if a reader really thinks this story compares to one of those uber!powerful!emo!Harry fics, there really is nothing else I can say. And in all my years of writing until now, I actually had to delete one of those infamous 'flames' last time. Yeah, moving up!


	21. Book 1 Chapter 20

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

All of Neville's recent problems seemed to have dissolved. The business with Norbert is done, the exams are finished, and the Council's mysterious end of year event is finally revealed. However, Neville had forgotten the one most important adventure in the first book of his favourite series…

Chapter 20 – Damn trolls.

_How am I supposed to know tonight is the night the Trio head for the Philosopher's Stone! Those idiots! Those enchantments aside, they know it's Voldemort we're dealing with here! Even if he is powerless at the moment, there is a fully-trained Death Eater that can kill them with a single curse that they don't even know the name of yet!_

" Harry!" Neville burst into the sparse Gryffindor common room, panting from his mad dash up from the stadium.

" Neville? How were the tryouts? We thought you wouldn't be back till late sorting out the candidates." Harry gave the two beside him a look before putting on his shaky voice. _This kid really has no talents for Occlumency._

" There's no need to hide the Cloak behind you Ron, I know." Neville weighted himself down on the couch in front of the Trio and held his head in his hands. He had still to decide whether it was a good idea to let them go alone, join them, or stop them altogether. Voldemort would never be able to get the Stone out of the mirror before Dumbledore got back, and who knew if Neville coming to this world would change the fact of these three coming out alive?

" You have Council stuffs to finish right? We were just about to go visit Hagrid. You can always come along next time." Hermione swiftly patched up the lie.

" So I'm not part of the Gryffindor Trio am I?" Neville frowned with a strong distaste in his mouth. " I know you guys are going after the Philosopher's Stone."

" I thought you had lessons with Snape to not get your mind read, not reading others' minds." Ron exclaimed incredulously.

" No Neville! That's not how we think! It's just that I don't want you to be put in danger as wel –" Hermione tried to explain but was cut off mercilessly.

" You know what? I'll give you two choices." Neville ignored Hermione's devastated look and stood up on his feet. " As the First Year Student Council President, I have full jurisdiction over your illegal actions. You can either forget this whole idea tonight, or convince me to let you go."

" Or we can just curse you and –" Before Harry finished his threat Neville pointed at the vase in a corner of the now empty common room.

" _Reducto_!" The vase was hit with the red streak of light and exploded. " I don't think so. I have every bit of confidence that you three together can't get past me – let alone whoever it is you'd wander into stealing the Stone."

" Neville! Voldemort killed my parents! If he gets the Stone, he'll return to power again, and then you might know exactly how I'm feeling right now when he murders you and your family!" Harry's Saviour Mode exploded and he also pulled out his wand. " Hogwarts is the best thing that's ever happened to me – No. I'm nothing without the wizarding world and I can't just let Voldemort ruin it."

" You think an eleven year old can stop the greatest dark wizard of all time?" Neville raised his wand. _At least, not yet and without being extremely lucky._ " Calm down and think. Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard in the world and he'll realise something's up very soon. By the time he gets back, the Stone will be safe."

" But how do you know Neville? What if Dumbledore comes back too late? The whole world is at stake here!" Harry raised his wand higher. _I can't exactly say I read it from a book._ " I don't have time to waste arguing with you! Are you getting out of my way or what?"

Staring at Harry's gritted teeth and those green eyes that bore into Neville's, there was something about his Saviour Mode that made him look… golden. Maybe it really was the mark of being the hero, maybe it was speeches and conflicts like these that made one a leader amongst others. Somehow, listening to him, Neville's absolute certainty that Voldemort would not get the Stone tonight wavered. Neville knew nothing was a hundred percent, and if Voldemort got the Stone, the whole wizarding world would be plunged into chaos by this one wrong decision of his.

" I know how you are Harry," Neville closed his eyes and dropped his wand. " You like having a normal, quiet, and happy life. I'm going to tell you straight. By not going tonight you have about ninety-nine percent chance of happily ever after to the one percent chance that Voldemort will get the Stone. Take the happy life you want and deserve."

" It's not about maths Neville. The eleven years I lived with the Dursleys was nothing compared to the one I lived in this castle. Nothing is more important to me than this world." Neville opened his eyes and saw his determined expression and really the only way to stop him was to curse him.

" Neville?" Hermione was in tears now, since she comprehended the major issues between their conversation, and called after Neville as he turned towards the dorms. " Where are you going?"

" The dorm. That Invisibility Cloak won't cover all of us. I have a potion." Neville glanced back at Harry sighed. " You've convinced me to let you go – with you."

0

0

0

Neville had thought the enchantments put up by Dumbledore and co. were useless since even first years managed to get through. They were in the chess room now and thinking back, while watching Ron's brows furrowed in concentration, these three really did have some extraordinary talents inside them. Fluffy might be an exception, since Hagrid told them the trick, but not many wizards would remember the habits of Devil's Snare and be calm enough to derive from their first year Herbology how to drive it away while being strangled. Then catching the flying keys would either take ages, or just impossible if the wizard did not have the skills.

_At least I probably can't win over this chess set that McGonagall transfigured to be in the 'Mind-Numbing' difficulty mode._

Neville answered a call from Ron and moved to the next square, and this room had been Ron's solo stage since they entered. Harry was marvellous in the last room to identify and commanded the capture of the key with the crumpled wings. All Neville did so far tonight was win an argument from Hermione to end up being the King piece, which meant absolute safety.

_What I don't get is why all of us had to take place of a piece? Couldn't we have just put Ron as the King, win, and all go through together? Well… a bit too late now…_

" It's the only way… I've got to be taken…" Ron's decision invoked a loud protest from the other two, but it was within Neville's predictions. So far, everything was going smoothly, just as described in the books. " That leaves Harry to checkmate the King."

" Ron! You can't! You saw how the pieces were demolished right? You can't!" Hermione started crying hysterically.

" Ron. Protect your head. At the moment of impact, jump back from the blow. Remember the right way to take a fall in jujutsu that I taught you a while back?" Neville practically instructed Ron how to sustain the least damage. As Ron said, his move was the only way for them to move forward.

" Neville! What're you saying at a time like this?" Hermione stomped her foot on the ground unreasonably. " If you're so good at taking hits why didn't you let Ron become the King? He was the one in charge of the game."

_And I am so unsubstantial I can be heedlessly beaten to the other side of the room. _Neville did not bother to quarrel with the girl and neither did Ron as he moved, his eyes fixed on the menacing white Queen that was about to distribute the devastating blow.

" Ron!" Neville had been glaring at Hermione and was fortunate for them that he had. Ron was sent flying to the side and Hermione foolishly, though most likely on impulse, was about to run after him.

" _Stupefy!_" If Neville had not shot the stunner, Hermione would have moved out of her square and wasted Ron's sacrifice. _Damn it! This didn't happen in the books… Granted, I wasn't here in the books, and Hermione didn't like Ron this much at this stage… Damn it!_

Harry did not linger around and ran to checkmate the King, who threw its crown in front of him and the door to the next room opened. Ron was lying to his side, but could be heard grunting lightly, and not completely unconscious. Neville dashed over to Hermione, who he made sure was not stunned too heavily.

" _Rennervate!_" Reversing the effect of his curse, Hermione immediately got to her feet and ran towards Ron without a glance at Neville.

" Ron! Ron! Are you okay?" Hermione screamed in Ron's ear, and probably much to his displeasure.

" Go Hermione! I'm fine! Hurry!" Hermione nodded and with one last glance backwards, ran towards the door where the other two were waiting.

In the passageway to the next room, Hermione had her head buried in Harry's arm, her mind filled with nothing but her injured object of affection in the last room. Of course, she did send a few icicle glares towards Neville, who brushed it off because he knew she was caught up in the moment. _At least I'll be of some help in the Potions riddle next._

Pushing the next door open, a stench rammed into Neville's face that almost made him fall over. A troll was lying in the room, and looked to be as large as a mini-aeroplane. Comparing this one to the one at Halloween, it was like comparing an elephant to a puppy. Fortunately it was unconscious on the ground, though Neville could not help but wish he did not see those green armpit hairs.

" We're lucky he's knocked out already. Let's go quietly." Harry suggested and they made their way across.

" I wonder if he got hit just like Ron did." Hermione threw a glare at Neville again while hissing.

" It is not the time for this." Neville whispered back, but he could feel something raising within him. It was a green disgusting acid that he would spit out any moment he lost his self-restraint.

" If you'd have only listened to me then Ron won't be hurt." Hermione knew deep down she should not be so childish or girly at this moment – but she felt so useless. Neville had used the Bluebell flames on the Devil's Snare, Harry caught the key, and Ron won at chess, while she deemed herself yet to do a thing. She was worried sick about Ron's injury, and coupled with her internal insecurities, she had chosen Neville as the easiest person to blame – even if he had acted correctly by stunning her.

" Be quiet." Neville whispered as the three of them stepped over the troll's leg.

" If anything happens to Ron –"

" Ron said he's fine."

" You knew the King would be the safest so you picked that –"

" Be. Quiet."

" Don't glare back at –"

" Ach – HOO!" Harry had really been trying his best to hold his sneeze in but Hermione's hair was brushing in front of his nose all the while she was self-righteously berating Neville.

The sneeze echoed through the room and the three of them fell deathly silent – much contrary to the troll. The noise must have woken him up and a loud grunt shook the air around them, the leg they had just stepped over stood up and the first thing its ugly head fell upon was the three of them.

" You two! Go!" Neville was the first one to break the trance and shoved Harry behind him.

" Oh! I – I'm sorry! It's all my fault! This is –"

" Hermione! You have to stay calm! Only you can help Harry in the next room! Now go!" Neville glared at the troll with his wand in his hand. The troll like-wise armed itself with the massive wooden club next to it.

" No Neville! We're in this together!" Harry pulled out his wand also, but was at a loss at what to do. After all, he was still to learn any brilliant troll-stopping curses.

" Run with us! First Ron, and now I can't lose –" Hermione's words were drowned out as Neville pointed his wand at her again.

" _Depulso_!" Neville had sent the two of them hurtling towards the next door with his Banishing Charm just as the troll's club smashed the ground that they were previously standing on to pieces. Neville had narrowly jumped away himself but was scratched by the various sharp flying rocks that exploded from the ground on impact. " I need to stay and keep this troll busy! Harry, take her away!"

Seeing the troll was about to run after the two of them, Neville transfigured the strayed stones from the broken floor into mice and sent them to crawl all over the troll's gray body. With a last desperate stare into Neville eyes, Harry nodded with resolve. Harry had not forgotten their main objective tonight, and placed his trust in Neville to not make him regret leaving another friend behind. " Be careful Neville!"

Having been given such a trust from Harry was a marvellous feeling, but even if Hermione did not, her tears for him soothed out Neville's heart as the last glimpse of them disappeared behind the door. In a burst of flames, the door was on fire and they would be separated from Neville before they solved the puzzle by the Potions master.

" Just you and me now buddy." Neville mentally prepared himself for a moment as the troll flattened the last of the mice he transfigured with its foot. Its eyes were bleeding red and stench blew out in its temper at the little wizard who was most definitely its next target.

With a war-cry the troll lunged forward with his club raised, Neville saw the place it was going to step on and casted a Blasting Curse. The troll tripped, giving Neville time to run to its side, and aiming at the weak spot under its arm, he sent it a Stunning Charm. Even if it was on target and a perfect hit, the troll only roared louder, and scratched the place it was hit. _Well, it has to be thick-skinned to not care about smelling this bad._

A heavy and accelerating swing of the club narrowly missed Neville's head as he ducked, but the wind from the attack actually knocked him over. Taking advantage of the time the troll took to recuperate, Neville proceeded to send five stunners at the troll from his lying position on the ground, but that only maddened it more as the troll kicked him in its fury. Grunting out a scream, Neville was sent flying towards the back wall, and the impact onto his back made him black out for a second.

Although he had blocked the kick with his arms, he was still convinced he had a few broken ribs – coupled with very sore arms needless to say. As the troll charged towards him, he ignored the pain in his arm and pointed the wand at its forehead. Eight stunners were fired in quick succession at a single spot, and finally that seemed to have caused some effect. The troll screamed and fell backwards, making a thunderous earthquake as it landed on its back.

Panting laboriously, Neville slid to the floor with his back against the wall, hoping this was his only retribution for changing the books tonight. If Hermione kept her cool as he told her to, she should be able to solve Snape's puzzle and come back here in a few moments. _I really should shout at that girl more for treating me like –_

Neville's thoughts were halted, and hopefully just halted and not eternally put to rest. He could not react fast enough to dodge the troll, who had previously merely been put out for a brief moment before returning Neville the favour with a left hook. Neville's side burned for a moment before he felt the hit of his head on the door leading to the Potions room.

He was sure he blacked out for a longer while this time because when he opened his eyes again, his visions were red and the troll's club was shadowing him above his head. In this life and death moment, his first and most adept spell executed itself magnificently to save his life. Shooting his arm vertically upwards and even without incantation, Neville shot a Blasting Curse at the troll's club and it exploded into a matchsticks in the air. The troll snarled as the sharp wooden needles jabbed into its hand, sick purple liquid dripping to the ground in splashes, and it backed away a few steps, glaring at its enemy.

Neville let escape a scream as half a dozen of those wooden spears also pierced onto his limbs from the sky. He realised the reason for his red vision was because of the blood from whatever massive gash he had on his head, and swiftly swallowed a few Blood-Replenishing Potion capsules from his combats pockets. He knew it would only be a matter of time though before he would faint from heavy blood loss. His gaze was already turning unfocused as the troll menacingly glared at him, sure that the next blow would be the last.

" No! Neville!" The door behind him opened and without turning back, he knew it was Hermione.

" You're too early damn it! The troll's still not down yet!" Gripping his wand tightly, he used his remaining strength to stand up.

" Th-there's so much blood – what? Neville, no, don't!" He had taken a step forward and as Hermione reached for his arm, he pushed her closely behind his back.

" Forget what I'm about to do. You're still a few years too young to learn this." Neville did not know if trolls were classes as part-humans by the Ministry, but he knew Hermione would not be able to defeat it if he fell now.

Ever since Neville's magic awoken, he had slaved away at various spells and charms, and could probably pass his NEWT level Charms and Transfiguration okay. His Defence Against Dark Arts, or Dark Arts, scores would be a bit above OWL level, where he had wasted some time to ponder whether he should learn the Killing Curse. He convinced himself it would be useful for killing misquotes and flies, but knew at important moments such as this, he was not above killing an opponent.

He also found out the reason why the Death Eaters learnt other curses instead of using the Killing Curse all the time. There were recoils for every magical spell, almost as if firing a gun. The Killing Curse was a powerful spell that took a lot of energy and focus to succeed, and the one time Neville practiced it he was physically blown back from the backlash. He also did not really put intent to it that time and the little spider managed to wiggle back to life.

Giving a glance back at Hermione's teary face, Neville knew he would mean it this time, even if she would not appreciate Dark magic. The troll saw his pry turning his head and charged forward with its arm raised, preparing to smash down on the two children like hammer to nails.

" _Avada Kedavra_!" Neville saw the green flash explode out of his wand tip and landed with a flare on the troll's forehead. Even a troll had to fall at the powerful spell performed with all of Neville's power. The backlash of the spell on him this time did not send him anywhere because he hit the ground without consciousness even before the troll had.

0

0

0

Neville woke up to find himself on a soft bed. He looked around him, feeling slightly dizzy and recognised it was the Hogwarts hospital wing. His body did not feel as ready to wake up as his mind for once. He had bandages around his head and troubles breathing, but not that much pain. Digging out the Invigoration Draught capsules from his combats that they had luckily not changed him out of, he took a few capsules and forcefully got out of bed. He never liked hospitals much.

He brushed opened the curtains around his bed and realised it was night-time from the windows outside. Next to his was an empty bed that looked to have been recently occupied, and a pile of presents were stacked at its foot. Thinking back to the books, he realised it must be Harry's.

_Popular as ever eh? Well, I'm just glad he's alive._ Neville smiled and snatched a box of candy from Harry's pile and inhaled it in his hunger. Neville had thought Madam Pomfrey would have jumped him for getting out of bed, but the hospital wing appeared to be deserted. Shrugging and not wanting to be left in the site for a perfect horror movie, he headed to the kitchen for more food. As he got closer to the ground floor however, he heard a lot of ruckus form the Great Hall.

" Oh! Your Eternal Bottom-ness! Peeves is so glad that you have recovered!" Seeing the floating protagonist hiding something behind his back, Neville knew the castle had probably been subjected to many old pranks in his sojourn.

" What is happening in the Hall Peeves?" Ignoring whatever did not concern him, Neville tiresomely walked down the stairs nursing his arm. _I wonder if having those wooden shards from the troll's club stabbing through me was Peeves's revenge…_

" It's the end-of-year feast tonight my master!"

_No wonder Madam Pomfrey wasn't in the hospital._

Neville had now gotten close enough to the doors to see the green and silvery decorations in the Hall, signalling that the Slytherins had won the House Cup – for now. Neville deemed it was completely unfair in the books for Gryffindors to have won at the end by Dumbledore's cheeky little additions. _Then again, that came as part of the job for heroes I guess – benefits just like free dental care._

" …I award Gryffindor house sixty points." Dumbledore had now added Harry's points, ten more than Hermione and Ron, to make Gryffindor and Slytherin draw for the top. _I thought Gryffindor won this year? Had I remembered wrong?_

Su, who had sighed exasperatedly as the Slytherins were still top, and expecting to hear Draco's boasting at Quidditch practices tomorrow, turned towards the doors and spotted Neville. He would have silenced her with a charm but to his utter horror, his Wand Armband was empty. _WHERE IS MY WAND?_

" Neville!" In a flash everyone turned their heads at the newcomer who looked ready to turn and make a run for it. The three other houses apart from Slytherin were already jumping in joy at his appearance. Everyone knew Neville was with the Trio on that night and if they were awarded points, then so should Neville. In the Slytherin table, Draco was exasperatedly rolling his eyes, as if asking Neville why he had to come in at such a time. Even Millicent's eyes were dejectedly trained on the dinner table, just waiting for food to arrive and drown her sorrows of losing the House Cup in her first year.

" Ahem." Dumbledore's dry cough was even more effective than a Silencing Charm and the Hall waited expectantly. " I'd said I had a few last-minute points to dish out, but also… there are points to deduct."

Dumbledore's last words were lowered to his serious tone and Neville's fingers twitched. Once again verifying that his Armband was empty, he glanced at Hermione, who looked just as baffled as everyone else at Dumbledore's actions.

" From Mr Neville Longbottom… I will take off fifty points for worrying your friends, heedless use of a curse without verifying its effects, and naivety for thinking you can duel a troll alone."

Although a few on close terms with Neville, such as Ron and the twins, looked ready to protest, Dumbledore halted them with a stately wave of his arm.

" Then above that, also to Mr Longbottom… For standing by your friends even if they are too stubborn to hear your views, for protecting them from dangers despite heavy costs and lastly, for defeating a troll singlehandedly, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

It was simple mathematics really and to the changing of the Great Hall's decorations to the red and gold of Gryffindor, the entire table rushed up to throw Neville in the air. _You know, I was hoping more of a flying hug and a good long embrace with Penelope Clearwater, but heck._

" Now, now! I am sure we are all hungry – so let the feast begin!" The end of Dumbledore's speech made it possible for an outraged Madam Pomfrey to drag Neville by the ear away from the celebrating crowd and back to the hospital wing.

She muttered the entire way about how he was in no condition to be out of bed and upon hearing about the overdose of Invigoration Draught, almost looked ready to keep him in the hospital wing forever by breaking his limbs periodically. After having a house elf bring up a good share of food from the feast and another dozen check-ups from Madam Pomfrey, Neville received his most feared visitor.

" Professor Dumbledore." Neville nodded his head to the headmaster, and even though both of them knew everything that had happened that night, he still reverted to his habit of avoiding Dumbledore's eyes.

" Neville. I hear your Occlumency training with Professor Snape is in its completion stages and yet, you are still showing these crude signs of the basics." Neville caught a brief glimpse of Dumbledore's joking eyes as he continued, " Now I know the House Cup means nothing to you but even from your first expression as you walked into the Great Hall, I assume you know the seriousness of your actions that night."

He withdrew from his long purple dress robes, obviously just out from the feast, Neville's wand. " Thank you." Neville reached out to take it but Dumbledore's hand did not let go.

" As smart a witch as Miss Granger is, she has still to identify the curse you used to defeat the troll. However, one as talented as you in spell-work should, contrary to what I've said in the Hall, know its full effects? You should also know that there is a charm to regenerate the last spell casted by a wand, yes?"

" I admit. I casted an Unforgivable Curse." Neville got to the point and snapped his head back to face Dumbledore. Much to his surprise, Dumbledore's eyes were marred with sadness.

" I am afraid Neville, the worst of the Unforgivable Curses. Do you know why they are called 'Unforgivable'? Because the Ministry, under no circumstances, even those under the threat of death, would not permit a wizard to perform such spells."

_He can't possibly… Dumbledore's going to hand me over to the Ministry?_ Neville's back broke into cold sweat. Glancing down at the wand in Dumbledore's hand, Neville wandered if he was faster in snatching that than Dumbledore was at drawing the Elder Wand.

" Yes Neville, performing an Unforgivable Curse is an offence guilty of being sent to Azkaban. And also yes, you still have a lifetime's training in Occlumency just as the rest of us." The old fox twinkled his eyes and before Neville could act on his impulse and punch his wonky nose, Dumbledore had already raised Neville's own wand. " _Tergeo._"

" Eh?" Neville instinctively reached up but the traces of ketchup left from the corner of his lips were already cleaned by the spell. _If he had used any one curse…_

" One as talented as you in spell-work should know there is no common spell to regenerate the spell before the last one casted by a wand, yes? Also, you would probably be glad to know the Trace on underage magic does not apply for Hogwarts students during term-time?" Dumbledore flicked the wand over in his hand and held out the stub for Neville, which Neville instantly took. To this Dumbledore smiled sadly again and said in the least ambiguous manner in contrast to his normal speech, " I am turning a blind eye on this incident because it was a life-threatening situation for both you and your friends. I also understand it is not your primary intention to use the curse, or else you would not have gotten yourself injured to this degree. There is also the crunch of the matter – the spell failed."

_The backlash is probably what rendered me on the bed for this long. The Killing Curse really was too powerful a spell for an eleven years old body._

Neville thought back to the meeting with Dumbledore over the establishment of the Council, where he feared Neville would turn into a second Vodemort and asked. " What's the catch for covering this up? A 'promise' never to use the curse again?"

Dumbledore was taken back by the question and laughed out merrily. " You're really not an ordinary eleven year old are you? I was just speaking to Mr Potter as he woke up yesterday in the bed beside you, and the two conversations are so entirely different."

" I'm going to tell you how I think, before you go jumping into conclusions again as you did." Neville doubted he would ever speak to Dumbledore with as much respect as Harry would. Then again, it was only now when he was rearmed with his wand that he could say this, " I don't think there is anything wrong with a particular type of magic. It is the user's intentions that defines the nature and rectitude of any spells."

Dumbledore took his time to respond. He stroked his long silvery beard and looked far away into his own memories. Neville knew what he said was bold, and could be taken in a completely evil way depending on the ear, but that was truly how he thought. Dumbledore sighed and said, almost as if to himself, " The young and the intelligent always stray down that path… Neville. Do you know that even I have once dabbled in the Dart Arts when I was young?"

" Dark Arts is just a name headmaster." Neville replied earnestly.

Dumbledore once again remembered his conversation with Harry just yesterday about saying Voldemort's name and laughed out again. " You are half a step ahead of me here Neville, I applaud you. Well, I never thought we would dive into such philosophical discussions when I only came to return a wand. It is getting a bit late and old men do need their sleep."

_Speak for yourself you old fox! And you were definitely here to give me a warning not to use Dark Arts again._

Standing up to leave, and either party not expecting a 'goodnight', Dumbledore turned back round for one last question. " Are you not interested in the whereabouts of the Philosopher's Stone that you worked so hard to protect?"

_I knew you're still suspicious of me! I knew it! I knew it!_

" I assure you I have no plans in gaining world domination, immortality or the title of being the strongest wizard in magical history." Neville tiresomely drawled, truly ready to go to bed after the frustrating conversation.

" Well? What is it that you would see in the Mirror of Eris?" Dumbledore asked, somehow believing Neville knew about its functions as well.

" I don't know, did you break it? Maybe the mirror-me will be in bed with a couple of half-veelas?"

Dumbledore was rendered immobilised at the spontaneous answer and howled in laughter a few seconds later. " You're really not an ordinary eleven year-old Neville."

" I know."

Dumbledore gave a last chuckle and left the hospital wing. He still had to make another visit before retiring for the night. Knocking on the doors of Snape's chambers, Dumbledore heard a soft 'enter' and shone like a bright light in contrast to the dark and damp bedroom.

" Wine Albus?" Snape was currently sitting on a tall-backed chair facing the covered up windows. The only light in the room was a tiny flame from an old yellow wax candle standing on the end table beside him.

" Yes, that would be lovely Severus." With a wave of the wand, Snape conjured another glass in thin air and sent it floating towards Dumbledore as the wine bottle raised from the end table to pour its contents.

" To what purpose do I owe this visit? If it is related to the results of the House Cup then I have no objections." Expectedly, Snape's voice was a bit forced near the end.

" Oh? Why that is very nice of your Severus. You have certainly been more lively since Harry arrived this year. He knows of your year's diligence in protecting him now – I assume he heard from Quirrel."

" I have no interests in anything related to Potter, Albus." Snape snapped truthfully, as Neville had been sneakily doing that enough in their Occlumency lessons.

" Then what about Longbottom?"

" What about him?" Snape sneered. If it was not for the boy's sudden appearance tonight, Snape's house might have won the House Cup for the seventh year running. " I know from looking at the troll the curse he used on it. And it is because the spell is too powerful for his young body that the troll was not killed. You should have sent him to the Ministry."

" No, Neville's intentions… were pure." Dumbledore swirled the wine in his glass and spent a few moments diving in his memories. Then he got back to business. " For ones so innocently young Severus, it is easy for them to take a wrong turn and it is our job as their elders to keep that from happening to the best of our abilities."

Snape gradually looked up at Dumbledore's face and recognised it. It was just like the face he had before asking Snape to give Neville Occlumency lessons. Whatever new idea Dumbledore had, Snape knew it was not something either he or Neville would like.

0

0

0

A/N: The thing about the Trace for under-aged wizards… I thought the Ministry was supposed to know every time a kid casts a spell and what spell it is… but in the case of Draco in HBP, he obviously casted an Unforgivable in Hogsmeade and got nothing. Though the Ministry could not say it was Draco who casted it, but the fact that an under-aged wizard casted an Unforgivable should've raised a ruckus… So I set some conditions here. Anyway, this is a long chapter, just because I couldn't find a good stopping point mid-way.

Thanks for the reviews and next chapter would be the last of the first year. Can't believe it's been over 100000 words already. I wonder if has a cap on number of chapters. Now a Merry Christmas to all and have a good holiday.


	22. Book 1 Chapter 21

Synopsis: Saving Ginny Weasley's life, befriending the famous Gryffindor Trio, taming Peeves, brainwashing Draco, facing off with Dumbledore – just a number of things that an average Harry Potter fan had done as Neville Longbottom. Keeping his real identity covered, establishing an inter-house organisation, and dealing with actual feelings unexpected from reading the books, he continues his first year at Hogwarts.

The first book is in its final chapter and the Philosopher's Stone is safe and… destroyed as it was in the books. Either way, the only thing left for Neville before a carefree summer would be the Council Event… Or should be.

Chapter 21 – Staffs versus Students Quidditch match!

Neville took out one of the last Temporarily Invisibility Potion capsules from his pockets and snuck out of the hospital wing. He had been stuck there for the whole day, not being allowed visitors as a punishment for the night before. He had slept so much already that even a lazy guy like him got bored.

He wondered if he should go back to the Gryffindor dorms and talk to Harry and Ron, since he did not get a chance yesterday from his brief appearance in the feast. It was really the only place to go unless he wanted to go to Hogsmeade, but he did not have any money with him at the moment.

Walking along the corridor towards the Fat Lady's portrait, Neville saw the funny wizard trying to teach some menacing trolls how to dance. He would have slashed the tapestry to pieces if it did not act as his only signpost to the Room of Requirement. _Damn trolls… Anyway, let's give Norbert a visit… If only the big guy was there that night…_

Walking in front of the wall three times thinking about the Dragon Room, a large door that was big enough to let out a fully-grown dragon was chiselled out from the castle wall. Neville casually pulled the bronze rings that acted as door handles and strolled into the room. His jaws dropped at the sight.

" Hermione!" It was too late for Neville to put his hands over his mouth and the unmistakable brown hair stared straight at him. Even though he was 'invisible', there was no other explanation for the room's door opening unless someone who knew the room entered.

" Neville! I know it's you with your potion!" Neville clucked his tongue and hastily pulled the door shut behind him before their voice leaked out to the corridors.

" Okay, it's me. Why the heck are you here? Only Hagrid and I should know about this place!"

The Dragon Room was a cathedral-sized room lined with brown bricks. At the back was a huge church-like window with plenty of light coming in during the day, and magically none going back out the other way. On each side of the room were shelves that had dragon books, feed, water, and even chew toys. The floor was made of stone but most of it was covered by the marble altar where the dragon roamed. The dragon was bounded in its area by metal chains, nailed down at each of the four corners of the altar by intangible glowing stakes. To Neville the stakes acted more as night lights.

Hermione was near the entrance of the room, sitting just next to the altar, and had apparently been watching Norbert drinking some water from a trough by her side. Hagrid had by far spent the most time here, and he had still to show any signs of escaping Norbert's ever growing claws, and it was surprising how Hermione could get so naturally close. Then again, Hagrid tried to give Norbert daily showers. Neville liked Norbert, but had never actually set foot on the altar area for his personal safety.

" Why did you lie to us about Norbert Neville?" Hermione was her usual bossy self despite not seeing the person she was speaking to, who she had not seen for half a week actually.

" It is not polite to answer a question with a question." Neville had rounded to her side teasingly, which made her snap her head quickly in his direction. He knew it would irritate her for her to be seen agitated but not the other way round.

" Fine! Well, this was what I wanted to talk to you about that day down at the Quidditch pitch." Hermione crossed her arms and sat back down on her stool. " From the way you talked about the dragon, I know you loved it. We were all surprised when you offered to help send it away. I still remember how you looked so excited at hearing the bite Ron got was poisonous."

This time simply to annoy her, Neville went over the shelves, picked up a slab of meat and threw it directly over her head for Norbert to catch. _It was like playing Frisbee with a dog – except this dog can fly and gulp the Frisbee down in one mouthful._ Neville would hate it too if a random floating piece of meat narrowly missed him and a hungry dragon was drooling not far behind.

Hermione could be seen restraining a scowl and continued, " You weren't the only one, and I know Hagrid loves the dragon more than you. On the night Harry and I went to pick up the crate, Hagrid's acting fooled Harry, but I was expecting him to need some last minute convincing. That night he seemed more worried about us getting caught than the delivery itself. That's the same as you not mentioning Norbert after the delivery. You didn't even sound like you cared about the dragon's whereabouts that night people signed up for Quidditch tryouts. You guys acted way too strangely.

" I know I'll never get anything off you so I went and visited Hagrid. Now he didn't betray you – I mean, of course he won't, he thinks this dragon is his baby – but you know he can't lie. I knew then that you must have tricked him into some scheme. Then that night, by the time you showed us you had a Temporarily Invisibility Potion, I know you must have secretly moved the dragon behind our backs!"

" Very good," Neville had settled down next to her on the stool, gotten tired of pacing around the room. " But that doesn't explain how you know about this room."

" Hagrid was miserable after hearing Harry and you got into the hospital. He blamed it on himself since he told Quirrel how to get past Fluffy for a dragon egg. I sort of wiggled it out of him after he had a few drinks…" Hermione's voice got gradually quieter through that sentence. There was a moment's silence before her first sob started. " But it's really my fault. It's all my fault. I was so stupid! I wasn't any help down there at all! Then Ron got hurt, and I started blaming it on you! If I hadn't argued with you then Harry won't have wakened up the troll and you won't have to – have to…"

_Now how can I yell at you for taking advantage of Hagrid's weakness to get in here when you're in this state?_ At that moment, Neville's potion started wearing off and Hermione saw the faint outline of his arms reaching about her shoulders. She did not protest, quite contrary, she embraced Neville's body that seemed to be shimmering in the room about them.

" Silly little girl. It's not your fault. Or anyone's fault. You think it's that easy to get to the Philosopher's Stone? I know you were just worried about Ron back then to think too much… Well, you don't think much when it comes down to him."

" Neville… I'm so sorry…" Hermione buried her head further into his shoulder, but sobbed even louder now. " About how I keep siding with Ron… or, or how I keep snapping at you – or take opposing sides… I just – just want to get your attention again since you've been avoiding me since Christmas."

" What?" Neville's body froze for a moment, but then choked out a few laughs for her. " Don't be ridiculous. I haven't been avoiding you. Did you hear that from Hagrid too? Haha!"

" No, you have been avoiding me." Hermione pulled back from her first ever friend at Hogwarts and they stared into each other's face.

Frankly speaking, she was not pretty at that moment – at all. Matted hair, a complete mess over her tear-streaked face. Her nose was running and she had still to fix her dental problem because of her dentist parents' protest. Somehow though, to Neville, her face at that moment was just adorable.

Not charming, or pretty, or beautiful. Just adorable. To a point where he could not help but ruffle her hair again, something he had not done for a very long time, and a gesture she once hated. " I was just busy with the Council, and school and practicing magic."

Norbert chose that exact moment to blow his nose heavily and nudge in between where the two of them were sitting as if he also wanted to join in their conversation. At least he did not seem to have a liking for human flesh at all, probably due to the influence of having them around since birth.

Hermione smiled and said, " Neville, you're probably my best friend, ever. Harry is like my little brother and Ron… well you know – Anyway, I've thought about it. Ron doesn't seem to be taking any actions at all towards me and I don't see why I should pay so much attention to him for that. He's the one that's supposed to like me... I mean, not the other way round… Well anyway! From now on I promise I'll never be as centred on him as I have been and neglect you, or Harry, or anyone else who's good to me."

" That's a big promise to make little girl." Neville pulled at his robes a bit, soaked in whatever fluids the girl dispensed on his shoulder. " Are you sure I won't suffer another library session with you ranting on about how you loved watching him concentrate while playing chess?"

Neville did not get round to going back to the Gryffindor dorms that night, but was chased about the Dragon Room with the Gryffindor that he liked the most at that moment.

0

0

0

" Welcome back buddy!" Su slapped Neville on the back as he walked into the office. " I don't know what we'd do if you were still cooped up in the hospital today."

" Na, I've finally gotten out of that hell hole. That Madam Pomfrey is playing today right? Who are our beaters?"

Neville's first day out was the same as the Council's teachers-versus-students match. He had still to see the final list of players for the students team but he had a good feeling about today. Getting out of that hospital wing would give him a good feeling even if today was Armageddon.

" You wanna know? You can talk to her when we get to the pitch – I'm sure she won't mind talking to you at all." Draco's nasty smirk signified for Neville that the beater was not someone he wanted to talk to since the Slytherin was still blaming him for losing the House Cup.

" Sorry but we have to head down to the pitch now. Slight warm up for our team." Su gave Neville another pat and left with Draco, leaving only Hannah and him in the office.

" How are you feeling? Are you sure you're up for it?" Hannah asked, handing Neville a whistle.

" Yeah, I'm not going to do any dives or anything. I'm just the referee after all." Hannah had negotiated this term for him with the teachers. The students plainly did not trust the staffs at all and Dumbledore also saw it fair for the president of the Council to referee the event.

" I still can't believe this is actually happening. I mean, we didn't even know Su until after Christmas and now we see each other practically everyday." Hannah had a satisfied smile on her face and nodded. " I think our idea behind the Council will get across to people much sooner than we think."

" You mean matchmaking Draco and Lavender?" Neville joked and they both chatted a bit more before making their way down to the stadium.

It was even more rowdy than the normal Quidditch games between the houses today, even if the teacher's side had practically no supporters. It was also good to see for Neville that not many people wore the house scarves, and the banners were more on the lines of 'Teachers sucks!' instead of bashing the other houses.

The teachers that were not playing, and the seniors who had helped with the tryouts, were sitting in the usual teachers box. McGonagall and Lee Jordan, the favourite comedy duo of Quidditch commentary, were in their usual place. It was a bit different today for them though as they were staring at each other with a colder smile than usual.

" Oh, and the players are coming out the lockers now… Well, players and teachers."

" Ahem." McGonagall coughed as a warning but Lee just shrugged and continued.

" And for the first years, there is the youngest Seeker in a century, Harry Potter! Their team's also got two from the Council, Li and Malfoy, who came up with this simply brilliant idea of an event – but for next year you kids have to make sure to include us seniors or else –"

" Jordan, the teacher's side?" McGonagall's lips were thinning every second and even Lee had to say something for the other team.

" Well they have Dumbledore as the Keeper – though I have never heard of any records about him and Quidditch. Madam Hooch is obviously on the field – oh and Snape! Snape is the Seeker for the teachers team! First years, you two beaters! Don't worry and hit those Bludgers as hard as you like! The whole school's behind you!"

Even though McGonagall had to berate Lee, she was just glad it was Snape and not her playing in today's game. He was a good few decades younger than her after all.

On the pitch, Neville was staring dumbly at the first row in the stands. Hannah was blushing in front of them as he looked to her for an explanation. Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, coupled with a few more first year girls were dressed in some form of modified school robes. They probably had a charm on them to make them skin-hugging, and the bottom was cropped away to above their knees, to put it lightly. The robes also had no sleeves anymore, and they were holding some sort of furry pom-poms.

" Y-you see… They are cheerleaders. It was Lavender's idea… some sort of muggle thing she heard about… and Draco said it was okay… I know we didn't ask you…" Hannah looked closer and closer to crying as Neville's eyebrow gave another twitch.

" What were you guys thinking? _Seriously_?" Neville threw his arms up to the air in complete helplessness. " You restricted it to first years?"

" What?" Hannah almost fell off her bench at Neville's response.

" Forget it, forget it. There's always next year!" Shaking the image of Penelope Clearwater in a mini-skirt – or rather, mini-robe – out of his head, Neville strolled back towards the players in the middle of the field after taking the chest of Quidditch balls from Hannah.

The first years were wearing their school robes, for the first time proudly, and were in a perfectly straight line, looking smugly at their opponent. Su was appointed captain by Neville to save an argument between Draco and Harry. What really took him by surprise was their choice of two female Beaters. Susan Bones was one of them, due to her sharp shooting abilities, but the other was –

" Nevi! Let's kick these old – teachers… behind." Though Millicent's words were stared down by Snape, she still did not falter in her attempt to capture one of Neville's arms.

" Professor, I assume you are the captain for the staff team." Spinning round deftly in his dodge, he faced Dumbledore again and got a smiling nod. " Well, captains please shake hands."

Su and the very ridiculously dressed Dumbledore shook with dully hung smiles on their faces. Dumbledore's look was actually the friendliest on his team since all the other teachers behind him laughed condescendingly, all dressed in the same ridiculous way. Their robes were said to be of the same design as the robes worn by the 1961 dream-team of Great Britain. Neville just took their words for it.

" Alright players, mount your brooms. I want a good clean game between you all! Ready? Three, two, one!" Neville blew into his whistle and the fourteen players shot up into the sky above him. He leisurely followed, but only to be wakened out of his dream by a collective outcry from the audience after just a few seconds.

" T-that was… _What_ _was_ _that_?" Even the experienced commentator Lee Jordan could not believe his eyes.

" That was just a quick one-two between Professor Hooch and Professor Filtwick, Jordan." McGonagall's tone clearly conveyed how much she was enjoying the early goal.

" B-but, they passed so fast! How'd he know she was going to… and then – How many hours did your team practice?"

" Oh, not much, just a couple last night."

" A couple? Last night? What – oh no! How? How did he – what?" The staff team had just scored again and Filtwick was doing loop-to-loops on his broom. " Malfoy! I swear if you let another – What kind of move was that Hooch? You have three arms? I'm sure you're using magic! I'm sure!"

" Don't you know Jordan?" McGonagall gave a shrill laugh as if she was just currently drinking high tea and eating biscuits instead of watching the students team get hammered. " Madam Hooch was called the Witch of Eighteen Hands when she used to play – Oh, and look, how nice. Professor Filtwick scored again. That was such a marvellous dodge wasn't it? He used to be called the Flying Dwarf at Hogwarts. So what's the score? Thirty – zero? And how long has this game started again? Please remind me Jordan, we staffs are getting too old to remember the time, aren't we?"

The entire student population could not believe their eyes. Filtwick was periodically jumping from his broom, flying metres through the air, then landing on it again as if he was doing a trick on a skateboard. Hooch was more ferocious and just charged towards her opponents, glaring out of those hawk-like eyes of hers, and confusing even Su to dive completely in the wrong direction. The only thing the students were glad for was the teacher's third Chaser, Aurora Sinistra, the frail Astronomy teacher.

" Oh my!" Flitwick was cornered by Su and Dean Thomas, and he dropped the Quaffle down to Sinistra who was absentmindedly floating below them. She even took her time to brush back the long hair from her face while talking to herself, " If I remember correctly, I have to get this through those three hoops over on the other side…"

" And Sinistra's in possession! She doesn't know what to do! Finally we can – She threw the Quaffle from that distance? Everyone knows that's imposs – She scored? How the heck could that have went in? Hey that's just not possible! I swear she put a charm to make that pigeon fly out of nowhere and –

" A pigeon headering in the Quaffle? Now I've seen everything." Dean shook his head as if he was in a nightmare where he was tickled to death. Neville was equally shocked, but was told that it was somehow a valid goal, and just scared away the pigeon before another fluke can happen again.

" Come on guys! Don't get rammed by their initial wave of attack! We've got to keep morale! Nice shot Susan!" Su took up her captain duty and swooped down to retrieve the lose Quaffle resulted from the Bludger hit. " Just because they've got an acrobat, someone quick with her hands and a very lucky but otherwise useless player as Chasers, we can still win this!"

Wanting to lead by example, Su made a shot on goal as she ended her rally speech. Dumbledore, who had been watching the match in front of him as if he was on the teachers box as always, looked pleasantly surprised at the rapidly approaching Su. Su made a brilliant fake to the right in her barrel-roll, and shot to the centre hoop using her momentum. Dumbledore, whether he was simply too lazy to move or not, did not follow Su at all and caught the Quaffle squarely in front of his chest.

" Beaters! What about our Beaters!" Lee was getting desperate as he searched for Susan and Millicent. " Millicent! I mean look at you! You're a born Beater! Go for the Bludger Millicent! Go for it and – _Ouch_!"

" Out of my way or DIE!" Neville sharply braked his broom as who he thought was Professor Sprout zoomed past in front of him, Beater bat waving above her head, and whacked the poor Bludger so hard towards Draco that if it had hit, Draco would never be recognised again even by his mother.

" Oh Pomona, whenever she gets her head into Quidditch she gets so serious about winning." McGonagall would surely have laughed maniacally if she did not have a reputation to maintain.

" Poppy!" Neville found himself in the unfortunate sandwich between Sprout and Pomfrey, who had also by some strange reason caught the personality-changing disease Sprout obviously had.

" Pomona!" From Sprout to Pomfrey, then Sprout again, the Bludger was passed and batted between the students Chasers and right into the back of Draco's head as he tried to claw back Filtwick's Quaffle from going through the hoops.

" Did I not say this either? Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey were such good teammates at Hufflepuff when they were young." Lee, who was always one for the jokes, was rendered completely flabbergasted. This only left McGonagall with the commentary to gloat for the staffs. " Oh? The score is fifty – zero? Oh, please don't worry first years. We won't give you detentions if you score, we promise."

" Harry! Have you seen the snitch?" Su made the most rational decision, which was to end the game as quickly as possible with their team's most professional player. Quite unfortunately for her, the opponent had one of Harry's most disliked teacher marking him.

" So Potter, can't go through his first year back in the wizarding world without defeating the Dark Lord – again." Snape smirked as the two Seekers dangled high up above the mess of a match below them. " Don't think I don't know Potter, but you suspected me, of all people, to have cursed your broomstick. Laughable."

Harry did not know how Snape knew about it (Snape read it from Neville's mind during their lessons) but he retorted anyway. " Professor, you should change your attitude if you want people to think you are innocent the next time – or ever."

" And who are you to tell me to change my attitude Potter? Just like your father, no sense of gratitude or respect for people around him whatsoever."

" Don't say anything bad about my father! He was a great man."

" Oh? And how do you know? Saw him around, have you?"

" Stop bickering up here and look for the snitch already." Neville cut in after spotting these two.

" Bicker Longbottom? Why would one such as I bicker with an eleven year-old boy crazy for attention?"

Before Harry spat back whatever it was in his head, Neville pulled him away by the tail of his broom. " Remember Harry, Snape saved your life by counter-cursing your broomstick. And you've wrongly accused him so many times during the year. Let's just leave it and get on with the match okay?"

Harry did not look like he would agree to the suggestion but shook the tail of his broom free. Just as he shot past the disgruntled Snape, presently cursing Albus for dragging him into this silly match, Snape thought Harry murmured something. It sounded as if Harry said, albeit grudged, " Sorry."

Another ten minutes later…

" And the score is now one hundred and… what is it? Twenty? Oh, and that should make thirty. One hundred and thirty to zero. The 'old geezers' leading." McGonagall was way above her head by now and Lee had his face in his hands beside her.

The crowd was getting desperate as the gap between the teams neared the deciding one hundred and fifty, and still not a single goal from the first years. No matter what Su, Dean and Zacharias Smith tried, they just did not seem to be able to best the steel arms of Dumbledore. Zacharias Smith used speed and power, Dean worked with the others to try and cover his shots' direction, and Su was displaying amazing individual skills in the air – but all to no avail.

" Time out!" Su called and the teams huddled together on their brooms. The teachers were of course just smugly parading around the stadium, daring any of the students to call them old and useless now.

Neville would have spent timeouts looking at cheerleaders if they were a bit more mature, and instead floated towards the grim first year team to hand out some moral support. Su was animatedly trying to discuss tactics and formations with the Chasers while Draco was merely doing his best to catch his breath. Draco was definitely the MVP of their team since he actually managed to save a few amazing shots even if the others went through.

" I just don't understand it!" Su moaned as she banged her forehead on her wooden clipboard, the parchment on it detailing flight paths now ignored. " It just feels as if Dumbledore knows which hoop we're going to aim at!"

" What?" Neville bellowed and glanced back at the sly old fox, looking quite content on his broom as if he was watching TV on his living room sofa. " Su, listen to me. The next time you shoot, don't even bother to fake. Just any simple shot – but do your best to think and image that you're aiming for another hoop. Listen to me and you guys will have a chance yet."

" I'm trusting you Neville. Our possessions don't come easy." Su grunted with a nod and patted Neville hard on the shoulder – every bit as jock-like as men could be. Neville nursed his sore shoulder and shook his head as he flew away. _Really… that girl should have some femininity taught to her…_

" And the game restarts! Such an exciting game, isn't it?" McGonagall was in her own little world by now as the whole stadium was trying their best to keep their spirits up. _The first teacher-student game in the history of Hogwarts and they would lose to someone like Dumbledore, over a hundred years older than them? That was unthinkable!_

" Nevi! This one's for you!" Millicent whacked a Bludger with every muscle in her body and even Hooch fumbled in her dodge and the Quaffle switched possessions.

Having seen a good few attempts on goals, Neville had been suspecting it but if Su listened to him and proved it now…

" AND IT'S A GOAL! Su Li of first year scores the first goal for the students team!" Sounding as if he was brought back to life, Lee Jordan snatched the microphone from a deeply frowning McGonagall. " Oh? And what's this? Match is suspended as the referee flies towards the teachers end! Hey Neville if you dare to write off that goal every student in Hogwarts will – hey wait… What's this?"

" _Sonorus!_ Player Albus Dumbledore will be sent off for the remainder of the match due to his most inappropriate use of Legilimency during his play time as Keeper. Game will resume with the first year's possession. _Quietus_."

The stadium had just exploded and no doubt caused many flock of monster birds in the Forbidden Forest to take flight. The three goal posts without a Keeper were almost free for scoring from half way down the pitch. No matter what house the students were in, or what beliefs they held, they were all on their feet now cheering the first year players on the pitch with all their might.

" And the teachers have put Hooch back to guard in front of the hoops! Thomas with the Quaffle for the students. He passes to Smith – back to Thomas – faked and passes to Li. Su Li once again pulls back her arm for the students – and – and she scores! Magnificent skills! Amazing girl! Amazing! Marry me Su! Just marry us all! You are our Queen!"

" Back to the game Jordan! The game!" McGonagall was back to her usual tightly-winded self and knocked on the table in front of him in reproach.

" And there goes another goal, from Smith! The crowd is wild! Oh, and look at the cheerleaders! A marvellous idea First Years Council! Marvellous – and wait! Here comes Potter! Potter's seen the snitch! Snape's hot on his tail – and they're both going for it! They've flown past the hoops! And it's a dive! And then – and then – and Potter clenches it! The First Years wins the match!"

Snape was the first one to land, next to Dumbledore, and grumbled at the old man's ever-so annoying twinkle of the eyes. " I've always thought you were a great Seeker Severus."

" Lack of practice I presume." Snape said through gritted teeth.

" Are you sure you have not just overstepped your resolve to protect Harry and allowed him win?" Snape was really tempted to punch the old man's nose right now.

" Who're you to talk? The one sent off for using Legilimency."

" Well, this is the first teacher-student match and we can't have the students hating us for the rest of the years – as you certainly understand."

Snape just snorted and left the pitch without a glance back at the masses of students who were storming onto the pitch from all sides. Lee was singing some sort of Quidditch song over a very distressed McGonagall, nursing her forehead. The other staff players all shook hands with each other, albeit with a bit of a forced smile. They should have shook the student team's hands but they were too busy celebrating within themselves on their brooms. They had to after seeing how Draco was swallowed in the crowd instantly after he had landed and was currently being kissed and having his robes torn apart somewhere by his seniors. _Lucky git._

" Nevi!" Neville heard the call of doom not a moment too soon and swooshed the tail of his broom sideways to avoid Millicent, who was obviously taking advantage of the atmosphere and attempted a bone-crushing hug. " Nevi! We won! Join in on our team hug!"

" It's ok. I'm the fair and just referee." Neville would not mind hugging Susan Bones much, but balancing her between Millicent and various sweaty guys, he decided to scamper. Millicent looked unfazed by his rejection and flew towards him at top speed, which would clearly have knocked him off his broom – possibly so she could have an excuse to hug him while he fell through the air.

Doing half a back-flip Neville dived vertically downwards just as her arms clamp shut above his broom's tail. Someone from the crowd directly underneath him screamed, thinking he was going to crash into them, but he pulled out of the dive cleanly just at the last moment and shot to land at a safe spot beside the pitch.

" Are you alright?" A reddish-blonde witch asked her friend, who was almost hammered like a nail into the pitch by the plummeting Neville.

The friend with long, sleek black hair turned back to look at the boy wiping his forehead as he leapt from his broom and onto the stands. " Yeah… I'm just glad Gryffindor didn't get him as the backup Seeker during our match last week."

" Neville!" Just as he smiled watching the celebrating crowd, Hannah ran up to him and asked, " Have you seen Draco? He was the first one to land and now I can't see him anywhere."

" Oh I'm sure he's enjoying himself," Neville waved away her worries. " The last time I saw him, he was crawling out for air but was dragged back down by a hot Hufflepuff girl in sixth year."

" Oh. Alright then." She followed Neville's gaze onto the pitch, where the other student players had landed by now. Though they knew they had to land some time, they really regretted not delaying the moment as congratulating students swamped each and everyone one of them – even Millicent. Hannah turned back to face Neville, " This is what you mean huh?"

" Yeah. First years – seventh years. Slytherins – Gryffindors. Muggle-borns – purebloods. Nobody seems to care anymore about those things right now." Neville turned to see Hannah smiling back at him.

" I want to thank you Neville. For letting me join the Council." Hannah thought back to herself at the start of the year, where she was even too timid to start a conversation with the girl sitting next to her in class. " I've really liked being with everyone. Especially when Su and you, even Draco, tried so hard to get me to come back when I ran away. I would have regretted not having the chance to work for something like this,"

Seeing the pigtails girl in a new light, Neville patted her on the shoulder. " The Council would fall apart without someone like you. Though you look soft on the outside, I know you're as tough as anyone else inside. Not everyone can tell Draco to get his ass back to work."

" Those weren't the words I'd used!" Hannah blushed and lowered her head, looking every bit like the way she always did.

" I knew what you meant." Neville laughed and turned back to the pitch. Now everyone from the team was hidden somewhere in the crowd, moving as a dense group back towards the castle for a victory feast. " So, more Council events next year?"

" Definitely!"

" Glad to have your help."

0

0

0

A/N: I'm not gonna bother about writing too much anymore. Chapter length is supposed to be consistent, and I'll try, but it's just not important anymore.

Here is the team list for the two sides to clear things up.

Snape _Seeker_ Harry

Dumbledore _Keeper_ Draco

Sprout _Beater_ Millicent

Pomfrey _Beater_ Susan Bones

Filtwick _Chaser_ Su

Hooch _Chaser_ Zacharias Smith

Sinistra _Chaser_ Dean Thomas

It's summer next chapter! So this is sort of like the end of the first book, which is quite timely because this will be my last upload before New Years. I'm just going to keep everything in the same story… so yeah, this fic is going to be long. Early Happy New Years guys.


	23. Book 2 Chapter 1

Synopsis: Neville, who was mentally an HP fan from the real world, had managed to survive his first year of Hogwarts. Even if Neville's role changed, Vodemort was still kept from the Philosopher's stone, and it all went according to the plot… bar a few little things. Hermione had already fallen for Ron, Norbert stayed at Hogwarts, and Draco was forced to become a Student Council vice-president after himself.

Hermione finds out about Norbert, and the Council event was a great success. But the term has ended and so has Neville's first year of Hogwarts. However, here comes the summer.

Chapter 22 – The Student Council's summer camp.

It was late July 1992, a black and white ferry was making one of its usual trips carrying summer tourists from Oban to the Isle of Mull in the north-west coast of Scotland. From the famous Gulf Stream, a temperate wind ruffled the feathers of soaring seagulls as they flew by one of the ship's windows, behind which a Chinese girl was pressing her forehead onto, as she curiously soaked up the scenes of Loch Fiart in the distance.

Sitting beside her in the ship's lounge was a girl with blonde pigtails, squirming on the rose pink couch, and her eyes never leaving the orange and black carpet below her feet. She was a blatant feminine contrast to her Chinese friend, wearing a white dress and ribbons that drew a few snickers from a few passing boys of the same age wearing Rangers football tops. Her uneasiness was caused though by the three males sitting in separate couches surrounding her behind the small circular table.

The blonde boy, sporting a leather motorcycle jacket even on such a sunny day, was sneering at the fact that he had to spend the next two weeks living almost like a muggle. If only he was at home, his father would never care if he used magic or not during the holidays.

The oldest man in the group, no doubt the guardian of the children for this trip, was drawing a few appreciative glances from a group of middle-aged women not far away. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes closed as if resting, but actually cursing his boss for landing him with this horrible job. Many places were not connected by the Floo Network, and Mull was one of them, especially with the owner of the place they were heading not wanting visitors. Portkeys were too elaborate for the trip and that was the reason why he was stuck in this muggle transport in a black suit, black shirt and tie – his only muggle clothes.

The last member was Neville Longbottom, who was in his own little world and did not want to be disturbed. He had spent the last month or so since he got back from Hogwarts mostly in the study of Longbottom Manor – of course having spent some time humouring his relatives after his arrival and so forth. Though he had spent about three years there before on self-study, it was drastically different now that he had got in touch with other subjects and the Hogwarts teachers. With a clear direction established from his find at the Drakul's library during Christmas, he had continued his research. He would have spent the rest of the summer this way, albeit with a few letters exchanged with Penelope Clearwater, just to keep Percy contested, but an owl came for him unexpectedly from Dumbledore.

" Hey, we're here!" Su jumped from her seat and pulled Hannah along with her. " I've never been to these outside islands in Scotland before. This is the first time I'd taken a ferry as well. Isn't this cool?"

Hannah mumbled something in agreement but was drowned by Draco's impatient vent. " Professor Snape, why does the Council have to come all the way out here for summer meetings? We can plan next year's events and the running of the Council anywhere else. I could even get father to offer our summer house in Finland."

" Draco, this was the headmaster's instructions." Snape blatantly ignored the women who purposely brushed past his arm while stepping off the ferry and onto the shore. " You are to stay at an old friend of Dumbledore's. It is secluded and will provide peace and quiet for you all to discuss the operations and future of your Council."

" I've never been in a wizard's house before. Hannah, what's it like?" Su was the only one who did not have hair in her eyes from the strong winds as she had her hair cut boy-ish short again the moment she got home.

" Well, I stay just upstairs of the Leaky Cauldron and wizards all have very different houses."

" Hey! You must be Professor Snape!" A balding man in weird muggle clothes waved at the group and bounded up to them. At Snape's usual scowl though, he faltered. " Unless you work as an undertaker then I am truly sorry, you men work in a most noble profession."

" Where are our brooms?" Snape gritted his teeth and shot Neville a glare as if he dared him to laugh, which Neville did internally of course.

" Ah yes, we have your booking quite in order. Just this way, the shed, yes. Five broomsticks and with the necessary charms to fly unnoticed. A pain already to take the ferry across, much less travelling by muggle buses around the island yes? Oh – yes, and goodbye to you too Professor Snape!"

The broom lending wizard was already fast out of hearing range by the time he finished his sentence. Snape had wordlessly thrown the brooms their way and took off without further chatter – the man was probably the type Snape hated to deal with most.

Following Snape over the moorlands and hilltops after a while and upon the feeling of a tingling sensation, a country manor magically appeared in the valley not far in front of them on the ground as if Neville had merely overlooked it a moment before. _Must be enchantments and stuffs like Hogwarts. I'd just thought the reason we didn't use side-along apparition was Snape not being able to stomach the idea of us touching him._

It was an old Scottish manor made of white stone, with a large garden and courtyard that was almost naturally formed by the scenic valley itself. The company landed on a circular paved area in front of the manor, probably the site of any unusual Portkey journeys, and there was already a figure waiting for them.

" Good day. We are –" And before Snape could say anymore, Neville already jumped the queue and took the hand of the lovely looking woman wearing a nurse cap.

" Good day indeed my lady, for this is the day we finally meet. I am Neville Longbottom and that is one fetching outfit worthy of a million compliments. Though I dare say if it was the white ones with a mini-skirt instead of this conservative home nurse uniform it would bring even more splendour to our world – but the apron is a great accessory and –"

Neville's George Clooney smile faded when he realised he could no longer make another sound. The only reason he was able to talk as much trash so far was because he took Snape by utter surprise and disgust.

" Five points from Gryfin – Actually, forget it. You are to be under the Silencing Charm until tomorrow morning." Snape turned back to the home nurse, who was a little taken back but retained her smile nonetheless. " We are the group from Hogwarts. Your master should be expecting us."

" Yes, my name is Jennifer McLeod. I am the home nurse and maid in this manor. Master Richmond has been waiting for you. Let me show you to your rooms." Jennifer led the way up the front steps behind her. _She even calls him Master! The owner of this place sure knows how to live!_

" Stop embarrassing us Neville." Hannah bumped into Neville a bit too roughly as she passed to enter the manor.

" That was not smooth." Su rolled her eyes irritably.

" At least wait until Snape isn't around." Draco just patted his shoulder. Unfortunately, Neville could not even utter a simple retort to any of his peers.

Walking through the huge front doors tall enough for a giant, Neville was hit by an even larger parlour. Continuing with the grossly out of proportion style of architecture, a wide flight of stairs almost spanning the width of the room was at the back, leading up to the second floor. From the outside, he knew there was also a third floor above what he could see now. On either sides of the parlour, the floor above, beyond the stone banisters, tall black doors lined the walls, tightly shut. As big as the place was, the rust-coloured carpets, the grey walls, and the relative lack of sunlight by whatever strange reasons despite all those windows made the manor feel cold and unwelcoming.

" And where may I ask is Mr Richmond? I would like to give him Dumbledore's gratitude for letting the students and I stay here." Snape asked the maid, also surveying his surroundings. He was bitter, but he knew the proper etiquettes and basic politeness at least – simply just none for Potter and associates.

" Ah, yes… you see… Master Richmond has expressed that… greetings and thanks are unnecessary –" Just by one glance upwards at Snape's expression and the rest of Jennifer's hesitant whisper was caught in her throat.

" So your Master do not want us to disturb him, am I correct Miss McLeod?" Snape could have frozen a lake into ice with his tone, and the young maid just nodded.

" You see – well… Master Richmond is weak and mostly unwell… He means well… I think –" Seeing no change in Snape's torturous stare, Jennifer just surrendered and made her escape. She took out a rusty golden bell from her pocket and upon a single ring, three house elves appeared with the sound of a 'crack'. " If you have any needs, please feel free to call on the house elves or myself. The house elves will show you to your chambers."

" Thank you." Neville saw the blatant shiver from Jennifer as she turned to walk away from Snape's cold voice as fast as she could. _If only I could talk! I'll be able to comfort her and tell her it's alright! Snape's just a big bully!_

0

0

0

This trip was clearly not an official school activity, and Snape could not be bothered to chaperon when he did not have to, locking himself in his room without even recognising where the children were placed. Upon Draco knocking his door and asking through the small crack he opened for conversation, the children got permission to leave the manor with the brooms to explore the nearby landscape. Snape took the chance to toss an envelope to Neville, addressed in Dumbledore's handwriting, but Neville decided to open and read it later.

" Oh, and don't let anything happen to your president now – he may be incapable of shouting for help." Snape even gave himself a chuckle of congratulations for his jab at Neville before slamming his door shut.

Truth was, Su saw on their flight over that there was a beach near the manor and wanted to take a visit. Draco and Neville had actually wanted to get to know their whereabouts first inside the manor, but since Neville could not talk and nullified his vote, Hannah backed her friend and there the two boys sat on the beachside.

Draco was ripping a few wild flowers into piece absentmindedly beside Neville on the sand. They were sitting just under the shade of a tree, watching Su waddle towards the sea and Hannah trying to catch up behind her. Draco drawled in his boredom, " You know, I've never been this far up north in Scotland. Father takes me abroad for holidays most of the time."

Neville could not even let out a hum of acknowledgement and patted twice on the sand instead to show he heard.

" The owner of that manor must be rich, eh? Wonder how Dumbledore knew him."

Neville patted the sand beside him twice again.

" I'm sure missing Quidditch. If only they had a Quaffle here."

Another two pats on the sand.

" Or if I brought my swimming trunks I could go for a swim… Well, that doesn't seem to be stopping Su, does it?"

One pat on the sand.

" Good weather today. Plenty of sun. Should have brought sun lotion."

Two pats.

" Oh forget it! What's the point in having a conversation with a mute! Hannah! You take over!" Draco finally lost his patience and took off on the broomstick, almost leaving Neville in the sands if he had not dodged quickly enough.

Hannah was pretty glad for an excuse to be away from the water though, as she was a lot more conscious about getting soaked with all her clothes on than Su, who was trying to drag her into the sea as well. Neville watched Hannah trot back to where he sat under the shade, the hem of her dress up to her knees was already dripping. Su took up the challenge of her new opponent and his weapon, and started splashing water back on Draco, who countered by thrashing the end of the broom's tail into the water.

" Hey," Hannah dropped herself down beside Neville, panting out of exhaustion. " Su really is great at sports… She really almost dragged me in there with her."

Neville was going to give two pats, but they had still to establish this channel of communication and decided to just continue watching the kids' water fight. It had actually been ages since he had visited the beach, thinking back to his past life, and definitely been ages since he had enjoy a childish summer such as this.

" I'm actually pretty glad Dumbledore asked us to come here." Hannah continued to talk, and Neville wondered when she would get bored like Draco and needed to sub in Su. At least he had an excuse not to answer any of Su's never-ending tirades of questions this time. " I didn't have much to do in the Leaky Cauldron, since mum still thought I was too young to help out there. You see, my uncle's the owner of the place – you must've met him, working behind the bar. We've been living there ever since my dad died…"

Neville was taken by surprise Hannah had told him this, since she was still at a sensitive age for this sort of affair. Looking from the corner of his eyes, he could see Hannah was surprised that she had let that slip out so casually as well. Managing the best smile of encouragement he could, the flustered girl gradually calmed down and they watched the sea again, though he kept the side of his gaze on her. A gentle wind swayed the fringe before her eyes, which shimmered as past memories surfaced again behind those shimmering orbs.

" He died from a magical sickness when I was five so I don't remember much of him. One of the few memories I remembered of him though, was him taking me to the beach. He even taught me how to swim back then…"

Neville was looking fully at Hannah now. She had her head lowered, but it was not the timid bow that she usually had. She propped her face in her hands, and though disjointed by those pigtails, the expression she worn was one of maturity. A look that was formed after the acceptance stage of hearing a tragic news. He had an urge at that moment to untie the ribbons holding her childish pigtails, which he was sure would bring into his vision a graceful painting of a beautiful young girl, though with a tone of sorrowful reminiscence.

Neville settled for patting her on the shoulder, but even that slight touch seemed to have wakened her from the spell and her head shot back upwards as if she was a rabbit caught in the claws of a raptor. She stared back at him with wide eyes, and her pigtails swinging behind her, " I-I'm sorry Neville. Maybe it's because you can't talk so I just… it makes me feel like I can start blabbing… I'm sorry I took advantage of it by making you listen to all this silly stuff when it must be boring and –"

By this time Neville had already picked up a nearby twig and finished writing a first sentence in the sand. '_Hannah, I think you are a strong girl._' Looking back up, Hannah's eyes seemed to be ready to let drop the first drip of rain today and he hurriedly wrote a second. '_So don't cry._'

" N-no, I am not Neville. I'm always being taken care of... My mum and my uncle. And at Hogwarts, there's you, Su, Ernie –"

Hannah was cut off again as Neville finished another message in the sand. '_You are taking care of me right now_.'

The two faced each other and Neville tried his best to give her a comforting smile. What he wrote was genuine, considering how Draco could not even sustain five minutes of being with him mute. Hannah could have left him too, not that he would mind, but she had stayed because of that nurturing personality of hers – just as he found out from partnering with her in Herbology. This was the best he could do right now for her though, since he was never good at cheering people up – much less a twelve year old girl.

Hannah must have been rendered mute longer than they had thought since they were caught completely by surprise by their attackers. Su and Draco had formed an alliance treaty between them and had just dumped an arm-full of sand over each the two's heads.

" High-five!" Su, completely oblivious to the wet shorts and t-shirt tightly wrapped around her, slapped the equally oblivious Draco's hand. " Hey Neville, where're you going? Eh? Why're you picking up my denim jacket, I'm not that cold… Hey! Hey! Don't bury my jacket in the sea! Hey!"

0

0

0

" Man! Is it good to hear my voice again!" Su rolled her eyes as Neville stretched himself out on the garden chair.

" You almost got another Silencing Charm with what you said to the maid the first moment you had your voice back." Draco also sat around the wooden table, where the Council had been making plans for next year.

They had spent most of the day in the courtyard of the manor, more of a brain-storming session, as Neville called it, than really doing anything serious. Unlike expected lawns of freshly mowed grass, patches of flowers and vegetables, or even a clean pond, the only connotation to the garden was gloom. Wrinkled, dense trees and vines lined the walls, blocking the various windows of the manor, as if the occupants did not want to be seen from the outside. There was a fountain in the middle, but mould and moss had already grown so thick that even if it had been switch on, it was probably incapable of spraying a droplet of water.

" Kids, dinner's ready!" The only ray of light in this dark manor was home nurse Jennifer, who at that moment, came out into the courtyard in the long nurse dress Neville loved so much.

" Okay kids, let's pack up for today." Neville stood up and ran his hand through, what he thought, his stylish wind-swept hair. He was not allowed to use magic, especially in the same house as Snape, and could not spike it up using charms. He had never thought of this great flaw until now.

" Come along now sweety," Jennifer patted Neville's head and left without a backward glance.

" You look stupid when you smile like that." From Hannah, that was a true insult and Neville knew it. He immediately made an expression of being taken aback but was brutally ignored. _There's nothing wrong with my George Clooney smile!_

" And your birthday is later than all of ours Neville. If anyone's a kid it should be you." Draco shook his head, seriously thinking if Neville's taste for big-sister-types was like Goyle's taste for overweight girls.

Su was unfairly halted from remarking this time because Neville was not magically silenced and threatened, " I'll bury your jacket again."

Entering the dinning room, Snape was already there, looking much more comfortable in his usual black robes. Even during meal times the owner of the manor did not appear, supposedly having his food alone elsewhere. The house elves brought out the food, still much to Su's interests since the Hogwarts house elves had eluded her.

" Longbottom, I hope you are organising your members accordingly and not just wasting your time getting a suntan and harassing the maid." Snape spiked, probably bored out of his skull. He had actually borrowed some pots and pans from the kitchen, information from Jennifer, to mix up some potions in his room.

" No Mr Snape, the children have been lovely." Jennifer had dinner with them, and she seemed to be the only other human in the manor. She was a Squib though, and thought Snape was merely 'uptight' after a few meals together since she had not attended Hogwarts. " The manor's never had so much noise in it for as long as I remembered."

" We're not that loud." Draco muttered in his food, but it did not escape Neville's ears. _Well, you did drag me to play Exploding Snaps with you until late last night. We didn't even explore this place yet because of it. I'm sure there should be a library in a place like this… possibly a private library with some rare tomes…_

" Doesn't anyone visit this Richmond guy? He's friends with our headmaster right? You make it sound like no one's been here apart from you and him for decades." _Trust Su for the questions._

" Well, I've only started working here for a few years, and I don't know who was living here before that. Before you all, Master Richmond did not have any visitors at all. As you know, this manor is protected with all sorts of enchantments, and only specific Portkeys can enter."

" Um… Miss McLeod?" Hannah took a deep breath and braved a call to the maid. _Why's she only harsh towards me? Am I easy to pick on?_ " I found something under my bed last night… I don't know why… Um... It's a photo, and possibly… the person was living here before?"

" Well show us the photo Abbott." Snape's voice was like a tiger's roar to a hare for Hannah.

" Sir, please don't speak like you're working for a haunted house in some funfair." Neville immediately frowned at Snape, who looked completely peeved at being unable to assume his normal teacher authority. Neville shook his head. _It was just like Snape to frighten someone even without meaning to. _

" I will speak how I like Longbottom. How is your Occlumency coming along? Are you still practicing? Maybe we should continue our lessons through this summer holiday?" Snape threatened, his hand inching closer to the breadknife.

" Do you have the photo with you Hannah?" Su asked, cutting through the staring contest between the bickering duo.

" Oh? Oh yes." Hannah retracted her gaze from the frowning Neville and fished out a yellow photograph from her robes.

Neville was sitting beside her and took a glimpse over her shoulder and was baffled. " You got the wrong picture?"

" Yeah, is this a photo of your mother when she was younger or something?" Su asked.

" No… That's why I didn't give this back to you earlier Miss McLeod… The person in this picture…" Hannah got so far and held out the photo towards the maid, who took it and raised an eyebrow.

Jennifer's gaze switched between the photo and Hannah, finally looking as if she had reached an internal decision to give up thinking. " I don't know Hannah. As far as I remember… The room you're in now used to be an empty room. Well not empty, since it had a bed and some cupboards, but it wasn't like the other guest rooms. Maybe you're right and this person in the photo did live there, and she just happens to look like you?"

" I guess so…" Hannah lowered her head, but looked a little frightened.

" Yeah, that's the only explanation. I mean, none of your relatives know about this place right? You don't look very Scottish yourself." Su gave a pat on the table as if that was the final verdict.

" I'll give this photo back to Master Richmond and ask him about it." Jennifer pocketed the photo before Neville could take a better look at it.

From Neville's brief glimpse, the photo contained a teenager with long, waist-length hair behind her back, and had a smile that really did look like Hannah. The girl in the photo was a beauty though, and glancing towards Hannah, Neville wondered if the future Leaky Cauldron landlady would be even more attractive in a few years.

" If you will excuse me, I've finished and will be in my room." Snape stood from the table, but not without throwing a backwards sneer at Neville. " Please refrain from causing a ruckus in the middle of the night shouting 'I'm going to blow'."

" Draco and I were just playing Exploding Snap!" Neville hastily looked at Jennifer with his most earnest look and turned back to glare at the fading figure of Snape. " I'll catch up with you guys later."

With that, Neville chased after the bat-like shadow, very much suited to the gloom of this castle to Neville's opinion, and caught up with him before he slammed the door of his room in Neville's face.

" What is it Longbottom?" Snape looked clearly delighted at making Neville run after him in the characteristic Longbottom short legs.

" I want to talk to you about that letter from Dumbledore." Neville had read the letter and although the rest of the Council was ecstatic at the news, he felt something at the back of his brain warning him.

" Ah, yes, I would be most pleased if you were to challenge Dumbledore's decision to give the Council so much more freedom and _undue_ responsibility for next year." Neville had paid utmost attention at listening to Snape. It was genuine disapproval and no pretence – but he was one of the best Occlumens around.

_Then again, I'm really just working on a hunch at the moment. For Dumbledore to give us more freedom means he's trusting us, or me, more for some reason this year. Somehow, with the history between us two, I doubt that's really the case even after the thing with the Philosopher's Stone. Does this have something to do with this summer camp? Man… I just know that old sly fox is setting a trap just for me to walk into!_

" Ahem!" Snape cleared his throat and startled Neville out of his rumination. " Your musings could be done out with my presence, thank you. Goodnight Longbottom."

With that, Snape slammed the door in Neville's face.

0

0

0

" Draco, that's it. I don't want to play anymore." Neville was held back by his sleeve at Draco's room door.

" Hey, just one more round!" Draco had dragged Neville to play Exploding Snaps tonight as well.

" I'm sleepy okay? I was going to find the library, or at least get to know my way around this place but you've made me play with you ever since after dinner." Neville looked back at the blonde boy, who had ironically changed into his turquoise pyjamas ages ago. He randomly thought up of a way to escape, " If you're scared of being alone, you can just say so."

" What? N-no way! Who's scared of an old manor anyway! Goodnight Neville!" Draco slammed the door with a red face. _Can't believe I guessed right… poor kid. His mother really must've spoiled him. It's just part of growing up Draco! Good luck!_

Neville's room was actually right next door, and as he dragged himself round to hopefully get some good rest, a shadow caught his eye on the opposite corridor. The second floor corridor overlooked the foyer on the ground floor, lined with their rooms on each side. Swiftly covering himself behind the closest pillar, Neville looked back over his shoulder onto the other side of the second floor. The room directly oppose was Hannah's.

_And the door's – being opened!_

" Who's there!" If only Neville had believed in ghosts, he would have screamed. Since he did not, and knew they were rare unless he was at Hogwarts, his worst scenario was that some pervert was trying to sneak into Hannah's room in the middle of the night. At least he thought that was the worst scenario right now.

Not even remembering he did not have magic as his backup, Neville leapt from the banister, kicking the pillar he was previously hiding behind, and caught with the tip of his foot onto the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The chandelier swung under the addition of his weight and before its momentum depleted, Neville had ran to the other side and jumped as the chandelier reached its maximum height.

The shadow, pervert, or random night crawler let out a cry of surprise at the maniac and just had enough time to draw his wand before Neville reached him. Neville did not really plan his landing, but made a perfect one nonetheless – right into the shadow's midriff. Neville had also seen the shadow's wand and on his way down, grabbed hold of it, and with a quick and simple Jujitsu move, dislocated the shadow's wrist on the way.

This invoked a painful scream but Neville was far from caring. " Sneaking into a girl's room at night eh? I'll teach you! Take this! And this!"

Sitting on the shadow's chest, Neville rained punches on his face. No doubt all this ruckus had woken up the entire manor, and Draco was the first one to have ran all the way across the landing and to where the two were on the ground. The shadow had already lost the struggle and was barely defending from Neville's fists.

" Were you stupid Neville?" Draco screamed. He had opened his door the moment Neville shouted before his jump. Hannah chose this moment to peek out her room door, deathly startled to see the unexpected scene right at her feet. " You jumped all the way from the opposite side! You could've fell and killed yourself!"

" There wasn't time! This pervert had already opened Hannah's door by then!" Neville said between his gasps for breath. The shadow was also screaming for Neville to stop, but there was no reason for Neville to listen to his pleads.

" What is going on here?" Snape's voice boomed as he arrived at the scuffle with his wand lit. Su, Jennifer, and a couple of house elves were right behind him and the group finally had a clear view of the shadow's face… Well, at least the face after Neville completely covered it in blood and bruises.

The only person who recognised him was Jennifer, as she gasped and screamed, " Master Richmond!"

0

0

0

A/N: And I'm back with the first chapter of book two. It's 4AM, the night I've finished my last Spring exams, and still suffering from the sleeping irregularity I've picked up through the past weeks.

Anyway, here starts another period without the Trio again. Though we introduced more OCs here, and it won't go overboard, they're like… small cogs in a wheel. Important in their little ways somehow.

Frankly though, writing this subplot took a lot out of me somehow. Don't know if it's good or bad, but every book has climaxes and dumps – just another block of Lego.


	24. Book 2 Chapter 2

Synopsis: Neville, who was mentally an HP fan from the real world, had managed to survive his first year of Hogwarts. Even if Neville's role changed, Vodemort was still kept from the Philosopher's stone, and it all went according to the plot… bar a few little things. Hermione had already fallen for Ron, Norbert stayed at Hogwarts, and Draco was forced to become a Student Council vice-president after himself.

The Council was arranged to stay with a mysterious friend of Dumbledore's on Mull. Things were 'normal', bar the avoidant owner of the manor, and the Council discussed their plans for next year. One night though, Neville saw a figure trying to break into Hannah's room and put him to an immediate stop. But he turned out to be the owner of the manor!

Chapter 23 – The grey area between Voldemort and Dumbledore.

Neville would like to tell the perverted looking old man to sod off but he was once again under the Silencing Charm from Snape. Snatching a piece of parchment off Su, he feverously scribbled something down and thrust it in front of Richmond's face, which was too close to Hannah's at that moment.

" What? Tell me to leave you alone?" Richmond was an old man with a shiny head since even the last of his white hair had fallen out – and the rest of him was just the typical look of a pervert. Neville scrawl another sentence to put his point across. " I'm not a Council member you say? Well this is my manor Mr Longbottom, so you would find that I have every right to go wherever I want. Now Hannah, when did you say your birthday was again? I'll definitely remember to send a marvellous present."

Neville fumed, not only because Richmond really was stopping any useful discussion to take place, but also because the old pervert had been bugging Hannah all morning. That night, after a few quick healing spells and potions, Richmond gave an explanation to his actions – though listened and believed in contempt by Neville. Allegedly, Richmond received the old photo from Jennifer, and was so _eager_ to see for himself the guest that looked so much like the girl in the photo that he could not even wait until morning.

" Oh Hannah, you really do look a lot like my granddaughter." Old Pervert even dared to stroke Hannah's hair as he said this. _That is like, the oldest lie in the book!_ He had effectively propped himself between Neville and her, and forcefully placed Draco on her other side. " How old are you now? By your age, Cecilia had already got a fiancé arranged for her… Oh you must never be tempted to marry the wrong man Hannah, it is a very important decision that can ruin a woman's life. Now young Draco here for example is a prime candidate. The Malfoys were the first ones to return to the right side after You-Know-Who fell. And I must say it has to be their old and pure lineage that sets them apart from the rest."

Old Pervert seemed very keen to pureblood ideals, and was probably the reason why he had not even given Su a second glance. Strangely though, he did display a genuine distaste for Vodemort and openly voiced it at every opportunity. Neville had to take a slice of his mind away to gauge Draco's reactions at those moments. Maybe it was because Draco was still young, and Vodemort had still to show any signs of returning, but he seemed unfazed and uncaring about someone badmouthing his father's master. Neville was really glad for this and shaped an approach to reinforce in Draco the idea that Voldemort was – not 'evil', as the 'good guys' would love to say – just not a good boss to follow after in the future. A _much more practical point of view for Slytherines._

" I really can't believe you can look so much like that girl in the photo," Su tried to join into the conversation since no real Council-related issues were being discussed anyway.

" My granddaughter's name is Cecilia, girl." It was like watching someone take off a mask and on again. Su frowned and resumed scribbling on her parchment. She was smart enough to know where she was unwelcomed as Richmond was all smiles again towards Hannah. " I still can't believe you are a half-blood Hannah! But of course, your surname is still Abbott – I'm sure I went to school with one when I was young. What of your mother's side?"

" Although I have a muggle grandmother, my mum traces back to the Dodderidges –"

" Ah yes, Daisy Dodderidge founded the Leaky Cauldron and it has always been a family business… Yes, a few unfortunate mixes along the way, but by surnames alone you are of traditional wizarding heritage indeed. Should be a good enough match for young Draco here I should think?"

Neville would have screamed and lunged at the Old Pervert if he could just speak first. Snape had punished him for 'rashly causing harm to our generous host like some uncivilized hooligan' and had indefinitely casted the Silencing Charm on him. _How's the Council supposed to discuss any plans when I can't even scream at the Old Pervert for saying these things that belonged only at pureblood fascists parties. Su might have spent too little time in the wizard world to completely understand him, but Hannah is definitely just too timid to tell the Old Pervert off!_

Slamming both hands on the table that made Hannah shriek, Neville stormed back into the manor, closely followed by Draco and Su. Hannah no doubt would have followed if her robes had not been caught on a little prick.

" Guess meeting's over for today then?" Draco snorted after receiving a glare from Neville. " There is nothing good in just huffing here by yourself. That Richmond guy does own this place we're staying in after all."

" Well I don't like that old guy," Su harrumphed. " I still don't know much about this wizard heritage stuff like the other muggle-borns, but isn't this just racism? I know about that, being Chinese and all. If that old man walked into my local pub ranting like he did, he'll never make it out the pub alive."

Neville gave a pointed nod in Su's direction as agreement. Draco sighed and ran a hand through his flat hair, which was just somehow naturally that way and came as a package for being a pretty boy. " Well, this Richmond guy does sound worst than my father. At least my father doesn't talk about all this stuff out in the open…"

" Oh come on Draco! I know you don't really feel the same way as that old man. You're smug and go about saying you're a Malfoy and all, but you wouldn't blame your mother for losing a stupid pureblood surname like he does."

" Well yeah… That guy is sort of extreme…" Draco lowered his head as not to have his expression changes seen by the others, whether it was a blush from hearing what others thought of him or not.

Screeching to a halt in front of Snape's room, Neville rapped on the door with his white knuckles. After the sound echoed through the quiet manor, the shadowy figure of Snape emerged from the crack he allowed out of his dark room.

" Longbottom. What are you doing here? Fancy a chat?" It would always be a mystery how Snape could think up of these snide remarks with him being holed up in his dark room all the time.

_I want to get out of here – now!_ Neville thought loudly in his head and glared into Snape's eyes while doing so, knowing he could easily read such a strong and directed notion.

" I'll have you know Longbottom, Dumbledore had gone out of his way to arrange this trip for you and the Council this summer. It would be no skin off my nose if you were to leave now, quite a fortuity for me in fact, but I could not guarantee there will be any more of the Council upon your return to Hogwarts."

Neville glared, but that only seemed to increase Snape's amusement. Su frowned, but Draco looked unsurprised. He or his father probably did not want Draco here and had asked already. With an exasperated blow of the nose, Neville stormed away, having a further understanding as to why Harry hated Snape in the books, or Dumbledore's fall in popularity later in the series.

0

0

0

Tossing and turning in his bed, Neville had trouble falling asleep since coming back from his latest round of Exploding Snap with Draco. Still having to think of a way to fix the Old Pervert, Neville figured it was better if he took a little stroll. _My insomnia is probably because I'm not used to this new smell… It's doesn't smell bad or anything, and is probably just Jennifer's perfume when she cleaned here earlier._

Neville wondered what room the pretty maid lived in as he headed down the dark corridor. Absently looking over at the other side over the parlour, he saw Hannah's room door nice and shut. From the way Old Pervert had his eyes on her through dinner, Neville would not be surprised if he tried to barge into her room again tonight.

Then just as his thoughts got there, his eyes caught the movement of a shadow approaching Hannah's room and he swiftly dodged behind a pillar. Spying back out with one eye, all he saw was darkness again on the other side. Neville snapped his wrist and his wand flew out of his Armband, creeping silently closer to where he saw the shadow before. One warning letter for underage magic was fine if it meant rendering Old Pervert unconscious or immobile for the remainder of their stay.

Neville leapt out into Hannah's corridor and pointed his wand forward, but he was merely greeted by emptiness. Slowly advancing towards Hannah's door, wary of anything hidden behind the pillars along the way, it turned out it had just been a trick of his eyes after all. Sheathing his wand and furrowing his brows, examining Hannah's door, he wondered if there is a way to protect it without magic.

" Neville?" He was startled to the point of backing into the banister and almost tipping over onto the ground floor below. Hannah had somehow sensed his presence and opened the door without warning. " Sorry… I didn't mean to scare you."

She only had half her head out around the door, looking down at the ground. Agonisingly, when Neville would usually initiate conversations with the quiet girl, he was still mute because of the spell and her usual bashfulness prolonged their silence. He spent this time berating himself in forgetting that he could not do magic even if he wanted to without the incantations. _Better start on those non-verbal spells then, huh?_

Eventually Neville gave a wave and lifted his foot to walk away when Hannah stopped him. " Oh! Sorry, I forgot you can't say anything. Wait… Here take this."

Hannah had ran back inside her room and presented some sort of white potion to him, which he took a sniff of and found it to smell quite minty.

" It's a potion to undo the Silencing Charm." Just as Neville was drinking it though, she added, " I asked Mr Richmond for it and –"

" That Old Pervert?" Neville almost spit the potion back out and choked. If he had known it was from Old Pervert, he would not have drank it so heedlessly. He should think again the next time to trust any drinks Hannah handed him.

" You can talk again!" Hannah, in her happiness, had stepped in full view of Neville. She only had on a white chemise, decorated with all the lace and frills, but it looked a bit too large for her and hung like a long dress. The fabric was atypically too thin for Hannah's modesty and so she shrieked after she recovered from hearing his voice again.

Hiding behind the door and peering out with only a quarter of her face, she saw Neville's frown as he asked, " The Old Pervert made you wear that?"

" W-well… He said his granddaughter used to –"

" He's lying. Definitely." Neville eyes caught onto Hannah's shuddering and softened his tone. " You don't have to listen to everything he says. Forget about him. Tomorrow we'll go somewhere else with the brooms and avoid that pervert."

" But… I believe him." Hannah spoke so quietly Neville thought he heard wrong. But she continued with what he knew was tremendous effort, " I think you got Mr Richmond wrong. He really does see his granddaughter in me – I can tell from his eyes. He is very heavy on the pureblood issues… but that's why you mistake him…"

" Hannah, you're too gullible!" Neville sighed in frustration and threw his arms in the air. _Am I the only one to see Richmond as an old pervert? Draco couldn't care less, Su is just angry about his racism, and let's not even mention Snape right now._

Looking back again at Hannah, she had a strange expression on her face. It was as if she was struggling not to laugh, but she still could not stop the big smile along with her blush. " Thank you for worrying about me Neville… And I've still to say thank you for that night too – but you really shouldn't jump onto the chandlers again! It's dangerous."

_You think I did it for fun?_ Hannah was oblivious to him gritting his teeth and continued.

" We're really safe here in the manor and Mr Richmond gave me a magical device to look through my room door to the outside – that's how I saw you tonight. You don't have to stay awake just for me… but…"

" I'm not here because of you." That made Hannah snap her shy gaze back up to Neville, her expression suddenly a little stiff. " I just couldn't sleep."

" Oh… Okay…" Hannah grasped the handle on her door, turning it this way and that, seemingly with all her focus. _That must be the signal for me to leave._

" I'm heading to find the library in this place." Hannah looked as if she was going to say something but Neville had already started to walk away. " Goodnight. Don't trust whatever that Mr Richmond gives you too much – that peephole thing could be two-way as far as you know."

Neville had a bad taste in his mouth after that conversation and did not care if Hannah made a reply as he rounded the corner. He knew he was not like Harry, and had no addiction to saving people or protecting the weak. It just irked him to see Hannah being so defenceless and naïve, while he could not get his point across to her or solve the problem. It was like watching a poor man being tricked to lose the last of his savings by a rigged bet.

Shaking his head to try and rid the feeling of irritation in him, he found himself standing at the bottom of a flight of steps. It probably led to the unvisited third floor, and while he glanced towards the top, he thought he saw something move again in the shadows. Frowning, he made his way up and found himself in a landing that was similar to the second floor. This place had a familiar smell – the one that lingered in his room tonight.

_Maybe I can find Jennifer's room! Then we can have a long midnight chat… Hehe. _Neville sniffed like a dog in the direction of the smell with a dumb grin on his face, forgetting the possibility that Jennifer was most likely asleep anyway. When he reached a door with two pots of plants on either side, he gave the lightest of knocks on it. _Well, if no one answers, I might as well just go in, hehe. Who knows what might've happened to a young girl all alone in her room?_

To his dismay, the door opened to rows of shelves instead of a bedroom. Walking in quietly, he saw many dark-cover tomes, and was very clean compared to the Drakul's or Longbottom's studies. It must be frequently in use and he randomly wandered into one of the rows to browse the titles._ Dead and Undead… Secrets to Life, Death and Darkness… Necromancy Rituals of the Ancients… What the heck! This is all Dark Arts!_

Neville had subconsciously armed himself again with his wand, finding himself in the midst of nothing but Dark magic books. Forbidden tomes, bloodstained covers, all of which were connotations of evil and malice. _What would Hannah think now if I brought her up here to see Richmond's bedtime reading material?_ While coming out the end of the row, he saw a misty glow in the far end of the large study and gripped his wand tighter.

Sliding over the crimson carpet, dodging in and out of the bookshelves, Neville saw the top of Richmond's head over a tall armchair and held out his wand. He did not have the confidence to take him down with a single spell and had no choice but to make his way closer to the dangerous character. _What was he doing? Horrid experiments? Testing fatal poisons? Practicing torturing curses? Which spell should I use to put him out?_

Neville edged closer and closer, his palm was starting to tingle at the tight grasp over his wand. The only light in the room was the magical lamp by Richmond's side, which worked to Neville's advantage since Richmond would not see his shadow until it was too late. Keeping his body low and rounding to one side, he closed into a range where he could finally see the crime Richmond was committing.

_Well… he's just reading… One of those Dark Arts books no doubt!_

" Mr Longbottom I presume?" Neville jumped at the unexpected call and what he saw on Richmond's lap. Upon his alarm, Neville pointed his wand and was about to release a curse but had no chance against Richmond. He did not know where Richmond's wand came from, but Richmond disarmed him even before he uttered a single syllable. " Taking a nightly stroll?"

Although Neville was still surrounded by books containing lethal and deadly knowledge, he surprisingly felt less tense after being disarmed. That was because Richmond was not reading one of those books – but instead a photo album. He had caught a good glimpse of it and it was filled with black and white photographs of who must be his granddaughter.

Richmond had settled back down in his armchair and with a flick of his wand, another similar chair hovered out from a corner of the room opposite him. " Would you like some tea?"

Neville took the seat and shook his head, but Richmond materialised a cup and poured tea from the teapot beside him anyway. Richmond had already turned back to the photo album and probably had not seen Neville's gesture. Neville looked at the photos in it again and every one of them had the girl that looked like Hannah in them: whether it was in the contrastingly lively courtyard of the manor, or playing on the beach, or smiling blissfully next to who must be the younger Richmond. After about a minute or so of silence, Richmond finally looked up again and was surprised to see his tea untouched.

" Ah, I forgot you are still under the Silencing Charm. Well, no bother." Flipping a page over in his photo album he noticed the direction of Neville's gaze and chuckled. " Ah yes, my granddaughter Cecilia was very pretty – no wonder you can't take your eyes off her."

Neville would have protested but he thought it better to allow Richmond to think he was mute to save him from answering any questions. After all, a study filled with Dark Arts literature was not a place people wanted a kid to wander into and he needed every small advantage if things got messy.

" She's way out of your league boy – even more so than Jennifer. Cecilia would have been old enough to be your mother by now I guess…" Richmond closed the photo album and stood up. As he walked towards the tall windows, somehow Neville could only see the weak stagger of a frail old man and not the egocentric landlord during the day. Slipping open the thick curtains, a sparse ray of moonlight shone into the room and instead of his bald head, it was his wrinkles that were accented at this moment. " If it wasn't for those damned devious muggles then Cecilia would still be happily living here."

Neville furrowed his brows and stood up, but was stopped by Richmond's look as he turned around. In the old man's eyes were sorrow and sadness.

" Hannah reminds me of Cecilia because of her looks, but you Neville, has a personality a lot closer to Cecilia." Neville was taken aback a little and waited for what he had to say next. " She was always so self-righteous. And ever so stubborn. She never liked my pureblood ideals either… And that cost her her life…

" She was killed by the Dark Lord, and for what? Eloping with a muggle! The thought of that! If she had just listened to me and married the Yaxleys then she would still be alive and well!"

Neville should have exploded at the biased and pureblood orientated speech, but the gleam over Richmond's eyes did not escape him. He could guess most of Cecilia story by now: a forced pureblood marriage, she coming into contact with a muggle love interest, was met with vehement family protests, died while trying to run away with her love. A Romeo and Juliet tragedy. Of course, she would not have to die if it was not for Voldemort, which justified Richmond's hatred for the wizard despite his prominent pureblood ideals.

" Oh what am I saying?" Richmond forced a laugh and turned back to look out the window at the moon, hidden behind the night clouds. " Knowing you can't talk and have you listen to something you don't care about at all. Well at least now you know a fine example of what happens if don't stay away from the likes of that Su girl –"

" You didn't always hate Su, or muggle-borns, or even muggles. Am I right?" Neville's voice made Richmond snap his eyes back from the window, but he recovered quickly.

" Ah Hannah. I should've known she'll give you that potion at the first opportunity." As if Neville regaining his voice was as good as him holding his wand again, Richmond took a deep breath and stood tall as if he was standing in the face of an enemy. " I admit, I never used to give a damn about muggles or muggle-borns – and that was the greatest mistake of my life. If I had listened to my elders, I would never have let that smarmy muggle within a mile of Cecilia and he would not have been able seduced her with his false-hearted sweet-talks. Muggles are all stupid creatures, not knowing anything about our world and foolishly self-centred! What's with this look you're giving me boy!"

" I am pitying you." Neville's honest revelation stunned Richmond to a point where the old man had to put a hand on the windows behind him to support himself. Neville continued, " You are at a loss, right? You were brought up with those pureblood ideals, so even if you hated Voldemort for killing your granddaughter, you can't deny the purpose he was supposedly acting upon. Then with Voldemort's fall from power, you had no way to vent, no one else to blame. So you resorted to blaming the person that supposedly took your granddaughter away from you. Blaming the muggles. I am sure you can see a bit of yourself inside Draco too, right?"

" Just like Cecilia! You think you know everything! How old can you be? You don't know anything about the world outside of this island – I mean, Hogwarts or wherever you come from! I have spent decades at the Ministry – and could have even become the Minister of Magic if I'd wanted to! The young knows nothing!"

" That is what it means to be young." Neville halted Richmond again in his furious raving. Maybe Neville's words were really as powerful as magical spells to the long-isolated old man with a knot inside his heart. " Your granddaughter found the person she loved. It was just because of your two different views on the situation at the time: You thought her wellbeing was much more important than her happiness, while she wanted to take the risk to spend the rest of her life in happiness. Mr Richmond, don't blame it on the person she has feelings for – far from it and the other way round. Instead of a person, or the people, it was the_ situation_ spawned from these 'traditional' pureblood notions that killed her."

There was a moment of tense silence between the young and the old, both of them refusing to be stared down by the other. After a while, Richmond let out a bitter laugh. " I get it now! Dumbledore! He sent you here to try and nab me over to his side! All sunshine and flowers! Even if he is the most powerful wizard in the world, that man will never understand the true nature of people and the world!"

" I agree with you here." Once again surprising and stopping Richmond in his rant, Neville strolled over to a bookshelf. " You know Harry Potter – the Boy-Who-Lived? Dumbledore's treatment of him is… well, self-centred I think. But then, no one can fully understand the wishes of another – can't blame Dumbledore for being human. I've actually been wondering why Dumbledore sent us all the way out here this summer as well – but I know now. That old fox is still suspecting me."

" You mean… you're not one of Dumbledore's men?" Within a millisecond, Richmond had already hit Neville with a spell before he could react, and only shuddered as a chilling sensation ran up his spine. _If that had been a curse… I really need more practice… _" Ah, don't be too alarm. That spell was just to see if… Well… I'd thought half way through our conversation you were that Severus Snape with a Polyjuice Potion. But why did you say all these things to me otherwise?"

" No, no. I'm quite far from being 'Dumbledore's man'. I was just telling you my own opinions and understandings of the event you told me. That old fox seems to think I'll be the next up-and-coming dark lord." Neville randomly picked up a book from the shelf. " He probably wanted to tempt me with your Dark Arts collection and see if I will keep my toes in-line. Frankly though, I'm not really interested in Necromancy or raising the dead – as you obviously seem to be dabbling in with these."

Richmond contemplated his words as Neville flipped through some pages of the yellow and stained book on ancient rituals and blood sacrifices. Feeling as if he had still to gather enough courage even after a few minutes, Richmond confessed shakily, " I am… looking for a way to bring Cecilia back."

" Oh I know. Who else do you want back, you mother?" Just as Richmond was about to explode at the mocking reaction, Neville cut back in first. " But seriously, you know there is no way to raise the dead. Not even with the Dark Arts. No matter how many years or decades you spend alone in this manor, you won't find a way at all. Why can't you do something more useful with the rest of your life? Do what old perverts do, peep at girls walking down the stairs or something."

Richmond was every bit ready to curse Neville's head off but his temper flared so much he could not stop shaking as Neville reclaimed his own wand that was left on the tea table.

Neville turned to leave, but left a last note. " There are other people like you out there, who have lost their loved ones. Staying a hermit isn't good for you, psychologically. I'm not telling you to go hug a muggle, or change any of your views – but see the world again. Maybe find yourself a second wife even. Experience what your granddaughter had. From what I gathered, I think she was a really brave person."

Richmond was left gaping at the young boy who headed back to his room, way past his usual bedtime.

0

0

0

" Good work guys, we're done." Neville stretched on the garden chair in the still desolated courtyard. However, the once-defunct fountain had been fixed one night, and was working perfectly again, streaming clear water in all its splendour. It even attracted birds and butterflies, but that only irked Neville since he could not drink the water from it with them there.

" Ah – um – right. I - I'll keep the parchments then – if, if that's okay –" Hannah hurriedly gathered the notes and plans they had spewed across the table.

" Okay. Hey Draco, we're leaving tomorrow morning already, how about taking another ride on the brooms?" Neville stood up to go, knowing Draco would want nothing better than to win back the race he lost to Neville yesterday.

" The score's about tied right now between us. Don't think I'll let you win." Draco leapt from his own chair and ran for the front door of the manor. Neville was just about to go after him when he saw Su lagging behind. She had also been taking part in their daily races.

" Come on Su, get a move on."

" Hannah, do you want to come along?" Su ignored Neville and asked the girl that was still collecting the parchments.

Before Hannah could reply though, Richmond came out into the courtyard and was pleasantly smiling at the three of them. " I see you kids are finished with your little meeting. Hannah, I want you to see this pretty necklace I have. I'm sure it would match you perfectly."

Richmond had stopped sitting into the Council's meetings so much ever since the night with Neville at the study – either that or he was scared they were going to have their meetings away from the manor again, as Neville had led them the day after. When Richmond was sitting in though, he had restrained the pureblood talks a lot more, and that had rubbed Neville the right way and made him turn a blind eye to his presence.

Now knowing the old man really did not have any bad intentions, Neville was a lot more lax with his behaviour with Hannah. " Go have a look Hannah, I'm sure it's worth galleons… Ask him to give it to you – think of the chocolate frogs you can get."

" Why you little shrimp! How dare you to even think of selling Cecilia's necklace!" Richmond waved his fist in the air and Neville made a run back into the manor. Su was right behind him after saying goodbye to Hannah, who had her head lowered to the table, _still_ gathering the parchments.

" Neville, I want to talk to you about something." Su pulled him to a halt before they got to the parlour, where Draco was probably waiting impatiently.

" Sure," Neville studied Su's expression. She was scratching her head, wondering how to phrase her words.

" Did... you know… Hannah made you mad in some way?" Su spat out the seemingly difficult question in a rush.

" Eh? Not that I know of?" It was his turn this time to scratch his head.

" So. You're not, like, angry at her?"

" No, what makes you think that?"

" Well, weren't you all protective of her before from the old man? She thinks you just don't care about her anymore because you let her go around with him all the time without batting an eyelash."

" What? Didn't you tell Hannah the night with you and the Richmond guy?" Draco, impatient from waiting for them, had come back into the manor and heard what Su just said.

" No, I mean, it's only natural Hannah knows about his granddaughter by now." Neville waved it off, " I know Richmond isn't an old pervert now. It's just typical Hannah you know, worrying over nothing. I'll talk to her later."

" Who would've thought such a pureblood-grounded wizard would hate You-Know-Who so much. After hearing his granddaughter though, I guess it's only natural…" Draco turned his gaze downwards, as if pondering a problem from class.

Neville did not like spreading rumours or gossips, but he made sure Draco was the first to hear about Richmond's story. Such grey areas were a prefect chisel to crack the wall of brainwashing by his father. It might be difficult to get rid of the pureblood ideals, but he wanted Draco to know Voldemort did not represent everyone with this notion at least. Even if Draco were to choose not to stand against Voldemort in the future, Neville wanted him to know there were other people and options out there instead of thinking everything was simply black and white.

0

0

0

A/N: One of the things that irked me all the time is whether to use a capital M for Muggles. I never remember if I did or not, so if it's not consistent, you know… I don't want to go back and find every 'muggle' used before…


	25. Book 2 Chapter 3

Synopsis: Neville, who was mentally an HP fan from the real world, had managed to survive his first year of Hogwarts. Even if Neville's role changed, Vodemort was still kept from the Philosopher's stone, and it all went according to the plot… bar a few little things. Hermione had already fallen for Ron, Norbert stayed at Hogwarts, and Draco was forced to become a Student Council vice-president after himself.

Neville finds out the history behind Richmond and the fuel behind his pureblood

fascism. There are many more layers to the wizarding world than the books after all.

Chapter 24 – Summer's coming to an end already?

" I'm telling you, throwing up sand into your opponent's eyes is definitely a foul!" Su continued to complain on her broom.

" And I'm telling you again, no it's not! We didn't even have rules for this race!" Draco huffed.

" And I'm telling both of you I won." Neville earned himself two glares but was smiling self-satisfactorily nonetheless.

It was already evening when the three of them got back to the manor after their race, but Neville noticed something was wrong the moment the manor materialised after they entered its sphere of enchantments. The windows were all dark, as if Jennifer and the house elves had all forgotten to light the candles.

" Draw your wands." Neville told the other two and did not get off his broom as he floated towards the front door. Draco and Su both seemed to have noticed something was wrong as well because they listened to his advice. Neville instructed the two of them to stand on either sides of the door in case something was to attack them the moment Neville opened it.

With a bang, Neville kicked the door open and charged in on his broom, wand brandishing. Before he could get used to the darkness of the parlour, intense bright light went off and Neville had to shield his eyes.

" _Expelliarmus_!" Neville was hit from the second floor and his wand was sent flying into the air. He instinctively did a backward roll but two loud popping sounds emitted right behind him instead of allies.

" Happy birthday Neville!"

When he got his surroundings straight again, he was sprawled on the ground with confetti all over his messy hair. The popping sounds were from Draco and Su, who had some sort of magical confetti shooter in their hands. Inside the parlour was Richmond, Jennifer and the house elves, holding a massive birthday cake that seemed to be consisted of lit candles. The person who disarmed him was of course Snape, far away from the crowd, just outside his room on the second floor, behind the banister and musing over his wand as if it really was that interesting.

" Did you see the look on his face! He looked as if a troll would run him over the moment he walked into the door!" Richmond was howling with laughter, doubling over his stomach.

" Surprise!" Draco slapped Neville on the back as Su helped him up. Neville grunted and shook his head at the company, though unable to keep from smiling nonetheless.

It had been about four years already since he came into this world and frankly, he had still to remember Neville Longbottom's birthday as his own. He was still grateful for his friends and the Richmond's surprise party and was soon laughing along with them. Neville gave a smile up at Snape, who just harrumphed and threw his wand back down at Neville, walking back into his room after the surprise greeting. It was already a feat that he bothered enough to do that, probably because he was after all his private Occlumency teacher.

" Where's Hannah?" Neville asked, searching around for the girl who he remembered was still in a self-induced misunderstanding with him.

" She was here just a moment ago… Hannah! Come out here! There's no need to be shy!" Richmond beckoned and from the darkened corner to his left, where something shifted behind a pillar.

" Hey Hannah, what's wrong?" Su, brash as always, directly went over and pulled on the protesting girl's arm. Unfortunately, Hannah was no match to the athletic Su and the next moment, what Draco saw made his jaws drop.

Neville was pleasantly surprised as well at the charming girl that stumbled out from the hiding place. She was wearing pink and white dress robes, more like an evening dress really, that fanned about her feet as if the satin material was a cascading waterfall. She also had on a jasper necklace that no doubt was what Richmond had mentioned earlier, which gave her a regal image opposed to the usually timid hamster. But the main attraction for Neville was the absence of Hannah's trademark pigtails, which made her look much more mature and probably the reason for Draco's daze.

Even if she suited a more mature and graceful look, her personality was far from being so. Crumpling a bit of her dress in her hand, her face parallel to the carpet and probably as red as the sunset outside, she was still futilely trying to get back into the shadows. Amidst the girls' shuffle, Hannah being half-immobilised by the length of her dress and without watching where she was being pulled towards, Hannah let out a cry as she tripped and fell.

She found the worst place to fall over though as she would be landing with her face right into the birthday cake the house elves were holding. Just as Hannah closed her eyes, waiting for the worst embarrassment of her life, she felt a pair of arms around her shoulders. Hannah took a deep breath as she opened her eyes to find the cake mere inches from her nose. She was about to thank Su when she saw her friend right beside her, but empty-handed.

" Be careful there. Are you wearing high heels as well under that?" It was Neville who had rushed forward and caught her just in time. Su had been too busy trying to drag the girl over and Draco was still too dazed to react. Spotting Hannah's puzzled expression, he explained, " You know when it comes to food, I'm a lot more cautious than the rest."

Hannah gave a yelp and almost fell over backwards in her hurry to separate herself from him. She once again retreated to bowing her head with a deep blush.

" Oh – I heard from Su. I'm not angry at you for anything by the way." Neville casually explained when the young girl backed off as if he was a poisonous plant.

" I – I know… Or else you won't have caught me when I fell… Thanks." Hannah stammered, still finding her neck a little too stiff to properly orientate her face.

_Well, that was easy. _Neville shrugged, thinking whether Hannah would ever grow up as beautiful as, or even more than, Cecilia Richmond. She would probably never shake off this personality of hers though, but that, he thought, was quite endearing.

Severus Snape was just about to tuck into his homemade salad and tomato soup when the door to his house's front door was knocked in a merry rhythm. Snape grumbled, ripping off his tissue napkin and answered the unwelcomed visitor.

" Albus, I work for you but I am not your house elf. Can't I have my dinner in peace the night I come back from that godforsaken babysitting island trip?" Snape growled the instant he torn his door open.

The old man with long silver hairs chuckled, making his way in without an invite. " I'm afraid I must disagree Severus, I have been to Mull myself. It is a great scenic island indeed. I remember clearly this trip was supposed to be half a holiday."

" Well you have some strange tastes for a holiday Albus. I had to brew Sleep-Avoidant Potions, then lure Longbottom around the manor at night, and listen to Richmond's weepy story about his granddaughter. I had the time of my life and would've sent a postcard – wished you were there."

" See? You are even in such a good mood you're making jokes. Though I must say, sarcasm is the lowest form of comedy – but do keep trying." Dumbledore sat himself down in the living room and produced two glasses and a bottle of mead magically. " Well? How did Mr Longbottom react to the wealth of literal knowledge inside the Richmond Manor? I believe it is one of the most extensive Dark Magic libraries he will find amongst the British Isles."

Snap muttered curses under his breath, his mind on the soup that was abandoned to cool on his dinner table. Snatching the floating glass of Dumbledore's mead and downing it, he stayed standing in hopes of making this short. " As expected, Longbottom had no concept of life and death."

" Yes, he is too young to fully comprehend the loss of loved ones I guess…" Dumbledore was silent in his own memories for a few moments before speaking again. " What about the most important thing? How did he react after hearing Richmond's story?"

" The boy urged Richmond to re-marry." Snape indulgently scoffed. Dumbledore looked as if he was struck by a funny stick and went on to laugh in merriment. " Contrary to what you think, Longbottom is nowhere near as complicated as Richmond – even if he seems to share some contempt for you just as Richmond does. The boy is simply just a smart-assed twelve year-old who happens to dislikes the Dark Lord."

" But Neville saw right through Richmond's grudge? And he neither blamed it on muggles, or backed the purebloods?" Dumbledore pursued.

Snape was getting tired of Dumbledore's suspicions on Longbottom – mostly due to the fact that Snape was caught between them every time. Whether it was the Occlumency lessons or this trip, Snape never got anything worthwhile out of the deal. After having spent so much more time, relative to Dumbledore, with Neville, Snape really only saw him as another normal child – maybe with a little too much cheek than what was good for him. His deductions were also backed by the number of Legilimency successes into Neville's memories, and though there were unusual points, it was nothing more evil than a Weasley twins prank. The only thing that kept Snape from taking Neville as nothing but thin-air was because of that one lingering image of the Lily Potter look-alike that he had never seen again despite the times he raked through Neville's mind.

" Dumbledore, Longbottom is not trying to become the next Dark Lord. A pervert possibly with the way he eyed up the house nurse, but his mind is filled with nothing but food, games and petty Charms research."

" Then how would you explain his attitude Severus? You must know there is 'something' he keeps well-hidden inside him. And as you said, he seems to be working toward something… researching…" Dumbledore gradually slipped into his own thoughts, too concentrated in his contemplation to hear Snape tapping his foot.

" Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some dinner to finish –"

" Wait Severus. Have you handed my letter to Neville regarding next year's arrangements with the Student Council?" Dumbledore's eyes sparkled at this and if Snape had a more sympathetic personality, he would have felt sorry for Neville.

" Yes Dumbledore, and he did not seem to realise the significance because he had yet to confront me about its contents."

" Ah, but the keyword there is 'yet' Severus. I am sure by the time he returns to Hogwarts, he will understand the full implications… and then a possible counter from his part could be…" Dumbledore once again picked up the old-man habit of muttering to himself and Snape just sighed, looking once again back through to the dining room.

His bowl of soup would probably need reheating.

0

0

0

" Hey Neville, come on! Just another game before we go." It was quite hard to believe Old Al was the older one in Neville's bedroom as he packed the last of his Hogwarts stuff. Though it was still two weeks till the start of term, he was actually packing his trunk because he was heading for the Weasley's. After their persistent invite, Neville finally decided it was better to live a bit more like a normal wizarding child and say goodbye to the Longbottom study. He had almost exhausted its resources anyway, and had still to find much on Arcane magic and the Elementals, much to his dismay.

" Just one more game! We've still got time!" Old Al tugged on Neville's Dracula's Cloak, which he had started wearing again in the absence of Snape. " I've especially made this special chess set to play with you!"

After telling Old Al about how they celebrated Ron's birthday, he had somehow created a board-game version of it and had gotten quite addicted. Granted, he needed to use a wand to move all the pieces at once, but he felt it was more exciting than original chess. Old Al had given him a lecture about how chess and many other board games were based from strategies from the battlefield and this new way of chess simulated battles a lot better and more interesting.

" Gran is just outside, waiting already. I don't want her to find out I've been using magic again during the summer." Neville randomly made a quick excuse. Old Al would never tell on him regarding magic usage – the old man was just glad Neville could do magic at all, still recalling his worries from the earlier years.

" Oh come on! Who'll I play with when you're gone?"

" Anyone."

" Remember how I smuggled your bewitched rock out of Hogwarts? God knows why you wanted to do something silly like that, but just return the favour here okay?"

Neville had promptly blasted the rock that was supposed to be Norbert into pieces when Algie showed it to him. His great uncle had actually left that important piece of evidence right out in his back garden, thinking Neville really had some significant use for it.

Looking back at the childish Algie, Neville sighed. " I promise we can play when I come back for Christmas. Now don't you have to pick up your old friend from abroad at the Portkey Office? It's getting late now so you should go, and I'll get to Diagon Alley to meet Harry and the Weasleys."

" Oh alright…" Old Al waved his wand and the modified chess set disappeared. " Maybe I can play with my old friend – and show off what my great nephew invented."

" You just take care of yourself when I'm gone Old Al." Neville walked into the lounge, where Gran was ready and waiting.

" I'm old enough to take care of myself Neville!" Old Al shouted after him. Neville gave Gran a look, and she just shook her head good-naturedly at the ridiculous scene. " It's _you_ who should stay out of trouble! I don't want to hear you fighting trolls again or falling into week-long comas!"

" I will." Neville cleared his throat inconspicuously and shoved Algie towards the fireplace. Old Al had been bringing this topic up far too often this summer for Neville's comfort. " Now go! You don't want to be late for a Portkey arrival."

Old Al, who especially came over to see Neville for the last time this summer, took one last look back. " Have a good year Neville." With a flare of the green flames, Old Al vanished from Neville's sight.

" We should be heading too," Gran patted Neville on the head, since he was still unfortunately shorter than her, especially in her stuffed vulture hat.

Neville hurriedly flung some Floo powder into the fire and stepped in, ash and fumes rapidly clouding his eyes. The familiar but still unpleasant feeling of being spun inside a tornado caused him to feel dizzy. With the vanishing of the flame's roar, Neville's feet hit ground again and stumbled a few steps as he found himself inside the Leaky Cauldron. It was like any normal British pub Neville had been in during his past life, despite it being a bit bigger and its customers a little stranger looking. It was the 'back to school' season and many wizarding families were here buying Hogwarts things just as he was.

" Neville!" A familiar voice came from between the crowds and he spotted the trademark pigtails not long after.

" Hannah, hey, how've you been?"

She dodged the various customers and arrived in front of Neville breathlessly. " I've been doing fine, thanks. Here to get your Hogwarts stuffs?"

" Yeah, and to meet up with the Gryffindor Trio. It really is crowded here huh? You'd think it was Christmas Eve shopping." Neville was still to get used to the lack of order wizards seemed to display in their daily lives.

" Yeah, it's just that there is a Lockhart signing today. You know, the wizard that's responsible for half of our books this year… My mum's one of his fans…" Hannah was seemingly as ashamed of this fact as the Weasleys were of Molly's similar fascination.

" Oh? Why hello there young lady. Are you a friend of Neville's?" Gran's appearance from the fire made Hannah lift her head again with a blush.

" He-hello! My name is Hannah Abbott! I'm the secretary of the Student Council! Nice to meet you!" Hannah even gave a small bow as Gran smiled warmly back at her.

" It is a pleasure to meet you dear." Neville ignored the tone of Gran's voice.

" This is my grandmother. Anyway, have you got your school stuffs yet? You want to join us today?" Neville asked but Hannah shook her head.

" No, I've already got my books weeks ago. Well, have fun. I'll see you later bye." Hannah scurried away into the crowd again and when Neville turned round to look at his Gran, he had a strange sense of déjà vu seeing her expression.

" Gran. No." Neville shook his head and headed into Diagon Alley, reminded of Gran's meeting with Hermione last Christmas.

Speaking of which, Hermione should be here today as well. His memories slowly slipping back to the night of them in the Dragon Room, Neville sighed to himself. _Hermione is way too young for me, I should've actually sent more letters to Penelope instead. Actually, Fleur is younger than Penelope right? And she ended up marrying Bill, who should actually be about my mental age. Heh, well just wait until fourth year…_

" You've just walked past Flourish and Blott's Neville." Gran reminded and he made a quick apology. " Who were you thinking of? The sweet Hannah or the polite Miss Granger?"

" Neither Gran." Neville pushed with a bit more force than necessary past the crowd gathered at the front of the bookstore, completely leaving Gran behind in his irritation.

_Doesn't she know this is not the time to tease me? I've forgotten enough of the events last year already – but not today! I have to find Lucius Malfoy before he gives Ginny Riddle's Diary. I still can't think of a way to destroy it yet – and handing it over to Dumbledore is not an option. But at least it'll save a few people from being petrified, or worst – die – because of my dabbling in this world._

Neville could see in the distance puffs of purple smoke and flashes of mini-lightning and figured it was a wizarding camera. The commotion seemed to be at the end of the queue and he elbowed a few people to get a closer look. At the front, he saw a middle-aged man with carefully styled hair, a cheesy grin and forget-me-not blue robes. Beside him, looking as if he wanted the earth to swallow him up, was a scrawny boy with a mop of black hair and vivid green eyes. _Must be Lockhart… And that Harry, how come he's grown so much taller in the past months? It seems the Weasleys had been taking good care of him then, unlike my first sight of him last year._

Watching the humorous scene unfold before him that he had read before from the books, seemingly so long ago, Neville felt a bit less restless. Everything went just as he remembered it, as accurate as his memories told him anyway, and Neville set off towards the place Harry escaped off to from the limelight, ready to catch up with his young friend after the summer's absence. _Hermione, and Ron, is probably with him somewhere…_

By the time Neville, cursing again at how short he was, made it through Lockhart's housewife fans, he already heard Draco's taunting voice. " I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for that lot."

" Draco." The company all turned their heads round to see Neville shoving a clump of his messed up hair away from his eyes. " Please, may I ask you to stop?"

Neville saw a flash of apology in Draco's eyes, or it might just be a trick of the lights, but he had already turned his head away with a snort before Neville could check. The Trio were delighted to see the friend they had not seen for months, and both Ron and Hermione dumped their stack of school books into a cauldron and ran up to greet him. Left tagging behind was a frowning Ginny, looking a lot less welcoming than the other three at the sight of him.

" Where've you been? We were here ages ago!" Harry was all smiles, completely forgetting about Draco at the side.

" Get this, Harry went to Knockturn Alley!" Ron had grown even taller than Harry did and Neville seriously considered if he should buy some platform shoes.

" How come it takes you so long to write to me every time?" Hermione Granger, the typical nerd in every high school, looked as if her hair was even more of a bird's nest than Neville remembered. Her teeth were still to be fixed, and probably due to the summer sun, she even had an overdose of freckles on her cheeks.

_See? I can't possibly fall for this type of girl. Leave her for Ron. I really am more of a Veela type of guy… _

Neville, despite his self-hypnosis, still did not managed to tell Hermione honestly the answer to her question: he had deliberately taken up Trevor's time to deliver letters to Penelope Clearwater. Neville forced himself to answer without a tinge of regret, " Ah right, Trevor is slow. You can tell from his weight…"

" Hey! Neville! Good to see you again!"

" How you been!" The Weasley twins jumped out from nowhere and grappled him. " Remember to allow seniors in on the student-teacher match this year Mr President!"

" Fred, George, let go of Neville." Mr Weasley called from behind Ginny and smiled kindly at Neville. " Have you sent your stuffs over to the Burrow?"

" Yes Mr Weasley, it's nice to see you again. Thanks for having me stay over." Neville was about to ask how he was, but a cold voice interrupted their reunion.

" Well, well, well – Aurthur Weasley." Lucius Malfoy put a hand on Draco's shoulder, but Draco actually did not look very comfortable to be seen with his dad at the moment, avoiding Neville's eyes.

_It's a typical look as if to say 'things are out of his control now, so don't blame me for it'. Lucius Malfoy… he's a Death Eater and there is no changing it unless he's on the verge of death itself._

" Lucius." Sparks could be seen as the two adults stared at each other.

" Busy time at the Ministry I hear. All those raids… I hope they're paying you overtime?"

_This is it!_ Neville's eyes flared as Lucius reached into the cauldron he noticed earlier, now confirmed to be Ginny's, and pulled out one of Lockhart's books. _This is the moment he sneaked in Riddle's Diary to Ginny! No time for wondering why Hermione never hugged you as a greeting – you've got to get the diary!_

" Just as well we tax payers are giving you money to do these fruitless raids. How could your family afford these books otherwise?" Lucius's eyes strayed over to a couple standing behind Mr Weasley, the woman with a familiar head of bushy brown hair. " Muggles? You brought them into a wizard's book shop? Heh, I thought your family could sink no lower –"

_Now!_ Neville was instantly behind Mr Weasley as he slammed Lucius into a bookshelf. Using the Hakkyouken Su taught him, Neville hypothetically formed a protective dome over his head and deflected all the books that plummeted from the shelves. He interjected between the two adults, and with a smooth motion pulled Mr Weasley's momentum forward and diverted Lucius's attack sideways. Keeping his centre of gravity down, he stretched his arms outwards to his sides and pushed the two apart the best he could with his palm aiming at their abdomen. _Lucius isn't really looking for a fight anyway – just a diversion._

" Break it up you two! Look! Even wee Neville knows to stop ya!" Hagrid loomed into view and pulled Mr Weasley away. Upon Hagrid's words, Lucius gave Neville a once over as he recovered his breath.

" So you are Neville Longbottom? Yes, Draco's told me a lot about you." Lucius dusted his coat and sneered at the Weasleys. " You must be careful of who you hang around with Master Longbottom. Though yours and my family are truly pure, being too close to some others seemingly so in appearance could cost you."

Mr Weasley looked as if he would jump at Lucius again if Hagrid's giant hands were not holding him back and Mrs Weasley's screams blasting in his ear. Neville's main attention was on the book in Lucius's hand though, and said, " Mr Malfoy, this book…"

" Ah yes, of course. The Weasleys will have to sell their blood to cover the cost for another one of these." Lucius, much to Neville horror, just threw the book back into Ginny's cauldron. " Then again, I can't think of anyone who'd pay money for them."

" Father," Draco gave Lucius a tug on this arm upon another glance at the enraged Mr Weasley. " I saw something in Quality Quidditch Supplies before, can you buy it for me?"

" Of course Draco, not a problem for us at all." Lucius mistook his son's intentions and thought Draco was just trying to give the Weasleys another kick and turned to leave. " Very well, I will see you later Master Longbottom. Be sure to keep to the right kinds of people now."

Before Neville could make a dash for Ginny's cauldron, Hagrid shuffled the company out of the cramped bookstore, " Let's get outta here."

When they were able to breathe again on Diagon Alley, Gran picked that exact moment to emerge and clamped her hands onto Neville's arm. " Where have you been Neville? I've got most of your stuffs already – oh hello Arthur. What happened to your glasses? Well anyway, Neville's still to get a few things, we'll meet you at the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron when we're done."

" W-wait Gran –" Neville was cut off in his protest and he felt a shiver run up his spine when a shadow of the old Gran crept onto her face.

" We're in a hurry Neville! Don't make the Weasleys wait for you! Where are the manners I've taught you?"

With almost teary eyes, Neville was dragged away from where he knew Riddle's Diary was. Once again, he was unable to fight the power of the original plotline. _I curse you J.K! I curse you! Well… at least the Diary doesn't have legs and I know who took it. I'll just ask Ginny to give it to me at the Burrow…_

0

0

0

A/N: I don't like copying passages, or even sentences from the books. But it's necessary sometimes – but I do change and cut bits here and there. I do so on purpose and not just because it's a typo or I couldn't be bothered to check.

Now about the second book, I feel it's official starting this chapter really. Frankly, I've got to say it will be more of a confusing/mystery novel type feel than the first one. There'll still be humour, Harry Potter, and a lot of other things – and it'll all build up to a bang (i.e. Chamber of Secrets fight). Thanks for reading and the reviews last chapters.

By the way, I'm sitting on 99 reviews. Next is the 100 barrier!


	26. Book 2 Chapter 4

Synopsis: Neville, who was mentally an HP fan from the real world, had managed to survive his first year of Hogwarts. Even if Neville's role changed, Vodemort was still kept from the Philosopher's stone, and it all went according to the plot… bar a few little things. Hermione had already fallen for Ron, Norbert stayed at Hogwarts, and Draco was forced to become a Student Council vice-president after himself.

The Council's summer camp came to a successful end and as did Dumbledore's test on Neville. At Flourish and Blott's, Neville was unable to stop the passing of the Diary – but he's now at the Burrow for the remainder of summer and then… Second year!

Chapter 25 – Another Welcoming Feast.

" For the last time Neville! I didn't have any diaries, little black books or anything but my textbooks in my cauldron!" Ginny had her arms spread in front of the door to her room, barring any entry.

" But it can't be! I swear I saw Lucius Malfoy slip something between your books!" Neville lied, but it sounded much more plausible than explaining how he was mentally someone from another world.

" I've even brought out the cauldron for you to search for yourself! There is nothing strange in there!" Ginny sighed exasperatedly.

" Look Ginny… I know every eleven year-old girl likes a neat little magical gadget, but some things are _bad_. Now please –"

" I don't have it! I don't have it! I don't have it!" Ginny stomped the floor for emphasis.

" Quit it you two! How many days has it been already?" Percy's voice screeched from upstairs. " And Neville, what've you been saying in your letters to Penelope?"

" Not much in particular." Neville shouted back innocently. _The latest one just happened to involve how someone was baby-talking to his new prefects badge._

" Seriously! Nothing good ever happens when I'm with you! With the first sight I set on you again after half a year, my dad gets into a brawl with a Malfoy. And then you stay here for the summer and I have to ransack my own room trying to find a something you don't even know just because you think I'm a thief."

" Ginny, Neville doesn't think you're a thief." Harry and Ron walked up from downstairs at that moment. Hermione never stayed at the Burrow during the first summer, a little to Neville's disappointment. _Just a little._

" Oh! I know – I'll just… search for it again." Ginny swiftly slammed the door to her bedroom shut, her face as red as a tomato. _Seriously, she has by far the most severe split personality disorder I have ever seen…_

" Are you sure you saw Draco's dad put something in my sister's textbook?" Ron asked. _This guy really is a softie for his little sister after all… Despite how it looks, Ginny really is the little princess around Burrow Castle._

" Yeah. You know about the new Muggle Protection Act your father is trying to introduce? I'm sure Lucius is trying to ruin it by planting something with Ginny." _Of course I'm sure! I read it in Harry's autobiography!_

" But Ginny said she doesn't have it right? Maybe it fell out of the cauldron on our way back?" _Harry! You can't be so soft-hearted on your future wife! She's going to scold at you for every little thing if you budge just a little at this early stage already! _

" There's nothing you can do Neville. You just have to wait until my sister coughs it up. She's like that." Ron shrugged.

" Don't talk about your sister like that Ron," Harry said. _I bet she won't even let you have your stag night with the rate you're going! _

" No, maybe Ron's right. There's nothing I can do right now anyway… I'll just wait until… later," Neville resigned. _Like when she wakes up with chicken feathers and blood all over her bed sheets! That'll teach the little brat!_

" We're just going up to get some Gobstones. You want to play?" Ron suggested and just as Neville was about to follow the two of them upstairs, Ginny had agilely opened her room door again and pulled back on Neville's collar, almost choking him.

" Don't speak ill of me in front of Harry," Ginny warned.

" Oh? And what're you going to do about it if I do?" Neville found the young girl's supposedly threatening expression laughable.

Ginny only blurted out the momentous revelation about Neville's feelings for Hermione last Christmas when she was under the heavy influence of alcohol, and had now forgotten the fact that she had this bargaining chip. The only thing left the young girl could do was tremble in frustration and scream, " I'll steal your Dracula's Cloak and never give it back to you! So there!"

Giving the Cloak an extravagant swish at the tail and warping it around him, Neville gave a small laugh. " This thing is self-cleaning, self-repairing, and temperature-adjusting. I don't plan on taking it off any time soon so good luck with that."

For the rest of the time Neville spent at the Burrow, Ginny looked at Neville with no other expression but red-faced glares – but that was only limited to occasions where Harry was not around. Though Ginny was in his 'top three' most eligible girls from the books, Neville now thought it was a good idea to forget the idea of hooking up with a fiery girl like her. Fun as it was, he could never just let her have her way as Harry probably would. Mostly importantly, that frown she always worn while he entered her vision would be a sure cause for premature wrinkles – and that's never attractive on any woman, contrary to what any Professor McGonagall fan said.

The other Weasleys there were all very nice to Neville though, excluding Percy who was hardly seen outside his room anyway. Neville had personally struck up a very good relation with Mr Weasley, who was unluckily at work most of the time. When the balding father was home though, he and Neville had an absolute blast talking about science. After all, Neville had applied for related university faculties in his past life, and he had still to find a single person in the wizarding circle as ready to talk about these things – not even Hermione, since she would probably have picked boring Law or Medicine. Mr Weasley was almost driven to tears when Neville explained to him the basic mechanics of aerofoils and gave him a gist of how aeroplanes could fly.

Neville also spent quite some time inside the twins' room too, and was completely amazed at the experiments they did. He was half scared they were really going to blow up their house one day, but half expectant of the joke shop they would surely succeed in no matter how much influence Neville's presence changed this world. If only they could use magic now without the risky of Mrs Weasley chopping off their hands, as the three of them discussed together shaking their head, their experimental progress would go a lot quicker. Neville did convince them to sell him some shares if they really started a joke shop (they were still too young to be certain of their future careers at this moment) while he laughed evilly behind their backs at the amount he would make off his shares each year for just investing capital.

Mrs Weasley was someone Neville never stepped out of line in front of – no matter how much Ginny provoked him to do so. A woman that could win a duel with Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort's second, meant she was not someone to cross. She was magically stronger than the final book's Hermione, Ginny and Luna combined – and then some! Neville was caught completely by surprise at the housewife's strength while reading the last book. This was another reason for not getting involved with Ginny – nullified for Harry of course – but having such a powerful mother-in-law would definitely restrain him into a compromising corner during family occasions. Harry might have loved to move into the Burrow with the Weasleys, but Neville just was not that type of person.

Neville, to his bafflement, was arranged to share Ron's bedroom with Harry as well. Though he was the smallest one there, and it was a manageable fit, Neville would not have minded using Bill's empty room at all. Then again, repetitive as it was listening to Ron's Quidditch facts, it had been decades ago since he and friends talked until they fell asleep – like girls' slumber parties but without the pillow fights. By day, he and Harry developed a much better understanding with each other too since they were both non-Weasleys and were envious of Ron's happy family. Harry and Neville were still made very welcomed though and were never left out of the fun, and pranks by the twins, with the family.

Amongst laughter, banter, and a box of Filibuster fireworks, the last night of summer ended. Right the next morning, Neville continued his sweet slumber in the Weasley's bewitched Ford Anglia while the others scurried around the Burrow, once again proving the point that wizards were really disorganised. At least that was until Mrs Weasley found him out and he was sent to assist the forgetful twins. After two trips back for the twins' forgotten luggage, they finally got on their way to King's Cross Station.

They were running late, and Neville was shepherded to be the first to go through the barrier with Percy. Just as they planted their feet down on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express howled and blew its steam. The twins, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley all came through the gateway and hurried the kids onto the train, practically throwing their trunks over their bodies.

" Hey, wait up! Where's Harry and Ron!" Fred finally pointed out and Neville was reminded of the second book's front cover. _British version._

" What's keeping those two?" Mrs Weasley was not in a good mood after the terrible journey into central London, and frowned at the gateway as if that would make Harry and Ron appear. Neville knew better than to cause a commotion in front of the woman and quickly reassured with a few gentle words.

" Don't worry, there are other ways to get to Hogwarts right?" Neville heaved Ginny's trunk, the last, up onto the train. They were at the first carriage, which obviously had no empty compartments, and was in a bit of a tight squeeze in the hallway as the Weasleys all said goodbye. Mrs Weasley was apparently consoled by Neville's suggestion for now.

" Neville come here!" He was enveloped in a bear hug by Mrs Weasley that, even with his additional Jujitsu lessons before the Council's summer camp and living at the Burrow this summer, he had no way of escaping from. _Oh God! I was wrong! I should've told her about Dobby not letting Harry and Ron through the gates! Don't kill me! Don't kill me! _ Just as Neville thought the massive woman was going to break him in two, she said just as motherly as she would to her own children, " You take care now okay? And take care of the others for me. Here take this, it's some sandwiches for the journey, I know how you like my home-cured bacon."

Neville recovered from his flabbergasted expression as quickly as he could and blurted out, " Thank you so much Mrs Weasley." He quickly stuffed a piece of sandwich in his mouth to conceal his chagrin. As much as he was reserved about Molly Weasley for her hidden strength, her apparent cooking abilities were very much embraced with a passion.

" Pig." Ginny went for a quick jab, probably in a bad mood since she could not sit with Harry now on the train.

" It's okay Neville, there's nothing happier for me to see my cooking being appreciated." Mrs Weasley was cut short when the train gave a lurch and started to pull out of the platform. " You all remember to stay out of trouble now! Take care!"

Munching on the delicious sandwiches, Neville sniffed as the kids waved to their parents, who were getting smaller and smaller in the distance. _Just for your sandwiches alone – and possibly your wrath – I promise I'll save Ginny from that snake! I can only do that if she stops lying to me and hand over the Diary though._

The group started walking down the train carriages, dispersing along the way. Percy obviously left first into the prefects compartment, and ushered Neville out before he could exchange more than a greeting with the ever so radiant Penelope Clearwater. The twins found Lee Jordan and other friends in a compartment midway and stranded Ginny and him to hunt for an empty seat somewhere down the train on their own.

Walking past another full compartment, Ginny murmured. " Do I have to stay in the same compartment as you for the whole journey? I'm sure an out of control broomstick or a random dragon will just show up and try to kill me again."

" For the last time, none of those were my fault!" Neville growled.

" Nothing good ever happens when I'm around you! Harry and I were going to be sitting in the same compartment and because of _you_, I don't even know what happened to him!"

_Oh yeah, just blame it on Neville. Somehow, Ginny really reminds me of someone right now…_

" Neville! There you are!" Hermione almost bumped into him as they simultaneously opened the door into the next carriage. " Where are Ron and Harry?"

_Ah-ha._

" We don't know what happened to them, but they didn't make the train." Ginny piped up, temper a lot more restrained now in the face of a stranger.

_See little girl, if you'd just speak to me as cutely as you spoke to Harry, I might just point out the window and tell you there was something that looked like your family car flying up there. Now? Not a chance._

" Hello again. You are… Ginny, right? Ron's sister?" Hermione absently tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. " Are you looking for a compartment? I'm sitting in one near the end of the train. And you can't believe who I'm sharing it with!"

Neville rolled his eyes, thinking about how silly Hermione was being, trying to rub up to her future sister-in-law. _Girls_. " Who? Michael Jordan?"

" No." Came Hermione's deadpan answer.

_Well, we're definitely not far enough in the future for Kobe Bryant yet._

Hermione's revelation only made Neville squirm, " It's Professor Lockhart!"

Actually, Neville did not dislike Gilderoy Lockhart – he found him extremely entertaining. His only real marring act that Neville remembered was trying to alter Harry and Ron's memories, but he really did have a career to protect – he could very well have killed them and others to shut them up. Neville had browsed through one of Lockhart's books during summer, finding it quite a good piece of fiction (it did have real bits amongst all the exaggerations after all), and remembered his dream was 'harmony between all magic and non-magical people'. Would even Dumbledore say there was anything wrong with that dream? Fake as it was. And, big-headed as Lockhart might have been in his opinions, Neville felt he was quite fatherly to Harry – if only Harry really was going for the whole fame thing.

" Ah, Miss Granger, I see you've brought company!" Lockhart, every bit like a toothpaste advert, was already in aquamarine robes that were no doubt for the welcoming feast. " Well, I am sure you two know who I am – now, now, don't be shy. Just because I'll be your professor you don't have to be all uptight around me. Miss Granger and I were just discussing my travels in Transylvania – as you know, from one of my books."

Neville refrained the very base behaviour of snorting at Hermione's adoring expression. Unfortunately, it seemed as if her crush on Ron did not blanket her Lockhart idolisation.

" Hello, my name is Ginny Weasley. My mum is a big fan of yours." Ginny greeted politely. Lockhart laughed and shook his hair as if he was in a toothpaste and shampoo advert simultaneously.

" Oh really? Actually, I remember you now. At the bookshop! Your father was ferocious, yes – quite a brilliant use of that encyclopaedia, I hope he's alright. Here, here, take one of my signed photos and send it to your mother, that'll make her feel better – actually, take _two_! Don't think your professor will leave you out now." Ginny meekly accepted them, both Lockharts in the photos winking up enthusiastically at her in sync. Lockhart eventually turned his attention to Neville, " And who may you be young man? Oh! Were you at the bookstore as well for my book signing the other day?"

" Yeah, your books are quite… entertaining." Neville tried to be polite but Lockhart's eyes only shone brighter to Neville's regret.

" First Miss Granger, then little Ginny, and now you! I never thought I'd have so many young fans at Hogwarts! Now tell me, which part of my books do you like best? When I zapped the vampire in the telephone booth? Or threw the Banshee off with the exotic plant?"

" Well… I especially liked the alliterations in your book titles. Magical Me – great title. Great penmanship. Great…" Neville tried his best to change the subject, trying to remember the things that Lockhart were interested in. " Ah. Right, I know you're a people person. You like having parties and events and whatnot, right?"

" Oh yes, men are so lonely without the company of like-minds." Neville remembered Lockhart's idea of the Duelling Club and Valentine's Day, which he thought were both actually quite interesting ideas.

Ignoring Hermione's heart-shaped eyes for Lockhart's pretentious deep speech, Neville introduced himself. " My name is Neville Longbottom, and I am the President of the Student Council at Hogwarts. We are involved in arranging social events, amongst other things, for the students to mingle and mix. If you happen to come across any good ideas, please feel free to talk to us about it."

" Excellent! Excellent young Neville!" Lockhart looked as if Christmas had come early. After all, it was only through mass events that he could show off and boost his popularity – of course he would like them. " This Student Council thing sounds like an excellent idea – by Merlin they should've had it back in my day. Whose excellent idea was it?"

" It just started last year." Hermione answered quickly, just as she did to every professor's question. " Neville was the one who started it."

" Oh?" Looking at Neville with a renewed glint in his eyes, Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and whispered, " I see, I see. You and Harry are the same type of people right? I'm sure you two are – no – us _three_, will be the best of friends!"

Neville wondered if it was more appropriate to agree or disagree with that.

0

0

0

The Sorting was almost finished now, but instead of the new students, the rumour of Harry and Ron arriving with a flying car stole the limelight instead. No one knew where it originated, but Neville knew J.K's plot was still rolling since Snape was absent from the staff table.

" Do you think it's true?" Hermione nervously asked beside him. At formal occasions, all students including Neville stayed at their respective house tables.

" Probably." Neville shrugged. His mind was on the Threstles pulling the carriages on their way up to the castle, wondering why they were visible to him even if he had not seen death. _The original Neville could see them too… It was his grandfather or something that he saw dying. As far as I gathered through the years, it was at least a peaceful death…_

" How can you just shrug? They can be expelled for this!" Hermione exclaimed, gripping her cutlery out on the table.

" They won't," Neville insisted. _Well, seeing something is much better than not, especially when those horses are apparently such good modes of transportation._

" Really?" Half expecting her to retort to this prior comment, he nodded unsurely.

" Yeah." Neville's thoughts were halted on her next reaction.

" Okay." Even without facts and evidence as a basis, Hermione's expression changed from nervousness to contempt. " Just wait until Professor McGonagall gets her hands on them! That'll teach them!"

" Gryffindor!" Hermione was paying more attention than Neville in the Sorting and it had already reached Ginny Weasley. The redhead ripped off the Sorting Hat and dashed up to their table with the widest grin on her face and threw her arms in joy around Fred, then George, then Percy then Neville.

Of course, Neville's hug was unfortunately halted just in time by Ginny's alertness and she harrumphed in that cute childish way and went to sit with some first years after throwing back a 'growler' – what Neville used to call glowers and glares when he was her age.

" Oh, they grow up so fast," Neville's comment got dual nods of agreement from the twins, who were pretending they were wiping their eyes.

" Neville, that was us only last year." Hermione matter-of-flatly stated. _If only she knew about the fact that I've lived about twice as long as her by now… _ " Ron would've liked to see Ginny get sorted though, I'm sure…"

Neville felt a tiny bit of triumph over Harry at the reminder, since he had missed one of the most important events of a witch's life for Ginny. _Maybe I still have a chance yet! Well, now that there's also Luna in the school…_

Apart from Ginny, the only other person Neville remembered to look out for from her year was Luna Lovegood. Being introduced so late in the series, she was given a lot less credit and air time than Neville would have liked. Although she was all airy-fairy, she really was a character that created the funniest of moments in the books: Aurors bringing down the Ministry with gum disease – Genius! Despite the comedy, she was also an emotionally deep and caring character, with the support she unknowingly (Neville thought anyway) gave Harry in the most depressing book of the series.

Neville was not disappointed when he saw the small girl with messy blonde hair shuffling up and took a full minute curiously examining the Sorting Hat before McGonagall prompted her to put it on. Even with the butterbeer cock necklace and radish earrings, Neville could tell she would grow up to be a beauty. Give her hair a nice comb and a set of nice robes and Harry would be lucky to have her as his partner for Slughorn's parties.

_So many ores at Hogwarts… All they need is a little shine and polish and –_

" Neville!" Dean was sitting next to him and elbowed him out of his delusional musings. " It's you!"

" What me?" Neville looked up to see Dumbledore's twinkling eyes were staring straight at him. _Oh crap! Occlumency! Occlumency!_

His reflexive Occlumency attempt having blatantly failed, showed by Dumbledore shaking his head, the headmaster repeated. " May I present the Junior Student Council's President up to the front. Please. And he will hopefully have an enthralling speech prepared for our youngest students."

" Ah yes, thank you Professor Dumbledore," Neville jogged up quickly to the front, casting a Sonorus Charm along the way. He was very tempted to just say 'let's eat' as he remembered Dumbledore did one year, but there were a few things to address. Dumbledore had specified these in that letter – that blasted letter Snape gave him at the start of summer camp. That cursed letter Snape had understood the ulterior motives of and hid it behind his Occlumency. That darned letter Neville was a hundred percent justified in being suspicious of as he had finally decoded its implication throughout summer.

" I can't believe Dumbledore still excluded us seniors from the Council!" George whined, a little too loudly. " He said we won't sit well with the idea of having a second year as the representative of all the older students."

" But we won't mind. We know Neville's just as grown up as the rest of us when we checked out that magazine together back when –" Fred's voice vanished quite abruptly. The bad-mood Neville had been practicing non-verbal spells, especially the Silencing Charm, after the torture Snape had put him through during summer.

" Well, as Professor Dumbledore had explained – or not? – Well, we are something of an upgrade from last year's First Years Student Council. We are still going to be responsible for last year's first years, but will also take up the role of welcoming and getting this year's new students involved in the more social aspects of Hogwarts. By the way first years, you guys will get an induction tour from us later this week, see Hannah Abbot over there later. Yes that girl with the pigtails, very red in the face and… sort of glaring at me at the moment…

" Anyway! Though we have a new name, Junior Student Council, our office will be at the same place – third floor, near the painting with the unfriendly Nufflesnarf, can't miss it. Please feel free to drop by our office if you have something you would like to express to the school through the Student Council.

" However, the Council has an extra function compared to last year. We are now in charge of 'overseeing' all the clubs and societies recognised by the school – ranging from the Muggles Artefacts Tinkering Club to the Recreational Charms Research Group – the full list will be up on the notice board by the end of this week. Don't worry some of you would-be body-builders over at the Slytherin table! Frankly speaking, nothing will be changed at all. All clubs will go on as usual with their operations and preferences unless it violates the school rules and such – and in those instances we retain the power to assign an adequate punishment _after_ consultation with a member of staff!"

By this point the murmurings in the Great Hall were almost drowning over Neville's magically-enhanced voice. Having an incredulously difficult time not to glare at the ever-smiling Dumbledore, Neville continued to detonate the latest explosives aimed at the students' support pillar for the Council.

" Also… We are in charge of approving newly proposed clubs and societies in the future and all the clubs' yearly budget ratio – _But _the _final_ decision lies with the headmaster!"

The students did not care about the last part because Neville's first bit of news had already overwhelmed them to a point where details were ignored. Dumbledore's office was probably flanked last year after Ron's birthday event and the staffs-students match and this was his way of getting back at Neville – and stunting the continuous interest and growth of the Council before Neville's character was proven with certainty.

_Why're you smiling Draco? You had the whole summer to think about this arrangement like I did! Can't you see this is _not_ a simple case of Dumbledore giving us more power? As much control as we have over the youngest and most powerless students in the school, he's trying to turn the seniors against us! Just look at Percy's sour face! Of course the prefects will get peeved with us having power that is looking to rival them! Then the clubs and budget trick? Su, I can tell you're daydreaming already – this doesn't mean you can start up a new Quidditch league here! This just means we've got to deal with the full blunt of the members' hatred if we upset any one club! Then the worst of all, that sly fox isn't even giving up all this power he promised because _everything_ ultimately needs to go through him!_

" A thorough and clear explanation of the new system and the Junior Student Council Mr Longbottom. Most enlightening." Dumbledore's word choice made Neville's wand hand tremble. " Here, I would like to restate the purpose of the Council: An organisation to give the chance for students to govern themselves and embellish their school lives, and reflecting to the school valuable opinions for its betterment. I hope this trial delegation of power to the Council will lighten the load on the staffs and allow the first years to settle more quickly in their new environment. Now, we've withheld the food long enough! Let the feast begin!"

Not even giving Neville a chance to try and patch up the damage, a warm waft of foodstuffs filled the Great Hall. _This'll quietened them – at least for now._ Neville trudged back to his seat from the front of the Hall and sat down, ignoring Hermione's enquiring look aimed at his exasperated expression, and picked up a dinner knife. Without looking, he speared the nearby turkey and slashed it into shreds to vent out his frustrations.

_A 'trial delegation of power' is it? So that means if we put a toe out of line we're reverting right back to before – or even disbanding. Can't Dumbledore see there're no reasons, and no benefits, in antagonising me? Isn't he supposed to be a _trusting_ person that sees the good in _everyone_? Will that old fox ever cut me some slack or does he have to know every little piece of thought in everyone's head?_

" Neville, are you alright?" Hermione tested the waters. " Isn't this great? The Council is getting more responsibilities and power. I mean, you can effectively call off any club you like, right? Haha, you can even threaten to close down the Lemon Sherbet Appreciation Society and feed off their sweets."

" Great?" Neville's deadpan tone halted Hermione's forced jest. Joking was never her strong point. " If I did, that'll be the last thing I'll ever do as the President. Water can keep a boat afloat, but it can also sink it. The Chinese said this before, as a metaphor for politics relating the people in power and the common masses."

Hermione lowered her head and Neville allowed her to chew on her thoughts as he gnawed on the turkey. He was not expecting her to understand Dumbledore's complicated, manipulative and petty actions no matter how smart she was. Even if she did understand, it was not like they could do anything but take the hit.

At least it _looked_ like she did figure it out after a few moments though and she dejectedly pulled up a plate of fish for Neville to spear. Still frowning, and now with relish, Neville adjusted his hold on the dinner knife. _I guess she really is a smart girl for her age isn't she?_

" Ahem!" A loud voice, clearly amplified by a Sonorus Charm, came from the front that halted the mutilation of the second sacrifice. Right after though, the speaker sounded as if she got a fright from her own voice and quickly fumbled, " A-ah, this is too loud! Ah! I mean, sorry! I-I… My name is Hannah Abbott and I am the Secretary of the Junior Student Council… H-hello…"

A few students laughed from the Slytherin table at the lame and panicky introduction, but Draco had quickly snuffed them out with a look. Hannah's face was so red Neville felt it could create a breakthrough in solar power technology. Su, having the emotional observation abilities on par with Ron, was not making it easier by clapping like she was waiting for the first song of a concert.

Neville lowered his knife, counting the seconds Hannah was just silently being stared and mumbled at out there in front of the school population, with her chin touching her chest. Trying out his non-verbal Charms again, Neville magically shot a pea at her, but keeping it away from the crowd's eyes in case anyone followed suite.

Hannah looked up in surprise and Neville caught her eyes before she could lower them again. Giving her a quizzical look, but a slight smile nonetheless, that seemed to have extended her resolve and she took a steadying deep breath.

" Our President has forgotten to inform you all about the most important thing. The Council only started half way through the second semester last year, and couldn't organise very much, and I'm sure it could be better, but – "

Hannah almost shrieked out loud but she struggled to settle for a small jump into the air. Neville had shot a pea at the back of her knee again to remind her that she would lose her audiences if her head were to lower any more. She took a deep breath again and continued, but Neville spotted a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

" You see, the Council has a lot of plans for this year. We even went to have a summer meeting on Mull! An island in Scotland! Well, anyway – we thought up of so many fun events and things that we would like to do, so all the student can enjoy living at Hogwarts. The first years too – we would like to make it easier for all of you to make new friends and know more people. I – I guess what I'd like to say is that… Well, our purpose is really to make all the students happier… I guess…"

The Great Hall had stopped its mumbling by now and Hannah looked as if she was on the verge of tears in the hush. Neville, on the other hand, could not help his lips from turning up into a big smile. _Hannah, Hannah, Hannah… How did the girl even notice my sulking? I've forgotten the most important thing about the Council. Yes, it is to promote inter-house relations, and possibly even weaken the rock of pureblood prejudices for the future. But haven't our way of doing it just been organising events so the students can have fun and understand each other? Nothing Dumbledore was willing to do could stop students enjoying themselves._

" And that's exactly it!" Neville got up onto his feet, walking back out to join Hannah at the front. She was staring at him with opened mouth as if he had just saved her from a car crash. " The first years might not know it, but the Council has organised a few successful events in the past. This year, after careful considerations, we will be hosting an event that will be prepared and carried on throughout the year!"

The seniors, their memories having been jolted back to the games last year, were expectantly waiting for what came next. The first years also looked as if they would squeal at hearing the supposedly formal organisation planning things that had no relation to studying, or even the school, but just to play.

Not having the heart to leave these children with a cliff-hanger as Dumbledore had indirectly done last year, Neville generously revealed their plan. " The Council will be responsible for holding a theatrical performance! Acting, music, effects – all of which performed by all interested students. We took account of the senior students as well and although they could not take part in the performance itself, we will gratefully receive any voluntarily help offered to your sweet, cute, but presently less knowledgeable underclassmen during the production stages. And to even accommodate for the teachers, we will actually allow them to watch our performance at the end of the school year along with the students."

The Great Hall once again exploded in a blast of clapping as discussions were already starting up like a forest fire. Giving Dumbledore a look, Neville felt as if he had pulled one back on the old fox since they were in no way overstepping their power – if seniors wanted to help out from the goodness of their own hearts, there were no moral reasons to stop them. Glancing sideways at Hannah, she gratefully smiled back and that reminded him very much of what happened at the end of last year's Quidditch match – though it should really be Neville who should be grateful for her making his night again.

" What's the play you guys are planning to perform?" Lee Jordan bellowed for the rest of his friends and a mutter of curious agreement joined in from the other tables.

" Snow White and Seven Dwarfs!" Neville's response did not have the same effect as he had expected as the Great Hall promptly quietened down.

_I knew it! I just knew it! We should've done something like Indiana Jones or James Bond! Why follow tradition huh? Just because school plays should be Cinderella or Red Riding Hood or whatever other Disney film, that doesn't mean we have to follow them! Even Filtwick is giving me a dark look!_

" Er… Neville… Snow White and Seven Dwarfs is the Muggle version." Though Hannah whispered this, the Sonorus Charm casted on her by a senior student was not in her control and the rest of the Hall heard it loud and clear.

" I… see…" _At least the Muggle-borns should've known! Why did they all go quiet too?_

Clearing her throat, Hannah announced again. " For this year's theatrical performance, partaken by interested students in first and second years, we will be performing Onyx Black and the Seven Muggles."

_Oh, and now they start cheering._

Unfortunately, the cheering of the students were halted again as Snape-the-gatecrasher marched into the Great Hall. His hair and robes were uncharacteristically ruffled and were even torn at certain places. He made a beeline for Dumbledore and McGonagall to relayed his news. Since Neville was at the front of the hall with Hannah, near the teachers' table, he could just make out the words.

" Potter and Weasley arrived… and are both in the hospital wing."

0

0

0

A/N: And we're back on track with the books. I feel the story flows better that way instead of just flying solo with whatever timeslot I made for myself.

By the way, an answer to any queries regarding Neville's mental age. He was just about to go into university before the 'dimension travel', so let's say he was either 17 or 18. Then he was dumped in the body of Neville when he was in Blackpool. The books never said when that was I think, but my mind was stuck with 8 years old. Counting the years he lived as Neville, which up to this point of the story is about four years, he should be about 22 or 23, which is about Bill Weasley's age, as mentioned in the last chapter. That's my maths.

Finally, can anyone tell me what's the deal with CBS? Does American television just randomly show you new episodes when they want and not announce they'll do a repeat this one week? I don't get it. I want my Barney Stinson awesomeness charge.


	27. Book 2 Chapter 5

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

Neville spent the last of his summer at the Burrow, much to the dislike of Ginny. He had his first meeting with the egocentric and amusing Lockhart before arriving for the not so quiet Welcoming Feast. The Council was set up to take a delicate position by Dumbledore and just when Neville thought nothing could be done but bear the hit, it was Hannah who stood up and helped him through his mental state of defeat and was reminded of the true aims of the Council.

Chapter 26 – A nudge at Snape.

" Ah! My eternal-bottom-ness! It is such an honour to have your grace upon this castle again. Old Peevesy missed you so! I must say, your new hair-style is most fetching. Most fetching." Peeves, the not-so-mischievous-anymore poltergeist, at least in front of Neville, greeted him as he headed for the Great Hall for breakfast.

" How was first-years pranking last night?" Neville asked, running a hair through his layered mid-length European style hair – side-parted. He had a field day this morning at the bathroom with his magical arsenal of spells de toilette. This hair style would be much easier to tend to even without magical spells, as he did during summer.

Hermione gasped next to him. " Neville! Don't encourage Peeves like that! Ginny would've got a big brown stain on her robes today if I hadn't spelled it off."

" Ah well, I did like the look on her face before she blamed it on my presence again. I do suggest laying it off on Ginny though Peeves – that one's got a temper and who knows if she'll get one back at you by paralysing you with a giant monster?" Saying goodbye to Peeves, Neville turned back to Hermione. " So… Why didn't we wait on Harry and Ron? They're both injured, you know."

" They don't need waiting upon. Maybe they'll fly down to breakfast in a Honda this time and bang their heads – and hopefully put their minds straight." Hermione harrumphed, seemingly with a deeper disapproval of them than in the books about this incident – especially Ron. They had a 'mini-row' last night.

" You know Ron. He doesn't… plan too much outside of chess." Neville carefully chose his words as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, greeting a few acquaintances. " Though Harry was the one hurt more, I'm sure Ron's sorry and had already gotten his punishment from McGonagall. They're going to have detentions won't they?"

" Yeah I guess…" Hermione absently propped her textbook on the table as she nibbled on a piece of toast. _Well… she does look kind of cute while doing this… ANYWAY, back to reconciling her with Ron. As long as he doesn't say anything stupid, there's no way she would be mad at him for long. She is pining for him after all…_

" And he was definitely panicking when he couldn't get onto the platform. I mean, if he can't get to Hogwarts, how can he see you, right?"

Hermione did not say anything to this, but her face reddened considerably despite the page she was reading had a picture of Lockhart waving frantically up at her for attention.

" So when Ron comes in, just, you know, just give him a small telling off – but remember to forgive him and act friendly again."

" Was I really that harsh towards him last night?" Hermione gasped, her textbook knocked into a bowl of cereal.

" Well your frowns are starting to look too much like McGonagall's." Neville vehemently encouraged her to stop that habit. _That'll give her early wrinkles if she continues the rate she's going. Pretty girls are just as worthy of preservation as any old architecture._

" Morning Neville, and Hermione." The two gossips-centrals of Gryffindor arrived, holding hands as if their separation during summer really was such an ordeal. " By the way, I have to talk to you about something Neville."

" Oh? What is it?" He looked up from his pancakes, not really sure what he had to do with Lavender and Parvati.

" You said your council deals with all the new clubs and that right?" Parvati asked, giving a tiny bounce while doing so. _Some people _really_ don't need caffeine in the morning…_

" Yes, applications are to be made to the Council members themselves. There are a few technicalities about minimum club size, purposes and all that." Neville rattled off as he took a drink from his coffee – first days back were always tough. " The club has to have a vague outline of their structure and running methods too before we bother listening."

" Well me and Parvati were discussing this all through summer so that's no problem at all! We've even got the costumes and routines and meeting times and –"

" Okay girls," Neville timely stopped her after downing his first mug of coffee. " First of all, would you care to tell me _what_ club you're planning to start?"

" The cheerleading club of course!" the two of them squealed and Neville halted his arm's reach for the coffee pot. " We had so much fun last year at the Quidditch match so we thought – Hey! Let's start a club so we can do this at all the matches! And Lavender was like, yeah! And then I was like –"

" This is the most ingenious idea for a club I have heard so far!" Neville's eyes burned with passion as he told them the truth, coffee now obsolete. _Well, no one else came to me about starting a new club yet._ " I'll be the first one to support you two! And because this is a club for the school and not the Council, let's make sure we're not restricting it to first and seconds years – No! I will not have it! We must have the whole school joining in! Definitely!"

" Wa! Thank you Neville! You're the greatest!" Neville opened his arms in glee but the two girls left him standing there dumbly as they embraced each other instead. _I really should stop expecting hugs…_ Giving a dry cough and ignoring Hermione's stare that screamed 'pathetic', just as she did last night with Ginny, Neville was reminded again of staying focused on the Council's 'original motive'.

" Actually, though I am the president, no decisions are passed without the support of the other Council members… Though I'm quite sure if both the president myself and vice-president Draco were to agree…"

With a satisfied grin, the girls sped off towards the Slytherin table and Neville considered himself having done his good deed for the day. He was already planning to leave Draco in almost full charge of setting up the cheerleading club and hopefully that would leave Draco with significantly less time with the stereotypical-Slytherin Pansy and more with Lavender.

" Neville, I can see you're going to be pretty busy again this year huh?" Hermione pulled him back from the clouds back to the breakfast table and he quickly reached for a piece of ham. " You know, if you need any help with anything, whether it's with the play or the school clubs, I'm always happy to give you a hand."

" Thanks Hermione. Do you plan to take part in the play as well?" Neville asked as he ripped off a piece of bread with his front teeth.

Hermione lowered her head and answered, " Well, maybe not the acting roles… but if it's stage decoration or costumes then I'm sure I know a few charms that can help."

" Good morning," Harry greeted and Ron did the same, albeit with a yawn and a grumble in between. " You guys talking about the play?"

" Yeah, you guys plan to enter?" Neville asked, unpleasantly feeling like one of those market researchers on the streets.

" I would if I don't need to use a wand." Courtesy of the Whomping Willow, Ron's wand was barely staying in one piece even after Neville tried to mend it with Spellotape last night,.

" I think it'll be fun," Harry was having problems reaching for the butter with his arm on a sling and Neville shifted it over with his wand, once again integrating his non-verbal spell practice with daily life. The two also had some scrapes and scratches here and there, but it was not even serious enough for Madam Pomfrey to keep either of them for a night at the hospital wing. " I don't know if I want to take an acting part though – at least not in front of Snape. You should have seen the look he was giving us last night."

" Harry, you're slipping into your grudge with Snape again even without having set foot in our first Potions class this year," Neville sighed. " And wasn't Snape the teacher who missed one of the best meals of the year just to wait for two missing students?"

" He practically left Harry to die out there by the hands – well, branches – of that damn tree!" Ron exclaimed indigently.

Much to Neville's confusion and slight wariness, there was a slight change from the original plotline last night. Unbeknownst to Neville, due to the 'thank you' both Harry and Snape were unsure if they had heard last year during the Quidditch match, Snape decided that instead of sneaking up behind the boys after their arrival, he actually carried out his assigned task fully and waited for them outside in the Hogwarts grounds. Just as he was getting impatient at their late arrival, he decide to check the grounds a little further from the castle and found the Ford Anglia and two trapped children. The plotline would still have left them unscathed if Snape had just discovered them a while later, but Snape had no idea about that and rushed in as any teacher would do when his students were in danger.

" He saved your life," Neville stated. " And the only reason Harry was injured was because Snape saved you first – on Harry's protests."

" He tried to get us expelled…" Harry protested, though internally recalled the tone Snape had muttered _'stubborn Gryffindors'_ last night while he outright refused to be saved before Ron.

" Remember last year? Dumbledore did tell you about Snape protecting you all through the year right?" Neville latched onto Harry's uncertainty as no other twelve year old could. _Is this… an opening I see?_

Harry was silenced by this, but Ron just rolled his eyes. " Why are you always on Snape's side?"

" I'm not on anyone's side – he made me a mute for days during summer even. I'm just saying – well – there are many ways to look at someone's actions."

" Neville." Harry had a serious look on his face as he asked, " Can you teach me some magic?"

" Harry… This is Hogwarts, remember?" _Did he hit his head last night or something?_

" No, I mean… the magic that can get us out of situations like last night with the Whopping Willow. I know if used correctly, any magic is useful but if I had known spells like your Blasting Curse, maybe Ron and I… and Snape as well I guess, would not have gotten into as much dangers at all."

" It's not your fault anyone was hurt Harry," Neville sighed for the kid. " But I guess it's no problem. The more spells you know the better I guess… Who knows when you'll have to use it to kill some snakes."

" Snakes?" Ron shook his head as if to clear away the confusion Neville's seemingly out of place anecdote and said, " I would like to join in too… If only my wand would work properly, I'll blast half that damn tree into a chair!"

" I hope you haven't forgotten that you guys were really lucky not to be expelled." Neville knew Hermione was about to reprimand just a bit more and make up with them since her frown was absent, but Ron stupidly intervened with a snort.

Just as Neville was trying to think up a way to wipe away the dejection on Hermione's face, the owl posts arrived. The moment he caught sight of a bright red envelope coming through the window, Neville ducked under the table to the puzzlement of the Trio and plugged his fingers in his ears. That did not help very much as he could still hear from beginning to end the Howler from Mrs Weasley and climbed back out to the surface in a bit of a daze.

Hermione was the first one to recover, " Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you completely deserved that – and more if I were Mrs Weasley. Being expelled aside, seriously, what would've happened if the car malfunctioned and you guys fell out of the sky? Now if you've learnt your lesson then I –"

" Can't you give it a rest?" Ron snapped, finally coming back to his 'right' mind from the Howler. " I haven't seen you for most of the summer and all you've been doing since we got back was lecture me! I've already got a detention and a Howler! I don't need you to have a go at me as well."

_One second! If Ron just held that retort for another second Hermione would've let all this slide!_ Neville got up on his feet but could only watch Hermione's quickly disappearing back as she ran out of the Great Hall.

0

0

0

Neville hesitantly tested the waters – not for his potion, but Hermione with very heavy eye-bags, like the time she studied all night right before last year's Charms exams. " You know I heard a funny joke just a while ba –"

" If it's Ron's, I don't want to hear it." Hermione snapped effectively, immediately intercepting Neville's plan.

" No talking Longbottom!" Snape growled, seemingly in a worst mood than usual, possibly because this was his first Potter Potions class of the year. Snape's torrent continued as his frown diverted to Harry and reprimanded, " And Potter! Just because one of your arms is in a sling that doesn't mean you can sit and let Weasley do all the work for you."

" Well he won't have gotten injured if you saved him from that horrid tree earlier." Ron muttered under his breath, but Snape seemed to have heard it as Neville caught a muscle under his eye twitch. _Hm… Interesting…_

" Ten points from Gryffindor for being an ungrateful brat who doesn't even remember who saved him from his own reckless mess. I personally do believe the headmaster is far too lenient in the intelligence requirements for admittance to this school." Snape was about to swoosh his cloak and stalk of to the other side of the class but Harry was having none of that.

" I've said so last night, it isn't Ron's fault! We just panicked when we didn't know what to do after the barrier at King's Cross didn't let us in!" Harry exclaimed, standing up to Snape just as he did numerous, sometimes foolish, times in the book.

" Well, 'another toe out of line' and hopeful such a situation would never need to happen again." Snape sneered and Ron's ears heated up dramatically at the Slytherins' sniggers.

The bell signalled the end of class and everyone piled out of the classroom – apart from Neville who was reluctantly left behind on Snape's requests.

" Yes, professor?" Neville could tell by now as he looked the hooked-nosed man in the eyes that he was once again trying to break into Neville's mind. _Like your wandless Legilimency has an effect on me now._

" I see you have been practicing throughout the holidays Longbottom." Snape uttered, tone more inclined to dismay than encouragement. " Your Occlumency lessons will resume on Friday evening. Dismissed."

Occlumency was something you really needed continual practice to improve and Neville knew he was still nowhere as good as Snape, like how Snape could control which information to be mind-read by Voldemort. Dumbledore never said there were any obligations to continue these lessons (their fundamental nature were no longer detentions now for stealing Snape's stuffs) and Neville knew Snape was merely hanging onto any faint hopes of getting knowledge relating to Lily. At this Neville held in a sympathetic sigh for the older man – and remembered what he saw between Snape's interactions with Harry earlier.

" I have a question Professor Snape." Neville took Snape's silence as he sat down on his table to look at some paperwork as permission. " Harry couldn't get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters because the magical barrier was closed. Why didn't the headmaster take a look into it?"

" And would you like the Ministry to send the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement to guard Potter to the bathroom at night?" Snape blew air out of his nose defiantly. " The headmaster is a very busy man and Potter will not receive any special celebrity treatments here."

_Not how Dumbledore sees it… I guess this means Harry never told them about Dobby during the summer… Maybe Dumbledore really did dismiss this as a rare case of temporary magical failure of the barrier…_

" Just like his attention-seeking father! I bet he's thrilled a kindred spirit like Lockhart is at the school now." Snape's mutterings, most likely to himself and heedless of Neville's presence, did bring Neville back to another important issue. " Just the same attitude of all talk but a severe lack in any ability… Driving an enchanted car like that into the Whomping Willow… Could've foolishly got himself decapitated with a single swipe of a branch… Then that stubborn Gryffindor attitude is just like her…"

" Sir? There is something… troubling me about Harry's injuries." Neville attempted to pry the strange flash that he thought he faintly saw inside the eyes of the Occlumens. _Lily was the love of his life after all, and having completely no one to talk to about it for all these years it's only natural to let something slip…_

" Off with you Longbottom! Potter merely dislocated an elbow." Snape, master Occlumens, was by far underestimated by Neville. _Still, personalities are hard to change, huh? Snape –1, Neville – 0._

" Okay… Well I just want to say one more thing. You, sir, are a great teacher." Neville put on a sickeningly sweet tone as if it had been mixed with honey, toffee, fudge, syrup and any other sweet non-Newtonian fluid. " You know, missing out on the feast to wait for those two rash students. Saving them from a dangerously lethal plant. Carrying the student with a dislocated shoulder to the hospital wing in your arms and giving Madam Promfrey what I believed to be your personal healing potions. And making sure the full extent of the student's injuries is remembered by yourself. Even the student in question said he was thankful to you. You truly are a model teacher –"

" _Silencio_! And don't you dare remove it before next week. Now quit with talking nonsense and get out of my sight." Snape's glare could have swallowed anyone else whole, metaphorically. Neville however saw a bloodier complexion on Snape's usually sallow skin.

_Well the spell suits me fine at Hogwarts – a great excuse to not answer any class questions. Plus, even if he forbade me to remove it myself – I can't help it if another student were to forcibly remove it for me. Snape – 1, Neville – 1. _

Cursing Longbottom's back as the boy left the office, a thought congregated at the back of Snape's mind. Snape quickly thought back to the 'thank you' he _thought_ he had heard during the student-teacher match and tried his best not to believe what Longbottom had said about this one.

0

0

0

" So, another little run-in with the Trio again? That Colin Creevy incident?" Neville asked as Draco and him headed down the corridor towards the Great Hall. Neville was with Su when it happened, organising this initial theatre meeting that the two were now going to, and had missed the little squabble.

" Why're you always on their side? Just because you guys are Gryffindors huh? Well I'm a Slytherin and I still can't stand that Blaise Zabini guy." Draco snorted, " That guy was fraternizing with some fourth year girl on the very first night back."

" Well… If that was the case, you'd do good to ask Zabini for tips on Lavender." Neville shrugged.

" Yeah, what's with you dumping that muggles-inspired club on me?" Draco whined. " Seriously, what sort of ideas could muggles come up with that's so good we wizards have to adopt it."

Neville froze in his steps. " What, you didn't see them during last year's staff-students match?"

" Course not! Who has time to look at the sidelines when Filtwick was stepping over my shoulder to score a goal?" Neville stared open-mouthed at Draco as if he had just said he played with Barbie dolls.

" Believe me Draco. I've sacrificed the most pleasurable job our Student Council will ever get for you and you're gonna appreciate it." Neville shook his head and opened the doors to the Great Hall. Before he could continue ranting off a list of things he wanted if Draco ever realised the whole reason teens played sports was to impress the opposite sex, his jaw dropped at the sight.

This meeting was supposed to give a rough idea on how many students were interested in the play, and if time was enough, assign some primary roles. What Neville saw was almost the whole school's first and second year population, with the exception of some fascist Slytherins – and even two teachers.

" Oh! Neville! I wasn't at the welcoming feast – I unknowingly fell asleep at the tower – but when I heard about the Student Council's event idea this year I almost fainted right back onto bed! Something you never knew about your professor is that I used to be in a drama club when I was young! It was so much fun! I've played the roles of the tree, the rock, the signpost – Oh, I'm _ecstatic_ Neville! You must simply let me join!"

Most people would not be able to feel any 'ecstasy' from the quiet volume of all that ostensible squealing – but Neville distinctly remembered this frail-looking Astronomy teacher from last year who gave him his first, almost devastating, detention. Aurora Sinistra was in her same unusually long robes, matching her also unusually long hair. The look in her eyes, though sparkling, was a true competition to Luna's constant quizzical expression and Neville really wondered if those two would hit it off brilliantly.

" Well… You see professor… This is a junior students production and… you know… you're a teacher and the Council is run independently by us and if the headmaster knows and oh please please please, I'm sorry, _very_ sorry! Don't do it –"

Though Sinistra had nothing over Snape in the intimidation department, her classes were always the most obedient ones due to a single weapon – ironically, it was her frailty. Sinistra's tears had been welding up all through Neville's proposed rejection, turned explanation, turned apology. By the end, she let out a whimper of a wail and collapsed backwards, completely unabashed by the plentiful public display of tears, and was prevented from falling just in time by the other teacher.

Lockhart, furrowing his brows and shaking his head of wavy blonde hair, glanced sympathetically at Sinistra, then stared back up at Neville. " Seriously Neville. You really shouldn't be so hard on her. How heartless and cruel you are."

" I'm not being cruel." Ignoring Lockhart playing as the hero, Neville watched as Sinistra shakily got up to her feet, ignoring the insistent cooing from Lockhart.

Hiccupping while saying this, Sinistra rubbed her eyes with her fist, " B-but… but I just wanted to – to help out. It sounds – sounds so much fun – and I – I really want to – want to – be with the students –"

Needless to say, after President Neville craved disgracefully under the pressure of the sea of frowns on every student's face in the hall, Sinistra was the chirpy, clueless, and completely oblivious 'Academic Councillor representing the School' for the play – a hollow shell of a position Neville assigned her with. As good as her intentions were, Neville knew she would be a walking disaster and had allowed her to oversee any role but actually participate in none.

As for Lockhart, Neville took his revenge by telling him to sod off, in as polite a manner as he could, giving the excuse that one teacher was more than enough for this event.

Although the magical world already had a 'standard' telling of the play, much like the muggle world with its Snow White, no one ever went to a pantomime these days without it being changed here or there. Neville made sure he composed the scripting group with both muggle-borns and wizarding kids since he believed the magical and muggle versions combined would cause some sort of creative supernova. This group would also in the future be responsible for the casting and rehearsals, with Hannah being in charge. _Can you believe Draco heading this group? He would definitely make the play a one-man show of himself as Draco the Conqueror, killing Harry, the Boy-Who-Loses._

The other two sections are responsible for behind-the-scenes work. One of which would be headed by Su, doing all the stage-decorating, costumes making etc. The other is the group for special effects, music and anything missing, and that was taken care of by Draco. Neville would just run about the three groups and monitor the progress and help out where needed.

" Nevi!" Neville shuddered to the voice of Millicent Bullstrode, apparently still to get over her little crush on him. " Oh Nevi! I missed you so much through the summer! Too bad we couldn't catch up with each other in the classes. Which group are you going into Nevi? I'll definitely follow you!"

" Hello, Millicent. It is… _nice_ to see you too." Neville compelled himself to be polite since this girl was, very surprisingly, the first girl to ever give him a Valentine. " I'm the president. I oversee all the groups. Which group are you planning to join?"

" Oh I don't know. Maybe the special effects one?" Millicent put on a 'cute' gesture of biting her forefinger as if she was deciding.

_You're going to be on your own Draco, sorry. Anymore of these faked gestures and I might puke my lungs out._

" What? Su? You needed help you say?" Neville ignored the perplexed expression on Su's face and shrugged at Millicent. " Sorry, busy, you know."

If this was a cartoon, there would be a smoke-figure of Neville in the place he was standing in just a moment ago in front of Millicent. Neville panted as he rested a hand on Su's shoulder, catching his breath from his escape.

" Ooohh, President Popular," Su teased.

" Funny Su. Funny." Neville liked hanging around Su – main reason being her not acting like a girl at all. She had as much emotional tact as Ron, shown in instances like these. If Hermione had been the decoy for Neville to flee, she would definitely have reprimanded him.

" By the way, what's wrong with your other female friend over there?" Su whispered. _Well, maybe Su is a bit more sensitive than Ron._ " She always hung around with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley right? Those two went to Hannah's group but she told me she wanted to join mines alone."

Neville sighed, remembering how Ron's joke about Hermione outlining all of Lockhart's classes in little hearts earlier had backfired. _And to think I've spent the past days convincing Ron to do an ice-breaker first… All ruined. Ruined… Oh, snap out of it Neville!_

" Hermione said she preferred backstage work like this anyway. Plus, she's very smart and knows quite a range of charms that'll be put in much better use here with setting up the stage and such. Oh, and although we let them free reign in which groups to choose, for those who are on the fence… We want to keep a good mix of house members."

" Gotcha." Su was not in Ravenclaw for nothing and gave Neville a thumbs-up. " I still remember old man Richmond in the summer, and I'm gonna try my best to make the muggle-borns and purebloods work together… though I feel a lot of Slytherins are heading towards Draco's group. Not to mention those who aren't here…"

" Well, they'll know what they're missing with time. Plus, after the script is done we're going to run auditions for the parts anyway, and some might join then on the late train." Neville was really glad Su understood the core purpose of the Council now, and was active in her approach to stop blood prejudices. _Man, I sound like a charity advertisement._

" Well, I'm going to go now. I have detentions with Snape." Neville said, waving to Hannah in the other side of the hall, with her looking a bit dizzy with a crowd of first years throwing questions around her.

" Detention? You mean Occlumency lesson." Su sounded a little sour at missing a learning opportunity. _Funny thing is, the girl just looks nothing like the book type._

" Not much difference."

" You want me to put that Silencing Charm back on you?"

" Ah, yeah, thanks for that again. But I don't think Snape was really serious. Catch you later."

As Neville expected, it was like detention – and worst. Probably due to Neville's provoking upon their last meeting, Snape went all out today and rammed Neville's mental shields to a point where his Occlumency defence failed on several occasions. Granted, Neville was completely laid-back about the things Snape could read by now since he was ninety-nine percent sure any thoughts of his past life would never surface itself. His worst experience remained to be last year with Dumbledore, where the original Neville's memories of drowning revealed itself – but no one else would know of it as a significant separation point.

" You are still weak Longbottom!" Snape roared with a tone of triumph, though sweat could be seen on his face from his efforts. " And seriously. Teasing an eleven year old girl about her choice of undergarments is bordering the line of sexual harassment – then again, you had already seen her stark naked."

Snape had broken through into his mind again and the memory that surfaced this time was of the Burrow during summer where, upon aggravation on Ginny's part, Neville had pointed out his discovery from the garden laundry line. _I don't regret teasing her about her pink panties with lightning-shaped patterns on it one bit – it left her speechless with a mixture of frustration and embarrassment for a good few days. But seriously Harry, if that's not a blaring green light to you then that's going to be the closest your thick skull will ever get in any girl's pants._

Neville knew Snape's comment was as close to a joke as it would get and was secretly glad their lessons were not worst. As much as Harry hated it, Neville understood Snape's supposedly cruel remarks and actually felt Snape was warming up to him. _After all, I don't believe someone who learnt as much about another person, even if it's through Legilimency and just the recent years of his life, could stop himself from getting emotionally attached in some way. Friendship was a bit over the top but possibly one day the misunderstood bat will…_

" Well, you said that was the last attempt, so good night professor." Neville shook his head to clear his thoughts, replacing it with an expectancy for the soft pillow waiting in his dorm when Snape called him back.

" You did well today Longbottom." Neville's curiosity was perked by the man's one-eighty degree turn in attitude and delayed his exit. Turning round with a bemused look at the man, whose expression showed he was internally lashing himself on to accomplish the seemingly strenuous mission he had set for himself, Snape reached into his robes. " As a reward for good performance, mostly teachers issued house points. However, since our lessons are not common knowledge and not part of the school curriculum, I find it unjust to put Gryffindor in any advantageous position."

_Oh this is rich. Snape's actually making excuses for something._

Neville really was trying his best to contain his laughter, but it was quite clear what Neville was thinking now even without Snape trying another Legilimency attempt. The tall man, restraining a snort of disgust, pulled out from his robes a glass vial.

" Here is a potion. It is useful for… healing purposes… like if one were to be struck by a… Sudowood, or any other magical plant of its family. This is your reward and you may do as you like with it… whether you give it away to a friend, or stuff it all down your throat is of no concern of mines. Understood?"

" Clearly." Neville's expression softened at the man who was refusing to meet his gaze for the first time, as if the roles of the lessons had switched. Neville made quite sure he was at the door, within its protection from any Silencing Charms, before saying his goodbyes. " I'll be sure to tell Harry where I got this potion from when I see him."

Quickly slamming Snape's office door shut, and hearing a loud wham from the other side, Neville contently skipped down the corridor back to the common room. Harry probably won't need a sling by tomorrow.

_Snape – 1, Neville – 2._


	28. Book 2 Chapter 6

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

The Council is already moving full speed ahead for the new year, and Neville's Occlumency lessons also resumed. A slightly altered history with Harry's meeting with the Whomping Willow somehow gave Neville the chance to give Snape a nudge. On the other hand, this change had also prolonged the argument between Hermione and Ron…

Chapter 27 – Busy first few weeks.

One of the best things about having the Marauder's Map was that Neville knew where the kitchen was. This was not only useful for getting snacks in between meal times, but Neville need not worry about missing weekend breakfasts like the other students. On the first Saturday back, during prime brunch time, found a yawning Neville tickling the pear that was the entrance to the kitchens.

" Hey Neville! These elves make some mean cottage pie." To his surprise, there were already people leaning all over his worktop of food. The house elves got into the routine of Neville coming down every weekend last year near this time and had correctly doubted Neville would have changed his habits over the summer.

" Fred, George, good morning." Neville let out another yawn and joined the two of them for brunch.

" Morning? We've been out in the pitch since dawn!" Fred exclaimed, tugging at his red and gold Quidditch robes.

" Before dawn actually. I really wanted to moon Wood for getting us up that early." George sighed after Neville raised an eyebrow at the subpar gag. " Sorry, we're just really tired right now."

" And hungry. That's why we're here."

" But the worst thing is, we didn't even get any practice in."

" The Slytherins and your good pal Malfoy came and ruined it."

" And even called Hermione a… well, you know."

Neville frowned as he gnawed on a piece of bacon. He did not remember this book scene until now, but would have thought better of Draco than to call anyone Mudblood after Richmond and summer camp.

" Yeah, we all know even thought Hermione doesn't mention it. She's really conscious about her teeth."

Neville shrugged with a small smile, thinking up a few good words to say in front of Lavender.

" Hey Neville stop inhaling all the food!" Of course, thinking only needed the brain and not the mouth or teeth.

" Seriously, do you love anything more than eating?"

After stuffing himself, and more jokes about Neville's eating etiquette from the Twins, he figured he had still to visit Norbert in the Dragon Room since coming back and see how big his secretly retained weapon had grown. Just as Neville pulled at the ringed handles to the Dragon Room, he once again saw that someone was in the room before him.

" Neville! You can't believe what just happened!" Neville gave Norbert a glance, and even though he could not talk to dragons, Norbert would probably tell him it was not worth being enthusiastic over compared to Norbert's massive growth sprout.

" Oh let me guess… This has something to do with Ron?" Neville ignored the jumpy Hermione, no doubt having told the entire story a dozen times already to Norbert.

" I know I said I won't go on talking about this topic with you… but he was so cool!" Hermione paused here, dropping her tone a little, " Well… apart from the puking slugs thing."

" His broken wand huh?" Neville took a piece of steak and threw it like a Frisbee to reward Norbert for not going insane listening to the love-struck twelve year old girl. " Broken wands could be a life-saver one day though."

" What sort of… Never mind…" Hermione dismissed his seemingly obtuse suggestion and continued to deluge the incidents on the Quidditch pitch. Neville gave her an ear while picking up random dragon-related books on the shelf for a skim, all the while recalling one of the main reasons Hermione fell for Ron in the books.

" So… Ron's almost like a knight, right?" Neville half joked, but immediately felt it had came back and stabbed him instead.

" Why a knight?" Hermione asked innocent, eyebrow slightly quizzical.

" Because he sticks his neck out for you without thinking – even if you haven't talked to him for days. He stood up to Draco when he badmouthed you about your teeth and it's sort of like… defending your honour and whatnot, right?"

" It's not like that…" Hermione bowed her head, her chocolate hair hiding what must be a cherry-coloured face.

" I'm just glad you guys are fine again." Neville pulled up the side of his lips.

" Me too," Hermione had composed herself again – or so Neville had thought. He watched in horror as she, seemingly absentmindedly, stretched her arm towards Norbert. _Wait, don't tell me – she's going to pet Norbert?_

" Are you an idiot?" Neville's roar was not even as fast as his movements as he lunged in front of Hermione half-stretched arm and grabbed hold of her hand. " It's a dragon! As you said, they're wild and bite anything within their jaw's reach! You want to lose an arm or something?"

" Neville! Calm down!" Hermione looked incredulously at him, but with a smile on her face. " Norbert lets me pet him."

" Oh don't – I said no!" Neville was too late this time, as Hermione purposely caught him off guard and her arm went over his shoulder. Just as he was fearing for the worst, a soft purring sound and the feeling of an exhale of warm breath behind him made Neville turn around. " This guy… really lets you pet him."

" Told you Neville. Relax." Just as Neville was about to marvel and celebrate the fact that his dragon was slowly starting to be tamed, forgetting he had almost no contributions to it though, Hermione teased, " I'm just glad Ron protects me only in the right circumstances."

" Right… Anyway, I just dropped in to check up on Norbert after summer. Nice work on the petting thing by the way… I should take a trip to Hagrid's and ask him about this too."

" Harry and Ron are still there when I left. You might see them there."

" Okay." Neville hurried away from the Dragon Room and made his way out of the castle. As he took a deep breath, walking briskly across the grounds, a gust of cool wind caressed his warmer than usual cheeks.

Hagrid's hut soon came into view, and Fang outside it, eating what looked something that Neville guessed was chicken. Sure enough, Ron and Harry were still there when Hagrid opened the door. Harry had always been close to the half-giant, being the person that brought him back to the magical world and all. Also Ron was feeling too unwell to move with his basin of slugs.

" Ah! Neville! Great to see ya! How's school?" Hagrid greeted and went to get another mug of tea from his kitchen.

" It's okay. Are you alright Ron? You sure you don't need to go and see Madam Pomfrey?" Neville asked, pointing his wand at the copper basin that was ready to overflow to vanish the slugs in it.

" Thanks. I guess Hermione told you, huh?" Without waiting for the answer, Ron hiccupped and a slug the size of his finger crawled from his nose. " Arugh."

" Yeah, hate it when that happens." Neville recalled from some of his wilder parties in his past life where alcohol flew freely.

" So you heard what happened at the Quidditch pitch this morning then?" Harry asked and Neville replied with a nod as he ripped the meat off a tasty chicken leg. " By the way, thanks for that potion Neville. So glad you gave it to me last night or else Wood would've been on my case for not being able to train."

" Actually, someone else gave me the potion to give to you." Neville felt a guilty pleasure as if he was going to watch someone slip on a banana peel he purposely put in the middle of the road.

" Can you tell me who it is so I can thank the person?" Harry asked, well-mannered unlike his future self in the books.

" Sure – It's just Snape."

" What?" Ron screamed, but that seemed to worsen his condition as another round of vomiting threatened to fill out the basin again.

Harry took a few, seemingly struggling, moments to chew on the revelation and harrumphed. " Very well. I will thank him… later."

" I wish I have something that can record what you said. Like a Dictaphone or something." Neville could not help but laugh at the look on Harry's face at that moment. _I wonder if the stuff I stole from Filch's drawer last year is still safely stashed in the Shrieking Shack. Maybe there's something I can use there – after all, I bought a book on identifying magical artefacts and brought it with me._

" Good on ya Harry! That's the polite thing to do. I'm proud of ya!" Hagrid gave Harry a pat on the back that almost knocked the boy off his chair.

Neville would have asked about Norbert's taming progress, though he really though it was only Hermione who could pet the fiery dragon, but would need to find another time to ask Hagrid. He did not forget the fact that Harry and Ron did not know about Norbert yet and it seemed like Hermione had also kept it a secret. _Well for security reasons, the less people know about the Dragon Room and Norbert the better… It's not like it's just a secret between Hermione and me – Hagrid knows too!_

" So why did Hermione go back to the castle on her own anyway?" Neville asked.

" We don't know. We were just chatting and Ron asked Hermione about what would a woman want the most for her birthday."

" Yeah, I forgot about my mum's birthday last year," Ron explained, though his previously white face slightly redder now with embarrassment. " Fred and George never reminded me on purpose and Ginny wasn't here last year. I marked it in my calendar a month early this year so I won't forget – it's October the thirtieth by the way Harry, but no, you don't have to get her anything – since this is the first individual present I get her, I'd wanted a girl's opinion on what to get."

Neville wondered if he should copy Harry and think about getting Mrs Weasley something too. He did stay at the Burrow during summer as well and he wanted to pay tribute… or politer put, stay on her good side. Then something clicked inside Neville's brain at this point and he took a deep breath.

" So… after you asked Hermione, she just left?" Neville dreaded to ask.

" Yeah." Harry answered simply.

" And she didn't even answer my question." Ron rolled his eyes, but was stopped half way by another slug attack.

_The silly girl mistook him again! Hermione must have thought Ron was asking what to get her for _her_ birthday! Oh this peace between those two won't last long… I'm out of this! I'm staying the hell out of this!_

" Are you okay Neville? Your face looks as bad as Ron's." Harry observed, " Maybe we should head back to the castle now."

The three of them said their goodbyes to Hagrid but before they could even reach the castle steps, a small mousey figure came running towards them, much to the dismay of Harry.

" All right, Harry?" Colin Creevy levelled his camera to his eyes. " Oh! Harry in his Quidditch robes with his pals! I need a picture of this!"

This was not the first time Harry and 'entourage' were halted by the fan boy, but Neville could not bring himself to get mad at the innocent kid. Colin's bright eyes lit up whenever he saw Harry, and his naturally small height and innocent questions stopped Neville from strangling him whenever his camera's unusually bright flashlight burned its targets' retinas. Recalling how Colin had died in the last book, and having felt it was completely unnecessary and J.K. were just making up the numbers again, Neville vowed to keep the nosy, annoying, but endearing mouse alive.

" Seriously, can't you stop it with the phot – BLURGH!" Ron's slug vomiting seemed to increase whenever he got too emotionally excited about something.

" Let him be Ron," Neville's words seemed to be a benevolent act of God to Colin, as his gaze for Neville at that moment were nearly reaching the same brightness of sparkles as he did for Harry. " Being behind a camera might save his life one day."

Harry gave him a strange look but Neville dismissed it. Harry might have pursued if Colin had not asked him how he got his hair to be so stylishly messy all the time, can he touch his Nimbus, and if he liked the colour purple all in a very small space of time. _Have I been slipping things like Colin and Ron out too much? Ever since that unexpected Whomping Willow divergence with Harry… But that snake really would've killed those people in the book if not for every one of them having a lucky break…_

Just as the company set foot into the castle, Filch turned the corner and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Harry. " What do you think you're doing? Walking into the castle with those filthy clothes and that broom! Who'd you think slave away cleaning up your mess! Now! Off with you lot! And you Weasley! Remember your detention tonight at the trophy room!"

The kids scurried away and Neville wondered why they were ever so scared of Filch or getting caught in the books. _Apart from not being optically pleasing, there really is nothing to be worried about._

When they were out of ear-shot, Ron groaned and coughed up another few slugs. " I just know Filch is going to make me polish that entire trophy room by hand!"

" Why by hand?" Colin piped up in his usual question-asking tone. " I thought wizards are able to use magic for everything!"

" Filch tortures the students this way because he's a Squib himself. Human nature really." Neville answered, spotting Harry looking like he would snap if Colin asked another question.

" Filch is a Squib? Blimey, I never knew that!" Ron exclaimed.

" What's a Squib?" Harry asked.

" Someone who's born from a magical family, but can't use magic. Something like that." Neville was the one to answer again.

" But why would anyone ever want to live in a castle full of magical students when he can't do a bit of magic himself?" Harry questioned, and was probably going to express a few words of pity for Filch if he was allowed to continue.

" How dare you?" Filch's voice, probably back initially for another round of shouting, clearly suggested that he had overheard their whole conversation. " Oh the famous Harry Potter! Thinking he's all that and won't allow someone like – like _me_ to be in the same castle as him! Don't think Dumbledore won't hear about this! And you too Longbottom! I don't know where you know this from but you'd better watch your mouth!"

Filch stalked away, metaphorical smoke blowing out of his ears. Harry was about to go after him and explain his good intentions, but Neville put a hand on his shoulder, knowing that would only make it worst. Colin chose this exact moment to take another photo to frustrate Harry.

" Tonight's detention is going to be hell…" Ron shook his head, looking as if a Dementor just kissed him. _Or worse, Millicent Bullstrode._

Millicent and a small band of Slytherins approached the Gryffindors from the other end of the corridor and the huge girl, having received another burst of height after summer compared to the others around her, threw Neville a shudder-inducing wink. " Oh Nevi! Are you going to the meeting for the play? We can walk together!"

" You're in Draco's music and effects group right? I'm really sorry, but I _promised_ – yes, sworn upon my life – that I would help Su with her group and the props and that. Look at the time! I've got to run! Bye guys."

Shuddering again as Millicent 'cutely' stomped the floor in her disappointment, Neville fled as fast as he could in the direction she came from, knowing she was far far behind him.

" Hey watch it!" Bumping into someone around the corner, Neville felt as if he had collided with a brick wall.

" Oh, it's you Neville! Great! Come along to my group's first meeting." It was Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. _Seriously! What do these guys and Slytherins eat to get so tall through just a single summer! Damn my Longbottom genes! Damn them to hell!_

" Sorry man, I said it before and I'll say it again – you're pretty much on your own as long as Millicent is there."

" Oh come on! It's just Millicent!" Draco's exasperated tone was cut by Neville's piercing and sceptical stare. " Oh, alright!"

" Allowing you in-charge of setting up the cheerleading club paid you back for this and a hundred times more!"

" Don't remind me – I was just there." Draco's face twitched, and his look turned vacantly distant. " It was like being stuck in a sea – no – ocean of girls and… drowning."

" Oh yeah, just rub it in." Neville grinded his teeth.

" No, seriously… Do you know what it feels like to be stranded in the middle of a marketplace, or stuck using one single Portkey for fifty people, or lost in a forest of Whomping Willows…"

" That look you're giving me right now is begging me to suggest you to a psychiatrist." Neville shockingly realised Draco actually did not enjoy the opportunity benevolently given to him.

" A what now?" Draco snapped back to himself and stopped trembling.

" Forget it. But you know. This cheerleading club is the best chance to spend time with Lavender and all that. I also made sure she joined your group for the play as well." Neville-the-wingman-Longbottom nudged Draco on the arm.

" Right… Well, after an hour of a club meeting that somehow involved shoes, something called Prada, and Maryanne Atkins using too much toilet paper, we've decided to host the cheerleading tryouts for two weeks from now."

_I am so getting a front row ticket._

0

0

0

" I feel sick…" Neville plunged onto the common room couch, but refused to turn his eyes up to look at his friends. It had almost been two weeks since Hermione mistook Ron's question, and Neville had still to find a way to let her down lightly. He had of course tried to tell Ron to get Hermione something nice for her up-coming birthday, but with his budget being a few extra Sickles left from his mother's gift, it was next to hopeless. _He was supposed to have given her candy from Honeydukes last year! The most expensive selection box!_

Not only that, but just two weeks into the start of term and Neville was running around the castle as if he was Tarzan in the jungle – not the swinging from branch to branch way, but the never having a moment on his ass way. Though he left Draco with starting the cheerleading club, after getting the news, about three people would come and bug Neville about starting a new club every day – and all of them a waste of time. _Seriously! As much as I like bikinis, I don't think Hogwarts is the most suitable place to start a Bikinis Appreciation Society – we're in freezing Scotland. _

There was one other club that got the go-ahead from Neville though and that was the 'Hoglake' club. Some seniors approached him one day and said they had been playing Ron's birthday version of chess during summer with some friends and thought it was brilliant. Neville had a bad feeling the chess club would complain sooner or later, but there were no other oppositions from the other Council members. _The reason they called it Hoglake is the same for the name Quidditch… To think some people really had the time to think about these things. _

There was also the coordination of the theatre production of Onyx Black and the Seven Muggles. The most important thing was for Hannah's group to finish the script, since that would set the main direction for all the work. An audition should be scheduled sometime next month – at least that was the plan. Unfortunately, some of the group's random members, Ron for example, really were not good at making up stories. It did not help with Lockhart popping in now and then, causing havoc by forcefully changing the story with one of his story-writing quills. _So much work… maybe the Council should audition for extra help as well…_

Apart from the Council work, Neville also had his normal school work. Hannah had resumed her habit of screaming at him again in Herbology, and Neville's hopes of her changing that throughout summer was lost. Occumency lessons with Snape continued whenever he wanted, and through all that, Neville also needed to make time for his own selection of spell practices, identifying the use of the pile of once-confiscated items at the Shrieking Shack, and keeping up his physical fitness regimes.

" Neville, you look really tired. Take it easy, okay?" Hermione offered him a piece of Cauldron Cake and he stuffed it in his mouth eagerly.

" Thanks, you're a life saver. Anyway, I'm going to be off in a sec since Snape's got another Occumency lesson lined up for tonight." Neville spotted the fidgety Harry from the edge of his vision but was too lethargic to comment upon it.

" But you just came back from overseeing the Hoglake club's meeting!" Ron shook his head incredulously, ignoring Hermione's frown at him for using this as an excuse to leave the homework he should be working on.

" A man's got to do what he's got to do." Neville sighed.

" Oh you got that right!" Fred and George once again interjected into the group's conversation out of nowhere. _Seriously! How do they just do that?_

" There are perks for being President of the Student Council Neville." George said in a sing-song voice.

" Like getting front row seats for the cheerleaders' tryouts tomorrow!" Fred put an arm around Neville. " Don't think you can hustle a few up for us too can ya?"

" Yeah, those tickets go for a good twenty Sickles now under the tables." George's comment drew a gasp from Hermione.

" Seriously! Inflating the prices for some lousy seat just to see girls… well, cheerleading. Why?"

" Hermione, have you seen the robes they newly modified?" Ron rolled his eyes. _Not to be out-done by his brothers no doubt… I thought Ron cared nothing of girls until book four or something. Oh, I know this is my fault again…_

" Ron! You too?" Hermione did a double-take and deepened her frown. " Don't tell me you plan on going to watch the cheerleading tryouts tomorrow."

" Well… I did get a ticket for a good seat when it was cheap…" Ron avoided her eyes.

" Ronald Weasley! I can't believe you!" Hermione idly shook her head as if someone had just told her she did not get full marks for a test.

" Actually… I'm really sorry Hermione. I really hope you understand and can forgive me… I promise I'd make it up to you later." Ron's apologetic tone seemed to be the perfect bane to Hermione's frown since she immediately softened her expression.

" Well… It's okay Ron. I forgive you." Hermione's acting was really bad since she posed absolutely no real indication of reluctance in what she said at all. " It's not like tryouts will last the whole day tomorrow and we'll still have time to –"

Neville exchanged a few glances with the twins, who were looking on in glee. _Oh God no! Hermione, needless to say, the thing Ron wants you to forgive him_ _about_ _is not that he doesn't have time to celebrate your birthday tomorrow… I'd really better stop this here._

" Good, good. Well now, look at the time. Hey Ron, let's go take a stroll. You can walk me down to Snape's." Neville got up on his feet, determined to divert the Ron asteroid from its collision course with planet Hermione.

Ron gave Neville an 'are-you-crazy?' look and sealed his own fate. " Why would I ever want to go near Snape while I'm here slaving away a homework for his class. Plus, I need to get this finished or else I won't have time to go to the tryouts tomorrow. I spent the money for Hermione's birthday present for the tickets you know."

_Bruce Willis. Why aren't you here to save me? _

" What did you say Ron?" If the feeling of doom was a rock on Neville's chest, then Hermione's stoical expression as she said this was a hammer that shattered it.

" You forgave me right? I said, I'd make it up to you – I'll definitely get you a birthday present later when I get the money."

Just as Neville exited the common room wordlessly, he heard the sound of a slap resonating even over the noisy Gryffindors. Frankly, as immature as Ron was, he really deserved that one. Neville turned the corner to head down to the dungeons a bit too quickly and bumped his chin onto a very hard forehead. Just as he was about to whine about it not being his day, he realised the kid he bumped into was about to fall backwards from their impact and down the stairs.

" Hey! Watch it!" Reflexively wrapping his arms around her, pulling her body close, the two of them fell together backwards onto the landing.

" You! You have the nerve to tell anyone to 'watch it'!" Ginny immediately shoved herself away from Neville and dusted her robes as if she had just been contaminated. _So much for my goodhearted warning._ " As I said. Every single time I meet you –"

" Nothing good happens, I know!" Neville ignored the timid first year friends of Ginny's and gave into the worry on the back of his head. " Listen Ginny, can I ask a favour from you?"

" Neville. You just almost pushed me down the stairs." Ginny stated flatly, but the impression she wanted to convey was ruined because she was unconsciously rubbing the sore spot on her forehead.

" Seriously Ginny. I'll get you some chocolates later, so please?"

" Oh alright. I know this is important to you if you use food as a bribe."

Restraining the urge to strangle the little girl, looking nothing like how a possessed person should, Neville asked, " You know Hermione, right?"

" Yes, the girl that's friends with Harry." Ginny's tone wavered a bit here.

" No worries on that front, Ginny. Spend a day with her and you'll know her sights are not on Harry." Neville's words provoked Ginny's friends to giggle and her face to glow bright red.

" Oh just tell me what it is you want me to do!"

" You see, Ron got her pretty angry and she's probably hiding out in her dorm. You know how your brother is sometimes –"

" An insensitive prat." Ginny efficiently summed up, already on the side of Hermione.

" Not my choice of words, but I see you understand. Anyway, I just want you to go and talk to her a bit. Not just this time, but in the future as well. With Harry and me not allowed up to the girls' dorms and all, and Hermione not having many girl friends, it'll be nice for you two to badmouth Ron together – well, not badmouth him but – Anyway, she's also really good with school and knows lots of things so you'll find her pretty fun… well, educational at least. I hear she'd read Quidditch Through the Ages –"

" Neville?" He did not miss the twitch of her lips and he knew something was wrong. " Why are you so concerned about me being friends with this girl?"

" She might be your sister-in-law in the future." Patting Ginny on the head, taking advantage of the shock she received from the news, Neville made his escape. " I gotta go see Snape. Run along now children."

_To think an eleven year old girl can try and trick me – I doubt you can even get it out of me what I'd like to eat for dinner. But putting Ginny with Hermione is a very good move here: Hermione benefit from having a female friend earlier; and Ginny having someone to turn to instead of Riddle's Dairy. But this still hasn't solved the issue with Ron and Hermione… seriously that… that… that 'prat' – courtesy of Ginny._

Knocking and entering Snape's office, Neville stopped himself from sighing at the same old face of the overgrown bat. " Good evening Professor Snape."

" Always stay alert! Legilimens won't give you a chance to arm yourself. That is the nature of their magic Neville – _Legilimens_."

Neville gasped and he pointed his wand straight at Snape instinctively to defend himself from the sudden spell. The thought never really having gone through his tired brain, Neville bellowed, " _Protego_!"

Before Neville knew it, images flashed through the front of his brain. His view was from an aerial spot on top of where he recognised as the Hogwarts Lake, and it was clear enough to see the seaweed at the bottom. It was evening time, and under the gentle swaying of the waves, dozens of small boats carried little children wearing pointed witch hats towards the castle.

" Oh? A Mudblood?" A particular ear-offending exclamation drew Neville's attention to one of the boats and sitting there were four children. One of which was familiar enough with the scowl and crooked nose alone. The witch sitting beside Snape, with a face gradually getting redder, looked as if there was an exceptional brighter aura around her than her surroundings. The give-away were her green eyes though – Lily Evans.

The witch that exclaimed seconds before would have continued if Snape had not drawn his wand. " Take that back."

" But she is a Mudblood isn't she?" The jeering witch snorted in Lily's direction.

" I don't know what that means, but I can guess it isn't a good word. Just ignore her Severus." Lily put a hand on Snape's arm and the young boy's face turned a never-seen-before reddish tinge.

" I can't believe I'm on the same boat as a smelly Mudblood on my way to Hogwarts." The Slytherin-bound witch sneered and Snape reflexively stood up due to inexperience. No one with a sane mind would make such a sudden movement on such a crowded small boat – but Snape was probably far from sane when it came to Lily.

The boat overturned and a distinctly younger Hagrid quickly rowed his boat back over to help. Snape was flapping like a featherless duck in the lake, clearly unable to swim. Lily was not much different though and Hagrid motioned to pull her out first.

Through all the splashing, first years shouting, and Hagrid bellowing, a sharp request in the voice of Lily made it to Neville's eardrums like a bell in the morning. " No! Save Severus first!"

" _Longbottom_!" In a fraction of a second Neville was back in the dungeons, his wand pointing at the tip of Snape's. " You should know better than to use the Shield Charm!"

Gathering his wits about him again – well, almost, Neville explained. " I'm sorry sir, but you just threw a spell on me so suddenly I wasn't fast enough –"

" I've overestimated you Longbottom! I'd thought you can react accordingly after reminding you to be on constant guard the moment you stepped into this room!" Snape expression at that moment looked as if he was debating if killing Neville now was worth the hassle.

" But I'd thought you were an imposter! You never called me Neville!" Neville protested, making sure his arm was not an inch lowered.

" And do I need your permission to be in a good mood Longbottom?"

" Why were you in a good mood?" Neville knew he had cut the line when Snape had carelessly leaked out his uncharacteristic behaviour. The two had also realised that the scene of a student and professor, wands pointed at each other, debating over moods were far too awkward and strange at that moment.

" Get out! OUT!" Snape's roar thundered through the dungeons as Neville fled for his life at top speed.

_That scene… no bets that memory of Snape's was jotted back to the front of his mind by Harry on the first day back. Then again, with how clear that memory was, anything related to Lily were probably never far from his daily thoughts. Now why on Earth was he in a good mood? _

0

0

0

A/N: Sorry for the wait, but it might now be possible for me to start weekly updates again – possibly more this week depending on my group's report progress.

Quidditch was taken from the sport's place of origin – which is a 'ditch' near the area of 'Quid' something or other. Hoglake comes from Hogwarts Lake by the way. Just for those who didn't understand.

And now really – _spoiler_ – just for those who couldn't guess. Snape was in a good mood because Harry carried out his promise of saying thank you for the potion for his arm. I'm never sure to what degree constitutes to over-hinting something…


	29. Book 2 Chapter 7

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

Hermione's once again mistook Ron and has once again fallen out with her supposedly insensitive secret admirer. On the other hand, Snape's memories of Lily were brought back due to Harry's slightly-turned positive attitude towards him. Neville though, had just been too busy with his own things to meddle too much…

Chapter 28 – The first attack.

Wolfing down dinner with the guys, all of whom ignored the disgusted looks the girls on the opposite side of the table threw them, Neville was atypically the first to finish and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

" Men! Are we ready?" Neville took up the role of leadership and puffed out his chest.

" Neville, I don't care if you're President or not, but our cheerleading club is _not_ for you boys to just ogle!" Lavender harrumphed. " Even Draco isn't as perverted as you lot, and you call yourselves Gryffindors."

Seamus interjected, " We're not perverted! We just… wanted to pretend like this is as important as a Quidditch match."

" He's got a point there. This audition is for picking out the team members and it's the only reason we allowed the school to watch. We can't pick someone who chickens out during the games," Parvati reminded.

Neville could not contain his excitement, especially after hearing last night from a run-in with Penelope Clearwater that she was one of the candidates. It was also very entertaining to watch Percy's sour look for the past week, in complete disapproval of the club to begin with. Neville had heard from Draco that Percy had complained about the club to Dumbledore many a times – disorderly conduct and all that. _Draco probably defended the club from Percy and used it to score a good few points with Lavender… At least, I hope he did._

Just as Neville was about to tell Ron to finish up, he saw Ginny walking into the Hall and decide to postpone his 'crusade' with the Gryffindor boys for a few moments. " Hey, Ginny, can I talk to you?"

" What is it?" Upon hearing his voice, the little girl immediately raised her arms and took a step back and to the sides.

" Seriously." Neville refrained from an eye-roll. " Anyway, did you talk to Hermione last night?"

" I did find her this morning." Ginny took a peek over Neville's shoulder.

" Well?"

" Well what?"

" What did you say?"

" Ah. I just spent it badmouthing Ron."

" It wasn't my intention to send you over and sabotage – you – no wonder she looked like that this morning at the common room." Neville would have asked more but Seamus and Dean were on either sides of him already.

" Come on, let's go! Not everyone's got front row seats reserved like you." Seamus pulled Neville away by the robes.

" We'll talk later. Ron! Let's get a move on!" Neville shouted back at Harry and Ron, the later still sitting on the bench.

" Can we, like… go later?" Ron asked with hesitation. Neville exchanged a look with Harry, who also shrugged at Ron's behaviour.

" Let me tell you something Ron. There's almost _nothing_ more important than watching cheerleaders – maybe except a girl fight." Neville added the punch-line, though a bit sourly, " You even spent money to get tickets reserved remember?"

" Ah. Right, yeah. Let's go." With that, Neville pulled Harry and Ron towards the doors.

" B-bye Harry…" Ginny-the-pipsqueak peeped as Harry brushed past her. The girl was still nowhere near getting over her timidities with her idol and this time, her voice was even quiet enough for Harry to completely overlook her. Figuring there was nothing Neville could do for Ginny's disappointed look for now, he and the gang headed for the Quidditch pitch.

As they passed the door, they ran into Hannah. " Hey Neville, there's something about the script I wanted to ask your opinions on –"

" Not now Hannah. We are on a mission." Neville ignored her and strode on without missing a beat. He knew he would have to pay for that in Herbology soon, but he was already running late.

Neville could hear the crowd from the stadium already even if he had just stepped out of the castle. The occasion today actually sounded even rowdier than a normal Quidditch match. When he got there, he saw the stands were filled with both guys and girls. Even the teachers box was only half empty. Neville could clearly see Flitwick trying to use and hide his omnioculars at the same time. _Flitwick you old dog!_

Neville, completely abusing his Presidential power, as Su had put it, got a seat in the middle of the front row, just behind the judges' table. As he broke apart from the Gryffindors and headed for his seat, he spotted Penelope Clearwater in a quiet corner – disappointedly still unchanged. The reason was very apparent though, with Percy's mouth moving non-stop next to her, most likely lecturing about this not being decent behaviour.

" Well if it isn't Penelope! Why are you still standing out here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for your tryouts?" Neville 'strolled' by, his George Clooney smile once again attacking at full strength. " Then again, I don't think a tryout is necessary for someone as pretty as you."

" Oh Neville!" Penelope smiled radiantly with all her pearly whites and turned back to Percy. " See Percy? Even Neville is in full support of the cheerleading club – and me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get changed and practice my routine!"

" Of course he supports them – he gave them permission! Penelope! Wait! You're making a big mistake Penelope!" Unlike most times, Percy actually faltered in chasing after her and turned back on Neville. " Neville, you must halt the activities of this cheerleading club immediately! This type of club will only bring rowdy and crude behaviour to the school and its students!"

" Have you seen a Quidditch match Percy? They have mascots, like the Irish having Leprechauns for example, and it's the same idea." Neville stoned his face and recited, " The purpose of the cheerleading club is to boost the moral of team members during a competition and also rally up the audience to boast the excitement and enjoyment of the match. This is stated in the essential contract upon the establishment of any club or society in Hogwarts, and complies with article five-hundred and ninety-eight of the school rules. If you like I can get the headmaster to show you the signed parchment in his office."

" There is no article five-hundred and ninety-eight in the school rules!" Percy gave a short laugh in triumph.

" Actually, I was the one who wrote it and the headmaster passed it last week. It helps deal with the definition of a school club and its validity." Neville could not help but smile at the look on Percy's face. " Just because there hasn't been an establishment of any new clubs for the past decades, that doesn't mean there are no need to revamp the rules. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my seat. Oh, and you really should find one as well or else you'll be standing here all day. With the whole school down here supporting this wonderful cause and all, the stadium is quite crowded."

Rendering Percy white and speechless, Neville blew out a breath and internally congratulated himself. _Seriously, sometimes being Council President really isn't all fun and games as people seem to think… Trying to get that rule, or any in fact, past Dumbledore was definitely a massive headache in itself._

" I'm surprised you got here so late – and without popcorn." Draco, one of the judges, turned around when he spotted Neville coming.

" Who do you take me for? I'm the President." Neville had always wanted to say that in his past life.

" Hey Neville, can you cast your loud speaking charm thing on me?" Lavender asked. She had sat out from being a judge, giving her Gryffindor place for Parvati. Neville had asked Draco to keep a house-equalled commanding level for the cheerleading club. The other judges were Padma and some senior Hufflepuff girl. Lavender's role today was to organise backstage in the changing rooms, calling out names, keeping things in order et cetera.

" I'll do it Miss Brown! Ah yes! This reminds me of the time I was the judge of the Miss French Witch Pageant. A great night it was when I dazzled a hopeful girl so much with my smile she fell off the catwalk!" Lockhart's overzealous appearance on the pitch and his threat of putting a charm on Lavender were quickly diverted as Dumbledore beckoned him to the teachers box. " Ah yes, quite so! Students should run these things themselves headmaster. Very good idea. Brilliant!"

" Ah-hem… Okay, now may each candidate come out in front of the judges and perform a short routine." Lavender's voice was safely amplified by Neville. " We will call the candidates out in order of surnames… First is Leanne Amber."

" Are… those really robes she's wearing?" Draco stammered to Neville, who was surprisingly apathetic.

" You guys are not only judging on the routine, but the clothing as well right? Seriously, this girl just took her old robes and snipped off the sleeves. She's even wearing shorts underneath!" Neville complained.

" Fashion faux-pas or what sister!" The Hufflepuff judge had heard Neville and nodded in agreement.

" Please… don't call me sister again…" Neville never studied art or fashion or anything. He was just honest and knew what a guy liked to see – and his talents seemed to be somehow recognised by the other three female judges. After all, their club members needed to come up with ideas for new cheerleading uniforms to wear during the matches as well. Draco was trying to stop a nosebleed, probably due to too much blood rushing to his face when one of the candidates thought he was 'the weak target' in the panel and had sat on his lap. _Lucky kid._

Another thing apart from the modified witches clothes that were different from muggle cheerleading tryouts were the routines. One of them almost set the grass pitch on fire and another girl did about fifty summersaults in midair by bouncing on the ground several times before Padma told her to stop. Everyone still enjoyed the show and by the time it was over, the entire school was looking forward to the first Quidditch game where the cheerleading squad would make their debut. It was getting late and the students all filed back to their respective dorms since it was very close to curfew.

Neville caught Ron as he shifted with the crowd and shouted to him for a bit of banter. " Hey Ron! Too bad you didn't sit beside me, but who did you think was the best? The one with the long slit up her robes was nice, but I still rank Penelope Clearwater up top. That girl sure is nimble."

" Yeah! It was excellent! To think I almost missed it because of some stupid note Hermione gave me." Ron's revelation made Neville's blood run cold.

" Please Ron. Give me the note." Neville took a deep breath as Ron, after searching all of his robes pockets, pulled out a very much crumpled piece of parchment with the edges slightly ripped. " She asked you to meet her at the library? The time the tryouts started? And you didn't go? OH MY GOD!"

" Hey Neville wha –" Ron was dragged by the arm in a mad dash back towards the castle. " Don't tell me you're dragging me to the library now! There's no way Hermione is still there. I mean, she was probably at the stadium herself – practically the whole school was here bar some girls."

" Actually, I did see Hermione at the stadium." Harry's words halted Neville for a moment. Harry jogged up to them and elaborated, " But she sat next to some other girls in her group for the play. I saw her… _looking_ at Ron though –"

" When did you last see her?" Neville asked Harry, looking left and right aimlessly.

" Well… I was too absorbed with watching the tryouts by the time they got to Kimberly Darwin…" Harry bowed his head in a blush.

" We're heading to the library. Now. Knowing her, she'll go back there to give you a last chance to turn up" Neville pulled Ron on the mad dash speed again. " Seriously Ron! Today is the girl's birthday and you just ignored her."

" She hasn't been speaking to me since last night! And it was _you_ who pulled me away at the Great Hall. I was going to wait a bit and see if she turns up…"

" Guys, let's just find her first and apologise. I do feel pretty guilty not celebrating with her…" Harry mediated and the three of them leapt up the stairs, two at a time towards the library.

" No running in the corridors!" Filch, who Harry bumped shoulders with as the three of them rushed past, shook his fist at their backs. The boys obviously ignored him and slipped into a shortcut Neville pointed out.

By the time they arrived at the library though, the doors were closed and it was a complete silence apart from their panting breaths.

" See? Now can't we just head back to the tower like the rest of the students? I'll make sure to say sorry to her. Maybe I'll even get her something Lockhart related." Ron shuddered at the thought though.

" Hey wait, did you hear that?" Harry put up a hand to stop the other two.

" What're you talking about mate?" Ron asked.

" Don't you guys hear it? It's a voice… This way!" Harry had already dashed ahead in his Saviour Mode. Neville could not hear anything out of the ordinary either, but he knew it was the Basilisk – he did remember _something_ from the books – and followed right after him.

_I'm sure the first attack wasn't so soon into the book… Right? …I can't be sure… I really should've took a good look at the timeline they had on the Internet…_

" It's right up this corri – wah!" Harry slipped on a pile of water on the ground and rammed straight into a wall. " Why's the ground so –"

Harry looked down to find his robes stained with blood, and the same blood were smeared on the wall he had just collided into. It was exactly as Neville visualised it, with Mrs Norris hanging off a torch bracket, and the warning in blood. Neville also remembered the consequences that followed, with Harry outcasted as the prime suspect. This would be the first step to Harry's periodic isolation at Hogwarts and it had bred him into the moody, stubborn, and solitary individual for the later books. It was one of Neville's prime wishes to change that.

" We're going. Now." Neville pulled onto Harry's arm and was just turning around when an ugly shriek echoed around the castle.

" My cat! My cat! What happened to Mrs Norris?" Filch had his hands to his face, aghast at the scene in front of him. His widened eyes slowly fell onto the bloodied robes on Harry and his face reddened in a rapid contrast. " YOU! IT'S YOU!"

" W-wait!" Harry backed away and before Filch strangled him alive, a commanding voice boomed from the other end of the corridor.

" _Argus_!" Dumbledore arrived at the scene, but simultaneously with a band of students. The first student in the group was Draco.

With one glance at the wall, Draco read the message and his eyes widened. " T-the heir of Slytherin!"

Dumbledore quickly calmed down Filch and took down Mrs Norris, but by then, most of the school were here after hearing the news. Neville spotted Ginny somewhere at the back of the crowd, with her hands covering her mouth and trembling slightly. _Why did the events speed up? Ginny, just because Harry didn't hear you at dinner you go and write in the diary for that? I wanted you to speak to Hermione damn it!_

Neville had also spotted Hermione as well, who was with her group for the play and a worried expression was etched onto her face. _No doubt about Ron – who I swear will hyperventilate soon._

Dumbledore had got the situation under control by now, instructing Professor Sprout to clean up and order the Prefects to settle the students, while bringing the three boys and Filch to the nearest office, Lockhart's, for questioning.

After Mrs Norris was found to be curable, Filch relentlessly attacked Harry, bent on forcing him onto a fate that was worst than being imprisoned in Azkaban. " He did it, he did it! You saw what he wrote on the wall! He knows… and his two buddies… He knows I'm a Squib!"

" I never _touched_ Mrs Norris!" Harry protested vehemently

" Rubbish! You thought people without magic like me should not even be allowed at Hogwarts! I heard you with my own ears!" Filch spat back. " And you never touched her? Then why are your robes covered in blood?"

" Harry slipped and fell against the wall." Neville defended, boring a hole at the back of Filch's head through his eyeballs. " Everyone saw the puddles in the corridor."

" Ha! Slipped! Like you lot care about slipping with all the mud and rain you trudge into the castle with all the time!" Filch was not to be deterred as he continued. " And you brats were rushing somewhere! That murderer even rammed me out of the way! What was so important that you three didn't go back to your dorms like the rest of the students, huh? Killing my cat no doubt!"

" We were going to meet a friend outside the library." Neville produced the piece of parchment Hermione gave Ron, much to the latter's chagrin at its display. " We missed the appointment and wanted to find her to make up for it."

" Neville. Did you lead Harry and Ron away from the other students?" Dumbledore, no doubt having mind-read the other two, twinkled his eyes at Neville. He felt a tide of magic invading his Occlumency shields and gritted his teeth.

" I did. So?" Neville was in a very bad mood already without having to deal with the old fox's suspicions. He needed to see Ginny about that diary. Even Snape shook his head at what Neville threw at Dumbledore next. " There is no proof we did anything to the cat. We have the whole school as witness at the cheerleading tryouts, and unless you can validate the time of petrifaction to be the time we were unseen by other students, you have nothing to prove us guilty."

Of course, later Neville regretted his forceful attitude since bringing up blatant evidences as if it was prepared beforehand would only increase Dumbledore's suspicions of him to new heights. Since that day, Neville was unable to push past any more school rules he was boasting to Percy just before, for a very long time.

" Headmaster, as much as I hate to say it, Longbottom is correct. Innocent until proven guilty." Snape just had to add in after that, " Even if the deed is done by someone in this room Filch, such powerful magic can only be by a 'talented' individual and not the likes of – others."

Harry, obviously one of the 'others', was even more shocked than Ron at receiving an aid from who he thought was the teacher that hated him the most – even if it was hidden behind an implied insult. Neville seriously wondered if Snape was taking revenge for last night's lesson. _Very well, I'll just have to tell Harry what I saw from your memory Snape!_

The three were dismissed, with Neville feeling the heavy stare of Dumbledore on his way out, and they climbed back to Gryffindor tower. Neville remembered that he was missing a piece of the puzzle and asked. " Harry. About that voice you heard –"

" I'm not crazy Neville." Harry cut in defensively before Neville could finish. _This was the type of attitude he needed less._

" No, I believe you. I just wanted to know when you first heard it." Neville patiently explained. _Even Hermione and Ron in the books, though said believed him, truthfully still had doubts… I on the other hand know it's true and am able to provide my support a hundred percent._

From the smile Harry gave back, Neville's sincerity got through successfully, " It was actually the first day back to class. I heard it at the dorms."

" I see…" Neville thought back and a metaphorical light bulb flashed on top of his head.

_The thing that changed during the first night back is Harry getting injured! I don't know how upset Ginny got from Peeves, but she must be unhappy about Harry getting hurt on her first day at Hogwarts. Then with Ron and Harry both missing her sorting as well… I guess it's high time the little girl listened and hand over that diary. As much as I'm a dog person and Mrs Norris isn't dead, whoever's the next victim might not be as lucky._

0

0

0

" Ginny. I'm not kidding. Hand over the diary." Neville had managed to corner the girl, in risk of looking like a bully, and demanded once and for all.

" Are we on that again? How many times do you want to bug me about it? I said I don't have any diaries!" Ginny sighed exasperatedly.

" Okay. Can you tell me where were you when Mrs Norris was attacked?" Neville questioned, trying to make realisation dawn on the little girl, finally out of patience to coax her.

" I was at the dorms because I'm not stupid like you boys to watch some girls jumping about."

" Did you have any witnesses?"

" Are you accusing _me_ of petrifying Mrs Norris? You're crazy." Neville could only watch as the little girl threw him a glare and left him in the empty corridor. _Do you really want to wait until you've _killed_ someone Ginny?_

" Neville, what are you doing just standing here?" Hermione, much different from her earlier period of anger, led Harry and Ron towards him.

The morning after, Hermione worriedly asked the three boys if they were okay and what happened. Neville took the cue, and after a brief retelling, steered Harry away with him to give Ron and her a bit of space to talk it out. Though Ron said he just told the truth, Neville was sure he had accidentally said something to sooth out Hermione's heart for him again at her weakened worried state. _Seriously, missing a girl's birthday and he gets away with it that easily… To think I even gave her a collection of magical encyclopaedias this year – under my name this time._

" Not much." Neville turned to Harry, " Hear any more voices?"

" No –" Harry was cut off by Ron though.

" Were you talking to my sister _again_, Neville?" _Hello over-protective brother._

" Yes. She's just a first year and with her personality I don't want her to kill someone without knowing it." Neville spiked with himself to the bafflement of the others.

" Ginny's not that bad. I think she's a nice girl." Harry interjected and Ron looked at his two friends as if they had each grown an extra head.

They were heading to class and had just walked by the blood red words about the Chamber of Secrets. Ron wondered out loud, " Who could it be? Even with all your love for uniting the houses Neville, you know it must be someone from Slytherin."

" It must be a Slytherin. That's why they call him the heir of _Slytherin_ right?" Hermione also agreed. _People might overlook it because of her smarts, but she really did have that Gryffindor 'attitude'._

" I bet it's that Draco Malfoy. He probably knew the whole story already – he was the first one to say it was the heir after he saw the sentences on the wall." Harry continued to escalate the Trio's suspicions. Frankly, Neville knew all this was wrong but figured if this got them to brew the Polyjuice Potion, then it was good practice and training for them. Not to mention some detective work as well, and this was one way for them to mature.

" Leave me out of it. I'm not going to stop you guys, but I don't feel like helping much either." Neville stated his stance and the Trio all seemed glad for it.

" Good! Now if there's just a way to get evidence to prove that it is Malfoy…" Hermione talked aloud as they entered the Charms classroom.

By the end of the lesson, everything was going according to the books and they were going to trick Lockhart into giving them access to the restricted book on making Polyjuice Potions. They even had plans already on how to set up in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. This would give them plenty of time to get it right.

" Neville, can you stay behind for just a few moments?" Flitwick called and Neville controlled himself from smiling at the old dog, recalling his antics at the cheerleading tryouts.

" Yes, sir?" Neville liked the guy – initially only because he was shorter than him. Flitwick had taught him a lot of extra spells though and answered many of his out-of-syllabus questions.

" How's your non-verbal spells coming along Neville? I know how bored you must be in my class these days and I'd spoken to the headmaster about it." Neville's humour vanished instantly at the mention of Dumbledore. Although there was no way of proving it, he had a feeling his whereabouts were being tracked throughout the castle ever since Mrs Norris's attack. He did not know what magic Dumbledore used to know everything that went on in the castle, but Neville had been reducing his number of nightly strolls_. I'm worried about going to the kitchen, or practicing my Jujitsu, or just plain spell practice. I can't even visit the Shrieking Shack as often anymore – who knows what sort of crime might be pushed onto me for leaving the school grounds? Damn that old fox! _" Neville? So, is that a yes? Will you do this favour for me? Dumbledore said the exemption would be no problem."

" Huh? Yes, of course for my favourite professor." Neville of course had no idea what he signed himself into, having completely blanked out Flitwick's speech, but an exemption meant he would get more free time instead of doing essays on the fundamentals. " Sorry, but how should I go about doing this _thing_ you were saying."

" Ah, yes, she's a Ravenclaw so you might not even know her. I'll get her to contact you after she comes back from St Mungo's and you can arrange a suitable time to tutor her between yourselves." Flitwick let on only that but Neville got the general gist of things. He was to tutor some girl who missed some classes – strangely enough, in Flitwick's house Ravenclaw.

Neville left the classroom and headed for the Great Hall when he saw Hannah running up to him in the corridors. " Hey! Why the hurry?"

" We've finished the script! We can finally host the auditions now for the parts!" Hannah exclaimed, her face pinker than usual from the running.

" Good job Hannah. You must've been pretty busy." Neville complimented while browsing the script she handed him.

" Not as busy as you with –" Neville looked up as Hannah's voice stopped abruptly. They were just walking past the wall where Mrs Norris was attacked.

" Scary stuff huh?" Neville said in a light tone and a smile, hoping to raise Hannah's spirits up a little.

The pigtail-girl managed a laugh but they quickened their paces without looking back. Hannah took a deep breath after turning a corner and mumbled in chagrin, " It's just… very uncomfortable to think about it. What if… the next attack isn't on a cat but… you know – students?"

_Actually, I think you're the only one anxious this early. Just typical Hannah… Fred and George are having a blast with their latest running-gag about petrified cats…_

" Just remember to stay in a group Hannah. If you see anything strange, come to me." Neville offered the only advice he could for the girl.

" Okay…" Hannah bowed her red face and said quietly. " You know… It's almost Halloween. Didn't we discuss an event during summer for that?"

" Well, I guess it'll be a good morale booster. Let's call a Council meeting about it later. How about tomorrow?" Neville said, resuming his president role.

" I'm fine. I'll talk to Draco and Su." Hannah reverted back to normal and went onto a different order of business. " How's the Hoglake club doing? You were monitoring the start of that club, right?"

" I had worries about it being taken over by the Ravenclaws like the chess club, so I suggested some regulations to their contract and made sure they uphold them. It's picking up quite fast actually. They have to ask McGonagall and Flitwick to charm more masks again – especially since they're changing some rules as well for smooth gaming."

" Do you play as well?"

" Na, my great uncle does though. Seriously, he mentions it for at least two paragraphs every time he writes me." Neville shook his head, but had a smile on his face nonetheless. _Old Al acts so much like a kid. Aunt Enid was woken up at two in the morning once just because he wanted a game of Hoglake with his 'board game' version._

" Do you need any help with the club? I have a bit of free time after this script's finished." Hannah offered just as the two of them ran across the Gryffindor Trio.

" Hey, you guys." Neville provided a small greeting and the group continued to head for the Great Hall together. " Actually there is something you can help me with Hannah. There aren't really that many Hufflepuffs at the Hoglake club, probably because of the bad tradition of the chess club, you know? Try and promote it a bit in your house and tell them it's not ran entirely by Ravenclaws, okay?"

" No problem. Oh, I'll probably be able to get back to you as to when we can get the Great Hall for the play's auditions by Wednesday. I actually have to confirm a few things about it with Ernie, so I'll see you later ok?" Hannah waved goodbye and made for her own table.

" You know, I never thought Hannah Abbot was the type to handle so much work like this. She leads pretty well though, from what Harry and I see being in her group for the play and all." Ron commented.

" She reminds me of you sometimes when she runs around sorting things out. That's what it's like working in the Student Council huh?" Harry said to Neville.

They made idle chat before Harry was dragged off by Wood for what would be another tiring night of Quidditch practice. The Slytherin game was drawing closer and Wood wanted to win even if it meant death. Ron was just speaking about this subject with Seamus and Dean when Hermione interrupted Neville's devouring of a haggis.

" Hey Neville. I saw you left your Potions essay last night undone because Draco suddenly dragged you out the library," Hermione reminded, " It's due in this week you know."

" I know, I know." Neville complained, " Draco dragged me out to ask if I should let the cheerleaders book the Quidditch pitch for practices – I mean, of course! Outdoor practices mean the wind and… Anyway… I'll eventually get round to finishing that damned essay. The Council stuffs just kept me from getting some references from the library.."

" You need some help with the essay?" Neville's struck of good fortune that was Hermione volunteering to help was interrupted though by a visitor.

" Neville, I want to talk to you about where we can store the backgrounds for the play." Su had a roll of parchment and asked as she scribbled something down with her quill. " The forest background is too big to be put into the empty classroom and –"

" Alright! Alright! Can't a guy finish his dinner in peace?" Neville took a last bite and picked up his book bag to go and look at the backgrounds with Su. He turned back to Hermione and apologised, " Thanks for the offer Hermione, but I really don't have time to do school stuffs for now. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to get it done later before the deadlines even if it means losing some sleep. Bye."

" Right." Hermione made a smile, " See you back in the common room then."

" Su, didn't you talk to Filch about extra storage rooms?" Neville had already walked away from her though and was checking the list of things Su's group started to make already.

" Yeah, but Filch's still mighty upset about his cat," Su rolled her eyes.

0

0

0

A/N: A relatively quick upload to make up for the absence before. What you think of second year so far?


	30. Book 2 Chapter 8

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

The Chamber of Secrets is already opened within the first month of coming back to Hogwarts and left Neville under the watchful eyes of Dumbledore. Ginny was not to be persuaded and Neville couldn't think of a way to get the diary off the little girl. As he tried to allow things to flow back in place, he continued to be slowed down by the many duties from the Council to even eat properly.

Chapter 29 – Halloween's coming round again.

" Next is… Ginny Weasley." Neville's voice fell flat as the redhead walked out onto the stage in the Great Hall, also not looking very pleased at the President's presence at the auditions.

" Before you ask again Neville – I don't have a diary."

" Marvellous Miss Weasley! That is amazing acting for the part of Grumpy!" Lockhart had wormed his way to being one of the judges by taking advantage of the oblivious personality of Sinistra sitting beside him, and clapped enthusiastically on his own at Ginny's irritation.

" Oh? But I thought Miss Weasley was auditioning for the part of Onyx Black?" Sinistra hurried to check the mess of parchment on her part of the table with all the candidates' applications.

" Why'd you want to know if she's writing a d – eek!" Hannah squeaked as Sinistra clumsily knocked over her glass of water in the process of shifting through her parchments.

Neville pointed his wand at the drenched table cloth to dry it and gestured for Ginny to continue. The amount of Onyx Black applicants took up almost all of the female applications and Neville was starting to regret not putting a rule to restrict that. _I mean seriously! I had just sat through half an hour of Millicent trying to convince me she was a princess! The one before that was worst, with Colin Creevy wanting the part of the Prince. The one before that was okay, since it was Harry – if he and Draco were not at each others' throats throughout the whole thing, and Colin taking pictures from the side of the stage._

" Okay, let's see what you can do Ginny!" Su's enthusiasm was not to be dashed though.

" Right… Well, I'm going to perform a song for you all." Ginny cleared her throat, and Neville could obviously read from her body language that she was nervous. Despite Harry not being around, she was still just a first year girl after all.

" Before you whine again Ginny – I hold no responsibility if you were to choke during your performance." Neville joked and Ginny shook even more – though now more with contained rage. _Well, at least the girl is relaxed enough now to send me a 'growler'._

" On you go Ginny," Su gestured for her to begin, frowning at Neville disapprovingly. Ginny took a deep breath and began.

" _Tale as old as time. True as it can be. Barely even friends, then somebody bends, unexpectedly… Just a little change…"_

Although it was an a capella, Neville recognised the song immediately. Ginny's actually got quite a sweet voice when she was not busy flattening it to spite at Neville. Her hand gestures as she sang seemed to be reaching out to the judges, expressing a story with the rhythm of the melody. As the tune neared the end, Ginny took a step forward, body swaying with her words, and her long hair brushed the side of her pale skin softly, as if a natural wind just swept through the Hall.

" _Tale as old as time… Song as old as rhyme… Beauty and the Beast._" Ginny finished to the whole table clapping, Su especially loud next to Neville.

" Marvellous! Simply marvellous! And to think someone as learnt as me in the area of music to not have heard such a ballad before! This performance almost rival the time I won a three days long singing contest with a nest of Sirens…"

" Oh that was wonderful! I thought you'd taken a dose of Professor Snape's Voice-Enhancing Potions there for a moment." Sinistra did not stop clapping as she said this.

Ginny blushed at their subpar compliments and revealed, " My dad brought me to see a muggle 'Move-E' last year and I just liked the song…" _Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991? Just last year? Man, I'm old…_

" Yeah, we're not planning to do any Disney crossovers here, just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Neville earned a 'growler' for that again, but he went on to say half-heartedly, " I do like the song. And your voice matched it okay."

" Neville just doesn't want to compliment you. I think Snape's rubbing off on him." Su ignored Neville's yell of protest and continued telling Ginny, " Honestly I think you're the best so far. Why'd you want to be Snow White – or rather, Onyx Black anyway?"

" Ah… Well…" Ginny lowered her head, the blush on her face deepening. " I heard… someone was auditioning to be the prince –"

" _I _am going to be prince! _I_ am!" Draco's vehement proclamation did not help with his votes though when the judges got together later and decided on the final casting. The casting meeting eventually finished late night and the judges all left on their separate ways yawning.

Wishing someone would levitate him up the stairs, Neville stopped in front of the tapestry with his most hated trolls on his way back to the dorms. Neville had asked Hagrid about petting Norbert and was given a look as if he was told Christmas had come early. Unfortunately, proven by Hagrid's bandaged up hand the next day, it seemed as if Hermione really was the only person that Norbert allowed petting rights to. _Maybe if I showed my face more often and talked to it, he'll react better to me. God knows how much stuff Hermione told the dragon in her spare time._

Pulling on the metal rings, the doors to the Dragon Room opened to a most familiar sight. Not just Norbert, but Hermione, once again sitting near the perimeter of the alter the dragon was restrained.

" Hermione, you're here again?" Neville closed the door behind him, and he knew no one could ever find them here unless it was Hagrid – but the half-giant was probably too busy tending to his pumpkin patches for Halloween.

" Neville! Did the auditions just finish?" Hermione snapped the book she was reading shut and moved up the bench to let Neville sit beside her. " It's pretty late isn't it? No wonder you fall asleep in Astronomy so much these days."

" I fall asleep in that class for Sinistra's own good. The faster she gets used to it, the better it is for her tears control."

" I'm sorry Neville. You're my best friend and I can't even help you with anything at all." Hermione let out a small gasp as Neville ruffled the cute girl's hair.

" Don't blame it upon yourself. I was the one who asked for it." Neville shrugged, a warm feeling settling inside him at the girl's thoughtfulness for him. " How is the Polyjuice Potion coming along?"

" We're brewing it in the bathroom on the third floor." Neville had still to set foot in that bathroom in case Moaning Mrytle's crush on Harry transferred to him. _Millicent is more than enough, thank you._ " Everything is going according to schedule and we even have plenty of time for adjustments. It's just that some ingredients…"

It was a good idea for Neville to have kept his thieving career last year a secret after all, since the Trio still did not know of his stash of potion ingredients, medical supplies and magical toys in the Shrieking Shack. If they had easily gotten Boomslang skins and such, it would be one less learning experience for them. _Dumbledore did have a reason to let them try their hands on tackling problems… though sometimes too dangerous ones._

" So have you thought of a way to get them yet?" Neville asked.

" No… The only place we can think of is Snape's private stores… During your Occlumency lessons, you couldn't possibly…" Hermione stopped after reading Neville's expression. " I know, you said you're not going to interfere right?"

" Snape hasn't been very friendly since that time his Legilimancy back-fired either," Neville explained. He did tell Harry about the fragment of Snape's memory, since even the books' Harry never managed to see that clip, and the parents-obsessed boy was still debating how he should interpret this information. Especially when Snape was, as if trying to prove a point to Neville, bullying Harry in class by taking at least ten points off him every lesson for just breathing. _Snape seriously did that once. Said something about inhaling potion fumes on purpose to get sent to the hospital wing._

" You know I've been coming here a lot so far this year… to get my mind off things. Not just Ron's attitude – I mean, sometimes I really think he's nothing like a secret admirer – but brewing a Polyjuice Potion is a real challenge. I like it and all, but it is a NEWT level potion, you know? If it isn't for this play we're working on, I won't know how to have some fun and relax at all. It's nice to work with the others doing setup, like Sarah, Lisa and Megan but sometimes I just daze off when they start talking about hair while doing the costumes and… Neville?"

Neville's head was just an inch from landing on Hermione's shoulder for a soft and comfortable pillow, and if he was conscious, he would not be trying to keep his head upright every time he almost made it. Hermione stared at Neville for a few moments, almost granting Neville's unconscious wish, before finally deciding that he would be much more comfortable in bed. She shook him gently on the arm to wake him up.

" Uh? What? Oh yeah, Su, I forgot to tell you about the Queen's costume design ideas –" Neville mumbled, obviously unaware of his surroundings.

" Neville, you dozed off." Hermione kept a sigh to herself and got up on her feet. " Let's get you back to the dorms. It's way past your bedtime young man."

" Bedtime? Young man? Oh seriously kid." Neville could not help but let escape a yawn though.

" I am thirteen while you're only twelve. Now listen to your elders." Hermione showed him a triumph smile, albeit softer and more akin to her Mrs Weasley side rather than her bookworm side, and pushed open the Dragon Room door. " By the way, I really loved that Merlin's Magical Encyclopaedias Collection you got me for my birthday. What do you want for Christmas?"

" Sleep?" Neville yawned again and Hermione could only shake her head in reply.

0

0

0

Neville ended his regular practice with another new set of Chinese kenpo he learnt from Su, Shaolin Changquan. He looked out at the sun reflecting off the Hogwarts Lake as he caught his breath, savouring one of the few moments he had spare in this self-imposed holiday today. Not many people were out and about this afternoon, and that was why he could sneak a practice in at this time instead of the little hours at night. He would get too self-conscious having people spotting him practice.

The reason for the students to stay inside on such a sunny weekend was because of the Halloween Feast tonight. It would not be the usual Halloween Feast however, since the Council had made a bit of tinkering to the event. Supposedly being inspired by the custom robes from the cheerleaders, Neville was reminded of the kids dressings up for Halloween in an assortment of monsters and cartoon characters, and had wondered why the wizarding community did not do anything similar. Granted, wizards did have all the mythical creatures like Unicorns and Yetis, but it would all be good fun. The Council had discussed the idea as well during summer camp, and Neville left the announcement to Draco at this morning's breakfast since he should know what he was doing. He was far too tired having battled Dumbledore viciously for the event's approval for the past week or so. _I would've liked to announce the event sooner to the students, but that old fox is still peeved about Mrs Norris. Seriously! How come he's so convinced it's not Harry but points his old wrinkled finger at _me_! Plus, does he think I'll take this opportunity to attack students just because I could disguise myself under a hockey mask or something?_

Ruining his mood with his own thoughts, he trudged back to the castle. He took a quick shower in the Prefects Bathroom, and on his way back to the dorms, he ran into Su, who was just coming out of a girl's toilet with rolls of toilet paper in hand. The tiptoeing girl slowly turned her head towards Neville, as if that would make him disappear, and laughed weakly at getting caught.

" What are you doing?" Neville kind of knew what was coming but verified it anyway.

" Like the rest of the school today, I'm trying to make my costume for tonight." Su gestured towards the white toilet paper, " I'm going as a Mummy. Much easier than a few years back cause I can wind these up and stick them to me with magic."

" Very creative Su. You've had the whole day to prepare and you end up with that?" Neville guessed that was just her personality.

" I spent most of the day doing the draws for tonight's partners!" Su sighed. " Us second year Ravenclaws thought it would be a great idea to partner with each other for the ball tonight since it's our first ball. We had quite a few rounds after a lot of protests and for all that trouble… to end up with Stephen Cornfoot as my partner isn't much of a reward."

Neville held up his hand, " Wait. What ball? What partner?"

" Did no one tell you?" Su blinked and gulped, trying to sneak a few steps further from her president. " You see… as Draco was announcing the dressing up idea at breakfast this morning, the students and the teachers were all very enthusiastic. Then you know how Draco's been trying to get that Lavender girl to like him, so he asked her to dress up as Juliet, and he Romeo, in front of the whole school, for the feast. And then Dumbledore, having also caught on to the idea announced that instead of a feast, we'll make it a ball. Draco was all for it, as were everyone else, and between Draco and Lockhart they arranged for a local band from Hogsmeade to play and the house elves to fix a buffet. Now everyone knows you need partners for a ball, and as I said, our house came up with the idea of drawing partners with each other. So that's it."

" O… K…" Su watched, relieved, that Neville merely took a deep breath and did not explode for the Council changing some earlier plans without consulting him.

" I know you'd be cool with it. We've discussed a ball during the summer anyway so that's why we managed to arrange this so quickly and –" Su had spoke too soon.

" So you're telling me." Neville took a second deep breath, paralysing Su as she knew that was definitely not a good sign. " I spent the past week assuring Dumbledore this was a safe, harmless, secure, pure and innocent event idea and Draco comes along one morning, blurt out a few words, and the old fox bought it and expanded it out of proportions? OH COME ON!"

By the middle of Neville's rant, Su had already fled before he breathed fire on her and her stolen toilet paper. Seriously contemplating whether it would be a good idea to _Avada Kedavra_ Dumbledore to his 'next big adventure' right now, Neville huffed and puffed his way back to the Gryffindor tower to see if he could borrow the rusty screwdriver Dean had mistakenly packed into his trunk.

" Hey Neville what –"

" If you're not offering me a weapon, creative ways of torture, or the most painful way to kill someone – Shut up." Neville snapped at the unsuspecting victim, who turned out to be Ron.

As expected, mother-hen Hermione stepped up and reprimanded, " Neville! Don't use that tone on us! What happened?"

Neville had slept in even later than usual today, after a frustrating discussion with Dumbledore about details such as 'what would happen if a first year were to dress up as a Minotaur and the horns stabbed somebody'. Then he ate his brunch at the kitchens, visited the Dragon Room, and eventually went out to the lakeside to exercise. Therefore this was the first time he had seen the Trio, and Su was the first friend he talked to today. _And that's why I don't know about _thenews_._

" I just found out the Halloween Feast had turned into a Halloween Ball." Neville crashed onto a red couch opposite Harry and folded his arms. " Most importantly, Dumbledore pulled one over on me _again_! That old fox is pissing me off!"

" Neville! There's no need to talk about Professor Dumbledore like that!" Harry protested. _Right…_ _As if you've not called him worst things in the books to come._

" You should've been there at breakfast Neville. I think the headmaster was just… caught up in the moment this morning." Hermione tried to pacify the angry Neville, who looked ready to give an attempt to shatter Harry's dreams of his idol. " No matter what, isn't it great now that everyone's happy? A ball is going be a lot more fun than a feast, and the seniors are taking part, and the staffs, and –"

" Not us," Ron growled. " _We_ are going to a Deathday Party."

" More importantly," Hermione put a stress in her voice, obviously having gone through a very long discussion about the Trio's evening arrangements already, " Have you got a partner yet Neville?"

" What?" Neville asked, his rage simmering down a little at Hermione's caring expression.

" You know. A partner for the ball?" Hermione clarified. _Just like a girl to think about these things first… Oh crap! This is like high school prom all over again!_

" I can… go alone, right?" Neville shifted a little on the couch. He still vividly remembered his own prom, where his partner was the guy who sat beside him in Chemistry. _Seriously, never believe the thing about scoring chicks at a prom by going single, cause it's just a way to make yourself feel better and the easier way out. Going with a wing man on the other hand meant you could have someone to share your misery. _

Ron was surprisingly a lot of help at banishing those kinds of mistakes however. " Sure you can go alone. You'll just look like a freak."

_Just you wait until the Yule Ball Ron and I'll make sure Viktor asks Hermione first – Wait, I will – Wait! Let's stop here… Now who on Earth can I ask to be my partner this close to the ball?_

Spotting Neville's distressed expression, Harry suggested, " How about… Hannah? She's your friend and you guys work in the Council together, so she'll take you right?"

" You make me sound so appealing." Neville's rage was completely gone now, swallowed by a melancholy from memories of his past life and his current dilemma. " Hannah should already have a partner by now."

" Well, you can always come to the Deathday Party with us." Hermione smilingly said.

" God no." Neville immediately stood up and marched out of the portrait hole without a glance back.

Once outside, Neville took out the Marauder's Map and fortunately, Hannah was not in her common room. Running through the many secret passages of the castle, almost running into Millicent, who he knew would latched onto a partner-less Neville even if she had to use teeth, he made it to the library in record time.

" Eek!" Hannah jumped a few feet into the air when a panting Neville clapped a hand on her shoulder from behind. Madam Pince of course gave the pair an owed frown for their disturbances. When Hannah had recognised it was Neville, she snapped at him just as she did in Herbology, " Don't startle me like that! Where were you all day? I was trying to tell you about the change of plans for tonight."

" I know. I ran into Su stealing toilet paper." Before Hannah could ask, Neville continued. " You got a partner for the ball? I need a partner. Please be my partner. There's no one else I can ask. Please, please, please."

Neville knew desperation was never attractive in a guy but Hannah's face went red and bowed her head. Peeking out from under her fringe shyly she mumbled, " Well… I…"

Seeing the timid girl's reaction, Neville slapped his palm on his forehead. " Of course, I'm sorry Hannah. I'm not asking you out or anything so you don't need to worry about me liking you and all the awkwardness. It's just that we can go as fellow Council members."

" Oh… _Oh_!" Hannah's tone was the one she used for Herbology again and Neville's hopes shattered. " Well, while you were hiding in a place nobody seems to know this morning, Ernie had already asked me to the Ball. And I said yes – immediately. So there. Now I have to find a charm to change the colour of my hair before Madam Pince kicks us out for making too much noise."

" Right… I thought so. See you later then." Neville sighed, giving Hannah an unreciprocated pat on the shoulder before leaving without looking back to disturb the girl. _I hate it when I'm right… Who's left without a partner this late from the ball?_

" Hi Neville." Neville met Ernie McMillan on his way to the exit. Ernie came from one of the shelves with a book on transfiguration in his arms.

" Hey, you looking for ways to transform your hair as well?" Neville asked out of politeness, though not with much enthusiasm compared to the Hufflepuff almost bouncing on his toes.

" Yeah! Hannah and I decided to make matching costumes just there." Ernie said with a large grin on his face. " We're going as Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel!"

" Right, interesting – Hey, didn't they just die not long ago? Well, bye." Neville left Ernie with that unsettling note, venting off a little of his own frustrations, and headed back to the common room.

" You're not going with that – that – I don't even know who this brat is." Ron's voice boomed all too loudly for Neville's dispirited ears at that moment.

" Ron, Ron, Ronniekins." Neville got a glare for that but continued to plough on, " You should stop that protective brother thing."

" And from the looks of it, somebody still doesn't have a partner." Hermione spotted with her womanly intuition.

" That's it! Go with Neville. Even Neville is better than a Slytherin!" Ron exclaimed in desperation.

" Once again, you guys make me sound so appealing." Neville groaned, falling face first into his previously occupied couch.

" Why don't you tell us about him first Ginny? What's the name of the boy you're going to the Ball with?" Hermione asked, trying to calm Ron down in the process.

" His name is Alan Harper, and he's in my year. He asked me earlier and there isn't really a reason to say no since Harry isn't… Well Alan's in our group for the play Ron – you've seen him before – and he's really nice. Even you said he's the most likable Slytherin you've ever met." Ginny ended with a harrumph in her little girl way.

" I didn't say he was likable! I only said he was tolerable because he was practically the Slytherin version of Colin Creevy, without the camera, but with all the – all the – Slytherin-ness. Go with a Gryffindor! Go with Neville!"

By this time, Neville had picked up the general gist of what was going on and jumped up from his couch, seemingly revitalised. " Yes! That is so right Ron! Go with me to the ball Ginny and ditch that silly Slytherin boy. The Ravenclaws are partnering off in their own house, why not us glorious Gryffindors eh?"

" Is that really a good thing to say Neville? You're the Student Council President and Draco told me the whole point behind it _is_ to mix the houses." Lavender, one of the most unlikely reinforcement for Ginny, came into the fry against the boys.

" Draco even told you that? Didn't he tell you we're supposed to do this subtly? I can't believe Draco's this weak against girls!" Neville crash landed on the couch again, having effectively been scratched off the list of combatants, and knew Ginny had as well as won this conversation by now. _One guy versus three girls in an argument was like South Park's Kenny versus Godzilla._

" Well, I'm going with Alan so there!" Ginny quickly lashed out as her final assault when she spotted Harry coming back from the bathroom. She lowered her red face and rushed past the puzzled Harry, fleeing out of the portrait hole.

" What happened?" Harry asked, completely oblivious.

" You would have no problems finding a partner if you're not going to the Deathday Party." Neville moaned.

" Just come along with us Neville." Hermione insisted, sitting down on the chair-arm next to him. " I don't want to see you standing alone by the food table all night."

" You won't. Cause you won't be there," Neville corrected. _And it'll remind me of my past-life's prom even more if Harry and I were tagging behind you and Ron…_

" I can't believe… my own sister…" Ron spat out the last words, " With a Slytherin!"

" Come on Ron! _I_'m going with a Slytherin!" Lavender crossed her arms, tapping her feet at the red-haired boy.

" You could've rejected him." Ron shot back.

" In front of the whole school?" Lavender shook her head, " How cruel are you? He may be a Slytherin but Draco's still a _person_. If I got rejected in front of the whole school I'd just _die_. And plus, he's not as bad as –"

" What's the world coming to Harry? What is this whole world coming to?" Ron asked his friend for backup.

" I still don't like Malfoy." Harry stated, but after his green eyes wavered a little, he added, " But I'm sure not _all_ Slytherins are bad."

" Hermione?" Ron looked to be on the verge of tears by now and Neville knew Hermione would never have the heart to kick him down another notch.

" I'm going out for a stroll. If I run into Millicent… Then I run into Millicent." Neville left the kids behind, heedless of the reflection of his Council's influences thus far on the children, and wandered aimlessly around the corridors.

_And would you just look at that? _The one moment Neville did not use the Marauder's Map was when Millicent really did find him. The big girl was walking briskly from the opposite direction with her head buried in a magazine of sorts. _Go alone? Or go with Millicent? Alone? Millicent? Arrgghh!_

" Nevi!" During his internal battle, Millicent had looked up and spotted him. Instead of the expected assault in the form of something like a flying hug, Millicent hung back and looked as if she would let spill big fat tear drops any time now. " Where've you been Nevi! I've been looking all over for you! I though you'd already have a partner so… then… and now I'm going with some stupid first year! I'm so sorry Nevi! I swear I'm still completely devoted to you and – and – _Oh what've I done_?"

Without even giving Neville time for a reply, Millicent dropped her magazine about dress robes and ran sobbing back from where she came. _Even Millicent… Even Millicent! That's the last straw! Who can teach me an Imperius Curse?_

" What're you dressing up as for the Ball?" Not far away, a gossipy girly voice echoed through the empty hallways.

" I'm sure she won't even need a costume – if she's going as a freak!" Another gossipy girly voice laughed with the first one at their little joke. _Quite obviously there's some bullying going on here. Well, I might not be a Prefect, but the Student Council President still demands a certain degree of respect in the halls of Hogwarts, I believe. Plus, I just want to vent._

" Hey! What's going on here?" Trying his best to imitate Percy's usual attitude, Neville approached the bunch of girls near a suit of armour. The two girls, who were probably the bullies were crowding another one behind them to a wall, who was too short for Neville to see properly. The bullies initially snapped their heads back in alarm, but upon seeing Neville, the two of them rolled their eyes.

" If it isn't the bumbling '_President'_." One of the bullies snorted. Neville narrowed his eyes at the emblem on her robes, which were green and silver.

" Oh look at me! I'm organising all these _great_ events that everybody wants to join." The first bully sniggered as the second one pretended to copy Neville.

" I can't even get a proper Halloween Feast now because of this _thing_ that forces me to _mingle_ with freaks like her." The first bully snorted again, " Now I'll need to write to my daddy and tell him how stupid Hogwarts really is."

" Let me guess. You brats are first years," Neville sneered. From that instant change observed in the two's faces, his sneer made out to be every bit as unsettling as Snape's. _Maybe I do hang around him too often. Well I guess it really is too cruel for a man like me to pick on little girls like this… Guess there's only one way to solve the problem._ Neville took a deep breath and shouted, " Peeves!"

" You called Peevesy, Master?" With a 'pop', Peeves hung in the air wearing an expression of relish. _It seems somebody remembers about last Valentine's Day._

" Yes Peeves." Eyeing the now trembling first years in front of him, Neville boomed in a voice that echoed round the corridors, " You have permission to prank them for the remainder of the week. If they ever bully anyone ever again, then feel free to do so – indefinitely!"

Seven years from that day, the titles Saints of Slytherin were given to the two little girls who ran screaming down the hallway.

W_hat is it with me and girls? Not the likes of Hermione or Lavender, but even those timid girls in the books, like Hannah and Ginny – even little first year girls – they have no problems screaming and yelling at me without a second thought… Seriously, is it really that difficult to find a sweet, quiet girl who talks to me in a gentle voice – who doesn't sound as artificial as Millicent?_

Reminding himself he was still in front of the victim of those bullies, Neville expelled all his self-pity with a deep sigh and turned back to the victim.

The girl spoke before Neville had a chance, " You sure have a lot of Wrackspurts flying through your head – no wonder you speak so loud."

0

0

0

A/N: A bit of mayhem this chapter to bring up the mood. Harper is the substitute Seeker's surname for Draco in the sixth book. Alan Harper, though unintentional, is once again a rip from _something else_. Hey, this is fan fiction, I like my fun, take a guess, no postage required, just review.


	31. Book 2 Chapter 9

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

The Polyjuice Potions simmers away in the toilet but Hermione is stumped as to how to get the needed ingredients. Halloween is here, and just as Neville thought he could spend it as a rare holiday, a last-minute change of plans had him scrambling about the castle looking for a partner for the ball. In an act of good deed(?) he comes upon a potential partner…

Chapter 30 – Ravenclaw sure has quite a few lookers.

" Hey Neville, welcome back, again." Harry greeted but was puzzled by the smile on Neville's face. " Er… Something good happened?"

" You've decided to come with us to the Deathday Party?" Hermione asked as she stood up.

" Even if you have to go alone Neville, please go to the Ball?" Ron added, " Please keep an eye on Ginny from that Slytherin brat."

" Well, I will be going to the Ball," Neville shrugged, plopping himself down again on the couch, in the best mood this time.

" You've got a partner haven't you?" Hermione asked, a little dubious. " Who is it?"

" Is it really Millicent?" Ron shook his head and pulled a bag of Fizzing Whizbees from his robes. " Here, have the bag. I owe you one for looking out for my sister like this…"

" Well, I will take the candy," Neville swiped the bag but it was snatched back by Hermione.

" It's not Millicent… Don't tell me it's that Penelope Clearwater." Hermione rolled her eyes, " You shouldn't aggravate Percy like that."

" I'm still convinced it's the man-woman," Ron said.

" Heh, you kids have no clue," Neville smirked and levitated the mirror hanging on the wall towards him to fix his hair.

" Doesn't the Ball start – now?" Harry reminded.

" Oh yeah. I just came back to fix my costume." Neville hung the mirror back in place with a flick of his wand and walked towards the exit.

" What costume?" Ron asked, but with a pitying look between his eyes. " I know going to the Ball with Millicent is a tad hard to swallow but it was your Council's idea…"

" What, can't you guys tell?" Waving his hand in front of him, Neville explained. " I'm the Common Clothes Monster."

" That… has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard…" Hermione, though saying this with a straight face, could not keep her voice from cracking near the end. She recovered quickly though and resumed, " Who _is_ this person you're going with?"

Hermione's question went once again unanswered as two familiar voices greeted from behind Neville. " Ah! Is that the Common Clothes Monster I see!"

" I sure think it is, good brother of mine!"

" Costumes _are_ over-rate. Just like us, we should all go as ourselves!"

Thinking he was about to clash costumes with the twins, Neville sighed and turned around, " Don't copy me guys."

Neville's smile surfaced again after seeing those two though. The twins, probably using some very strange, but advanced and brilliant, spells had glued their bodies together. A perfect Siamese twin make up – and they were even wearing shorts and T-shirts in their three legs and two arms state unlike the muggles who would hide behind baggy clothes.

Harry laughed and asked, " Who're going to be your partners? Or partner?"

" Ah, his partnering thing is for kids." Fred's head said, but it was the arm on George's side that waved it off.

" Yeah, most of the seniors are going in groups. This partnering off stuff is only for little firsties and second years. It's not like this Ball is something romantic, or a couples thing."

" Yeah, Dumbledore never mentioned you needed a partner either. Kids are just so immature." The twins both laughed together, flailing their hands about in random directions.

" I guess you just ran about the castle for nothing Neville." Ron shrugged, and still somehow bent on the idea, added, " On the plus side, you don't have to partner with Millicent anymore."

" By the way, we had a look into Muggle Halloween traditions after this dressing up thing." Fred's expression said it all and the Trio all hung back.

" Neville! Trick or treat?" George asked the closest victim.

" I don't have any sweets George." Neville stated flatly.

" I'm Fred by the way. But trick it is!" The real George cackled and threw something in Neville's face. It exploded and made his hair all black and afro.

" Good one! Onto the next victim my dear conjoined brother!" The twins cackled and went through the portrait hole.

With a few swoosh of his wand in front of the mirror, Neville looked normal again and waved goodbye to the Trio. " Enjoy your Deathday Party – and I suggest eating something first."

" You still haven't answered us," Hermione asked with a frown, " Who's your partner?"

Neville was already out of the common room by then at the prospect of going to the Ball with Luna Lovegood. _Who would've thought you really get rewarded for your good deeds? I wonder what she'll dress up as; Bunny girl? Cat girl? No! I see a vision of Leopard-print_ _clothing._

No one could really blame Neville for expecting something creature-related when it came down to Luna, but at their designated meeting spot – outside the Great Hall – he could not see any dreamy-looking 'furries' at all.

Just as he thought he arrived early, a tap on his shoulder made him turn around. He was met with the unpleasant surprise of what he could call nothing else but a huge, slimy, and disgusting earthworm. Feeling a wet sensation on his shoulder, he looked down to find a gooey substance that he hoped was only harmless slime running down his shoulder.

" Hello President Neville. Thanks again for earlier and asking me to be your partner." Neville was just glad the earthworm did not have a mouth or it would have been too surreal even for a person who travelled through a dimension to live in a fictional world.

" Em… Hey… Can I ask… Why did you dress up like an earthworm?" Neville's dreams of seeing Luna in something charming was brutally crushed as he tried his best to keep from throwing up.

" Oh I am not dressed as an earthworm President. I'm a Wumble Worm! These creatures are really rare and hide very well – only morning birds can get them."

" I… see… _Scourgify._" Cleaning the slime off his shoulder, he forced himself to compliment. " That's… a really… _neat_ costume."

" Thanks President! I like your costume really much as well!" Luna the Worm could be seen nodding her head as if that was how Wumble Worms showed appreciation.

The praise raised Neville's spirits back up a little. After all, he was quite proud of coming up with the costume that took the least time to prepare and most original. _Maybe she's still got a chance yet to be on my backup list. I do like her blonde hair. _

" I don't know how I could've missed the idea of dressing up as a Commoguise victim myself." Luna's additional explanation quickly took her off that shortlist again.

" What Commoguise?" Neville dared to ask.

" You know, they're like Demiguises except they are carnivores. They're a lot more violent and swallow their victims up whole. But you can spot them quite easily because even if they can become invisible, their preys can't while being digested in their coffin-shaped stomachs."

" Do you think they spike the punch at this party?" Neville strode into the Great Hall, swishing away a randomly low-flying bat.

The Great Hall was decorated every bit like how Hogwarts would look like if no one lived here for a century. Cobwebs hung around every corner, bats flying about overhead and stealing people's food, and even the floor was covered with mould. The students seemed to think nothing of it though, and were prancing around having a great time in their various costumes. Neville could see Hannah in the distance, pretending to be leaning on a walking stick with her bundles of grey hair trapped in a hairnet. Su did put her stolen toilet paper to good use and not a glimpse of her skin was visible underneath it, despite various food stains on top already.

" Neville, where's your costume?" Draco's voice asked from behind him. By the time Neville turned around, Draco was already gawking at Luna the Worm. " So… who's your partner?"

" Hi, I'm a Wumble Worm." Luna the Worm nodded its pointed head and would have made a head-to-hand shake if Draco did not take three huge steps back, crashing into his two goons, Goyle and Crabbe. Funny enough, the two goons were both dressed as Cyclops. _If you add them together, you may get two eyes but possibly still not a full brain. _

" Right." Doing the most sensible thing, Draco changed the focus back to himself. " What do you think about my Romeo get-up? Some Ravenclaws in my group said that girls loved romantic Muggle literature and I –"

" Draco, I've still to decide whether to hex you for turning this feast into a ball." Neville diverted, not wanting to admit how Draco fitted the Casanova image very well and could probably pull any girl if he were to turn up wearing his costume at any Muggle bar tonight. _Damn those pretty genes! At least he's still a kid…_

" What're you talking about? It was the best move ever! Lavender accepted to be my partner – as expected. See what I mean Neville? No girl can resist me. With just a tiny amount of effort on my part and she practically threw herself at me this morning." Draco smugly crossed his arms, completely overlooking his failures for almost the entirety of last year.

Noticing the nature of his glance at Luna the Worm as if to say he had an infinitely better partner, Neville stated, " Draco. Lavender just didn't want to see you commit suicide in shame by rejecting you in front of the whole school."

" Yeah. Sure." Draco gave a short laugh and added, " I guess this means I'm finally free from the cheerleading club right? I don't need to go after that Lavender anymore since she's already fallen oh so deeply for me?"

" Speaking of Lavender, who stands yonder Romeo? The one flirting with a fourth year Hufflepuff?" Neville pointed and Draco's face paled – at least, paler than usual. " I guess I'll leave you be."

" I feel sorry for Malfoy. And he looks so nice in that costume too." Luna the Worm managed to clear the way through the crowd very conveniently and they headed for the food table.

_Yep that boy's got the looks indeed. Give it time and he'll be the best wingman I'll ever get. Can you even imagine Harry and Ron with that position? _

" Well, if it isn't our students' most beloved Student Council President." The only person that could deliver a spike so silkily was no other than Severus Snape.

" Professor Snape," Neville responded with a curt nod. Snape had settled to tolerating him after reading the memory about Lily. Neville guessed it was because the experience was not as humiliating as being pranked on by his archenemies and being the moment Lily stopped associating with him. Also Neville was not Harry Potter, or any Potters for that matter.

" Oh look! You two have the same costume!" Luna the Worm exclaimed and settled for a single nod of the worm head instead of clapping her hands together.

Looking up from the food table that had initially caught his sole attention, Neville saw that Snape was dressed in his usual black robes and greasy hair. Though it was expected, Neville never thought about this inevitable costume clash. His displeasures were dispelled by the gritted teeth on Snape's face though.

" I find it unsporting for the originator of the event to not even carry out their own ideas." Snape narrowed his eyes, but took a large drink from his goblet. Neville had a feeling he was only here for dinner and would leave the moment he finished.

Neville congratulated himself for his own choice of costume again, despite this minor clash, and went for a little tease with the old bat. " Oh no, didn't you hear Luna sir? I am indeed wearing a costume. I'm here as the Common Clothes Monster."

" A Commoguise victim," Luna the Worm corrected. Before Snape could think about exploding in rage, one of his most hated colleagues joined in their conversation.

" Oh! Look at that! Professor Snape, and even the organiser of the event – without a costume!" The teacher and pupil turned to find Lockhart with his usual award-winning grin. Though his robes were always extravagant enough to be mistaken as a costume, he was just wearing a particular shinny one of his flock tonight as well.

" I dare say you are not dressed up either Professor Lockhart." Neville heard the strained pronunciation of 'professor' from Snape but Lockhart obviously missed it.

" Oh but I am Professor Snape!" Lockhart dazzled them with an even bigger smile and explained. " You see, ever since the announcement this morning, I've been painstakingly thinking what character would be stunning enough to cover up my own self. It was a very hard decision but at last I found that answer! That is why I came to this Ball, dressed as myself, Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Luna the Worm chose this point to give up on picking up a plate from the food table and turned her pointy head towards the new arrival. " Oh look! You're dressing up as a Commoguise victim as well Professor Lockhart?"

_Clashing costumes with one person was something, but two? And with Lockhart?_ Neville shook his head in grief and led Luna the Worm away to hopefully sulk in a corner.

Snape probably thought something along those same lines and did not even bother with subtlety. He blatantly ignored Sinistra, who had just decided to join in with the other two staffs at this awkward moment, and he marched purposefully out of the Hall clenching the goblet in his hand.

" You know, I never thought Commoguises were that commonly known." Luna the Worm continued to make the best people-repellent as she slid across the floor, leaving a trail of slime behind her.

" They're not," Neville's mood for this celebration was severely lacking by now and he had half the mind to follow after Snape's footsteps.

" Commoguises are very interesting creatures aren't they? Being invisible really has its uses at times. If something like earlier with me were to happen to them, they can just turn invisible and get away. Then again, Commoguises would probably just swallow the little girls up – they have very wide throats."

Neville was made to recall Luna's conversation with Harry at the end of the fifth book and he once again sighed at the childish environment that was a school. Ignoring the Weasley Siamese Twins instilling wrong ideas about muggle traditions into young wizards again by turning Trick or Treat into just Threat, Neville asked, " Do those girls always do that to you?"

" Yes they do. They think I'm strange and funny for some reason." Neville benevolently stopped himself from giving an explanation, starting with her choice of costume tonight. " I have a favour to ask of you President."

" Sure," Neville nodded. For such a young, sweet, albeit really a little strange, girl to grow up being bullied and friendless was really not something he could let go.

As he began thinking of ways he could stop her bullying problems, Luna the Worm reminded him the reason for her being a social outcast. " Can I change into the same costume as you, Professor Snape, and Professor Lockhart? Commoguises really are very likable creatures and since the three of you are already wearing the same –"

" Please feel free to do so Luna – No. Please just do so." Neville shook his head, waiting for Luna to unzip her worm suite. After Luna the Worm wiggled about for a few moments on the spot, thrashing a few drinks from surrounding students' hands, the worm finally fell limp on the ground with a _splat_. From the mutters and raised eyebrows around him, Neville realised it was his job to clear up the tube of slime off the ground. " Luna? Is there a problem?"

" I can't seem to get out of this costume." Luna's voice was still her usual tone as if she was talking about what was for tea. Neville could tell she was trying with great effort to wiggle her way out though. " I wonder why. A senior helped seal the costume for me – she even helped me cover the outside and inside with slime…"

" _Diffindo_! _Incendio_!_ Scourgify_!" In a quick chain of spells, Luna the Worm evolved out from her cocoon into Luna the Commoguise victim. Luna was not wearing her radish earrings or butter cork necklace, standing there in her tank-top and jean-shorts, Neville would have been rendered as flabbergasted at the other boys around him if he was only mentally younger. _Commonguises victim or metaphorical butterfly?_

" Thanks. No wonder you know about Commoguises considering the amount of spells you know." Luna topped the image off with the sweetest smile any girl had given Neville in his current and past life and Neville fell hook, line and sinker.

" Peeves!" For the second time today, Peeves 'popped' out above Neville with a set of Slytherin robes.

" Who is it this time Master? Who is it?" Peeves asked expectantly, one hand hastily writing 'kick me' on the back of a set of robes with luminous yellow ink.

" For every time someone bullies Luna, you have my permission to prank them once from now on." Neville's words seemed to ignite a flare in Peeves's eyes as he quickly scanned the boys that were previously ogling Luna.

" Thank you President. The other students seem to be scared of Peeves for some reason so I'm sure people will stop taking my stuffs now." Luna said innocently.

" Why do you even call me President?" Neville said good naturedly with a shake of the head.

" Because you are," Luna answered simply.

" Just call me Neville from now on."

" Okay President Neville." Luna's uninhibited smile discontinued any of Neville's protests. He led his blonde date towards an empty part of the dance floor, fully expecting her to teach him the weirdest dance routine that drove away some imaginary creatures, but he had a smile on his face nonetheless.

0

0

0

Due to the Ball, Halloween came and gone just as rowdy compared to the book even without Mrs Norris being found petrified. Neville had asked Harry after the Trio's disgruntle return after the Deathday Party whether he had heard any more strange voices and Neville was confirmed that Ginny was still writing in that diary heedless of Neville's warnings. _Just because that Harper boy puked down her dress after a bit of spiked punch… I mean – that, and obviously the absence of Harry, should be nothing upsetting enough to write to Riddle about. I'm just glad the snake didn't attack anyone this time…_

" Ah, yes, the conversation between Onyx and the Hunter…" Neville took something that looked like a Bluetooth headset from his future off his ear and tinkered with it.

" What the heck is that thing?" Draco asked pointing at the trinket. Neville was only at Draco's Effects group because Millicent came down with a cold today. Currently, they had gathered the chosen students who could play an instrument and were rehearsing and composing music and sound effects for all the different scenes in the play.

" Muggles call it a Dictaphone, but it's called… what is it again? Eton Ear? Some wizard named Eton invented it, and it records everything you hear, and can play it back later. It can even be used as evidence in the Wizengamot."

Funny enough, it was Lockhart who taught Neville this, after he took this artefact from the Shrieking Shack into his DADA class to see if wearing it boasted his memory capacity in History of Magic afterwards. _I guess since this artefact is related to memory magic, it really was in Lockhart's field of expertise. He might've made a good Obliviator if only he'd put his mind to it – especially with his talents in sprouting tall tales._

Giving the Eton Ear a few taps with his wand, the information he recorded with Su's group earlier spoke out and Draco signalled for Hannah to jot it down. He had probably bullied her into coming to help out or something. Hannah provided Neville with her reason though, " By the way Neville, our group only have weekly practices now so I'll be relatively freer. Do you need help with anything? You should be careful not to tire yourself out too much these days."

Neville put back on the Eton Ear and shrunk it to make it look inconspicuous under his hair. " You can always do our Herbology assignment –"

" No Neville." Hannah cut him off mercilessly. _Note to self, don't put self and Herbology in the same sentence if asking for the nice and sweet Hannah._

" Well in that case, I'll be heading off. Don't stay too late." Neville left Hannah and Draco together and headed towards third floor. Although he had dozed off in the Dragon Room last time, he found that it was Hermione who slept into the pages of a thick old potions book in the common room when he was back late one night. He figured her Polyjuice Potion was not brewing as nicely as she had hoped – or she was simply paranoid. _Though Potions isn't my speciality, maybe an extra person will lighten her load a little…_

The moment he took a step into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Hermione's voice echoed, " Seriously Ron, don't you ever listen in Potions?"

" Seriously Hermione, are you ever not a know-it-all?" Ron retorted as expected. It was just his personality.

In the original books, Hermione would not get upset over such a squabble at this point, since she had still to fully developed her feelings for Ron. Later when she did fall for him, Ron would have been more mature, or even appreciated her brains more, and he would not have talked to her in that tone. Unfortunately for Neville's interferences however, Hermione's quick return to counter Ron never came for their present reality.

_Harry must be at Quidditch practice. Game on Saturday after all._ Neville knocked on the door to the only closed cubicle. " Guys, it's me."

" Neville!" Hermione immediately opened the door. " I thought you needed to help with the play."

" I slipped away," Neville kept himself out of the already cramped cubicle and took a look at the bubbling potion on the toilet seat. _Even if this is a toilet cubicle,_ y_ou're a lucky guy Ron_. " I wanted to see how you guys are doing. Don't you need a bit of help?"

" We don't want to bother you though. You're busy enough as it is." Hermione tone was genuine enough, but Neville was assaulted by a flash of doubt. _She just wants to spend alone time with Ron, right?_

" I don't have to go to Charms anymore starting this month, since the Ravenclaw I'm supposed to tutor is back. Filtwick told me earlier that she was discharged after her wings disappeared."

" What?" Ron looked up from his potions ingredients. " I know Ravenclaw's mascot is a raven, but for them to fly…"

" Ah, no, you can't fly on those wings. She had Angelica Fever." Neville gave Hermione a glance and explained on her curious expression, " It's a magical disease on the same scale as Glandular Fever. It's contagious and the person can't actually move with those deadweight hanging off her back."

" It's a girl? What's her name? Is she a first year?" Ron asked.

" I don't know. Filtwick mentioned it once when I wasn't paying attention. The person knows who I am and will come find me anyway."

Neville was not called upon until the end of the week though, at the morning of the Slytherin versus Gryffindor match. Neville was inhaling his breakfast with the Trio, ignoring Ginny's jealous stare opposite for sitting next to Harry, when he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. " Just wait up a bit. I just want to finish this last sausage! O…o…okay! I'm done. President Longbottom here, how can I help you?"

Wiping his mouth with his sleeve and turning round on his bench in one fluid motion, the reaction after laying eyes on the Ravenclaw was contrastingly a lot less graceful. Neville's eyes quadrupled in size and almost crashed into Harry next to him in his spin – though Harry probably would not have noticed with the way he was staring at her as well.

The Ravenclaw had long flowing hair that seemed to gleam like a black pearl even if the sky beyond the enchanted ceiling was gloomy. Her eyes were bright brown, and slightly glossy to radiate a gentle feminine gaze. The skin on her face was spotless, and was in the shade of porcelain from her spending so much time indoors lately. Though her slender frame made her seem fragile to touch, she wore a friendly and confident smile that radiated a warm aura. _Either that, or Harry's face is so hot I can feel it here._

" Cho Chang, I presume?" Neville was relatively more subtle in his drooling over one of Hogwarts's most popular girls than Harry, and Ron under the frown of Hermione, and recovered enough to ask in an adequately short amount of time.

" Yeah, I take it Professor Filtwick told you about me? I'm the person you're supposed to tutor." While Cho was saying this, Neville noticed how her gaze had strayed to Harry next to him a good few times. _Celebrities do get more attention after all…_

" Actually I don't know your circumstances all that well." Neville mustered a smile and questioned, " You're a year above me right? Why would you need me to tutor you?"

" The seniors are all either studying for their OWLs or NEWTs and Professor Filtwick did not want to bother them."

" What about the other guys in your year?" Neville tried not to emphasise on the word 'guys' too much. _Seriously, first Cedric, then Harry, then Michael Corner. Then who knows how many other guys she had lined up. No matter how good she looks, I really don't feel much for this girl's troublesome personality. Maybe if she was up for a fling…_

" I was the one who suggested you." Cho's answer made Neville feel like he was being pressed in by a toaster on both sides. Harry and Ron were all looking jealously at him, who apparently, according to them, was completely undeserving of the pretty girl's attention.

" And can I ask why?" Neville asked patiently.

" I saw your dive at the end of the Student-Teacher game last year and thought you should be quite good on a broom." Cho answered simply as if it was the key quality for being a Charms tutor. Reading Neville's expression, she continued with a laugh that dazzled the pathetic Harry. " Sorry, but I've always loved Quidditch. It's just that I heard from others in my house, Penelope and Su, you're really good at Charms."

" No, it doesn't really matter why you chose me I guess." Neville observed a very faint twitch on Cho's face. _Keeping uninterested was the best way to keep away these sorts of girls. I would die if she publically cried on a date. _" I'll meet you… Not Monday, I've got lessons with Snape. Not Tuesday, there's Hoglake… Actually, I'll tell you when I'm available. I have to wash my hair five times a day and I'm sure you've got other subjects to catch up on anyway."

" O…K… Well, see you around Neville. And good luck with the match today Harry. We can't let the Slytherins win the Quidditch Cup again." Cho left before anyone could translate Harry's incomprehensible reply back.

Ron was a little more immune to Cho's charms, probably because he was the curly-hair type of guy. Though he had returned to normal, he was not without enthusiasm, " Do you know who that was Neville?"

" Obviously, since my first words to her was her name."

" She's the seeker that steamrolled our team last year when you and Harry were injured! I'm so glad she's recovering from Angelica Fever for the rest of this year and can't play," Ron breathed a sigh of relief then sat up again. " I wonder if the recovering process stops her from joining the cheerleading club though –"

" Ronald! Please!" Hermione snapped.

" What? Everyone's excited about the club's debut at today's match as well!" Ron protested. Neville knew it was only half the club, since the club was organised into the four house teams. _There were no other way of doing it and hopefully it won't be too bad for the inter-house relations._

" Harry, shouldn't you be getting to the stadium?" Neville asked the still dazed Harry. " Harry? Harry!"

" Oh yeah. Quidditch. She likes Quidditch – I mean. I got to go. See you guys later." Neville shook his head at the innocent boy, but his field of vision crossed the innocent girl opposite himself and stopped.

" Ginny? You're going to the game, right?" Neville called out to the distraught redhead. _I know Harry is completely oblivious but girls really do have the sixth sense to sniff out their love rivals don't they?_

" What? Oh, yeah…" Ginny answered meekly.

" Hey Neville, we should start heading to the pitch too if we want to get some good seats." Ron reminded and Neville stood up to follow him and Hermione, having begun her rant about cheerleaders, out of the Hall.

" Going to the match Neville?" Hannah asked as they walked past the Hufflepuff table.

" Yeah, see you there," Neville was about to walk on but Hannah had another question.

" You see… that person you were talking t…"

Hannah's question was interrupted by Ron screaming back. " Hey! Let's go Neville!"

" Sorry, Ron's just impatient. I'll talk to you later at the Council meeting." Neville hurried to catch up with Hermione and Ron, who was probably not up to facing Hermione's nagging alone.

Although the weather was threatening to (queue bad drum-fill) 'dampen' the school's fervour for the first match of the year, the cheerleaders did their job more than adequately in rallying up the crowd. Some would debate that it was the magical Nāga the Slytherins conjured with some very complicated illusionary magic, or the colourful display of feet-tall fire pillars by the Gryffindors. Ron would debate that it was the modified robes the girls worn that showed a lot more skin than the populace of Hogwarts were used to: the pleated short skirts, the thin tank-tops, and the magical floating halos as an accessory really seemed to be Ron's 'thing'.

" Something's wrong with that Bludger! Look! It's just chasing down Harry!" Hermione's warning did not reach Ron, but recalled something from the depths of Neville's memories.

" The Bludger's been tampered." Neville snapped his eyes from the seventh year Slytherin cheerleader with very long legs and trained his eyes back up at the game. Draco was, even after Neville's numerous persuasions, playing Seeker instead of his better position of Keeper. Draco was currently too busy laughing about the way Harry was dodging the Bludger to even notice the Snitch floating somewhere above his ear.

" And Potter's diving for Malfoy! Give it to the little git Harry! He deserves it – oh wait! He's got the Snitch! Potter's got the – OUCH! What an angle on that landing!" Lee Jordan's commentary continued but Neville and Hermione were in no mood to listen.

" Oh no! Harry! Is he okay? Let's go down to the pitch – Ron? Ronald Weasley!" Hermione turned back to find Ron's eyes still glued to Lavender Brown. _Can't blame the guy – her cheerleading uniform isn't waterproof in the rain and if I was a teenage guy…_

" Yes! The pitch! We got to get down to the pitch!" Ron stammered and headed towards where Harry was lying on the grass.

When they got down next to Harry, Lockhart was already there mumbling about how he could fix him up in a jiffy. Neville knew better than to let Lockhart point his wand at anything and was even considering about disarming him but was already too late. With a collective gasp from the watching crowd, Harry's arm seemed to have deflated like a flat tire as Lockhart's face grew white. _Fate eh?_

" You bumbling idiot!" The most unexpected voice roared at Lockhart and a path was cleared from the direction of the teachers box. A second later, Snape shoved past any students slow enough not to get out of his way and arrived next to Harry. " What have you done to his arm?"

" Ah… I was just relieving him of the pain –" Lockhart got to here before Snape drew his wand, scaring Lockhart into backing up three steps and cowering behind his own quivering wand.

" I will relief you the pain of being alive and inadequate if you don't act more like a teacher." Snape changed the point of his wand to Harry and a stretcher materialised underneath him. " You lot, get out of the way. I'm taking him to the hospital wing."

" Is he going to be okay?" Hermione asked, looking after the floating stretcher. " Huh, where did Ron go?"

_He was offering a 'team hug' to Lavender Brown after Snape came by and got everything under control._ Neville of course did not supply Hermione with this information and said, " Harry will be fine. You can grow bones again with magic stuffs."

" If you say so. I'm going to look for Ron." Neville was too late to stop the silly girl as she somehow walked in the exact direction that would lead her to a scene she did not want to see. _Maybe it is a better idea if I just told her the chocolates last year were from me and there really isn't a secret admirer… Really isn't…_

Just as Neville turned around, he bumped into a small figure and he fell to the ground with an 'oaf'. Apologising and pulling him up before he got trampled by the stadium of leaving crowds, it was Colin Creevy's distracted smile that greeted Neville. He was no doubt debating if he should follow Harry to the hospital wing under Snape's intimidating presence.

" Colin, got some good photos of an arm-less Harry?" Neville made small chit-chat.

" Yeah, some people actually asked if they could buy my photos!" The boy that never seemed to need coffee replied. " Then again, they just pay me with candy, but it's something."

" Just wait until you're older and work for the newspapers… If you can get bitten by a radioactive spider, you can even take photos of yourself and earn a fortune."

" I know you're talking about Spiderman. I'm a muggle-born." Colin reminded.

" Well then Harry's stuck being your main model then." Neville caught sight of a senior Slytherin cheerleader not far away and instantly asked, " By the way. You take picture of people other than Harry right? Cheerleaders for example?"

" No, I don't really." The boy's yet-to-start-breaking voice replied.

" That breaks my heart," Neville stated. " Well you should consider changing that fact if you don't want your photos' only customer to be Ginny."

" How'd you know she asks me twice a week for Harry's photos?" Colin did not understand Neville's joke but his reply made Neville stop in his tracks.

" Wait. Colin. Have you seen Ginny at the match?" Neville quickly remembered the dejected look Ginny wore as Harry stared after Cho in the Great Hall. _I should've dragged the girl with me before following Hermione and Ron._

" Actually yes, I saw her at the start." Colin was unaware of Neville's worries and went to snap a few pictures of some cheerleaders as Neville had suggested. Neville was far from being interested in that now though.

_Good point: She wasn't upset enough to miss the match. Bad point: Ginny saw Harry get hurt? Result: Ginny now upset enough to write in the diary again. Damn it!_

0

0

0

A/N: Is there going to be Cho-bashing in my fic? Not that much, even if I don't feel _that_ much for the character.


	32. Book 2 Chapter 10

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

After the messy Halloween Ball with Luna the Worm, at the evening of the first Quidditch match, Neville found out the person he needed to tutor is Cho! This made Harry crash a year early and Ginny had another reason to set the snake free again…

Chapter 31 – Some things you can change, some you can't.

Neville woke up to the sound of girlish giggling and as he tiredly opened his eyes, it widened at a stereotypical scene from a Japanese echhi anime.

" Wha!" Neville bolted up straight and stared after the girl who just jumped over him, wearing what would henceforth be described in history as a mini-robe.

" I see the homeless bum woke up." Parvati was the girl in question and along with her a few other girls around the room giggled.

" Why are you sleeping at the bottom of the stairs up to girls' dorms you pervert." Lavender harrumphed beside Parvati wearing the same style of modified robes. It must be some sort of new cheerleading clique thing. _And I like it!_

" I wanted to wait for someone…" Neville climbed up on his feet, feeling the sour pain on his shoulder from sleeping on the cold hard floor. After the Quidditch match, he immediately looked at Marauder's Map and saw that Ginny was alone in her dorm room, and had been staring at that dot ever since in the common room, standing guard at the stairs she had to get past if she was to send out any giant snakes. Quite disgracefully, he had fallen asleep on his watch and, as proven, anyone could have just step right over his body to get out. _And if only I had my eyes opened, I would've seen every pant – I mean, girl who jumped over me… _

At that moment, Harry came in through the portrait hole and spotted Neville, rushing towards him, no doubt having just left the hospital wing with the bones in his arm newly grown back. Neville had only stole away to give him a brief hospital visit last night, with Snape's overbearing glares for anyone that was around the bed as if they were the ones who fixed the Bludger. _Well, at least that didn't stop him getting chucked out by Madam Pomfrey like the rest of us._

" Neville, you can't believe what happened last night." Harry said after pulling Neville into a quiet corner. " Where're Ron and Hermione?"

" Don't know. But is there another person paralysed?"

" How d'you know? Is it around the school already? It must be Draco! Taking it out on Colin after he lost the match!" Harry fumed.

" Remember last year Harry. Don't point any fingers until you have evidences." Neville reminded and that seemed to simmer Harry down a bit.

" By the way Neville," Harry's face reddened a bit as he tried to find a good choice of words. " Why'd you think Snape took me to the hospital wing?"

" Because Lockhart removed all the bones in your arm. Talk about a bad memory…"

" No, I know that! I just want to know… why's Snape being nice to me. I thought he hated me." Harry mumbled, " I mean, he even gave me a headache just by glaring at me the first time I saw him."

" You'll just have to ask him yourself Harry." Neville looked at the twelve year-old who had a completely dismal family influence up until now and just shook his head pitifully. _If only there is a way to get Snape to forget about the grudge with James Potter… Well, that won't be likely…_

" Oh yeah, as if talking to Snape about anything is easy... Do you think… Snape hates me because of my mother? He knows my mother right?" Harry had no doubt been spending some time thinking about the memory Neville saw from Snape, and Neville was at a loss about how to answer the innocent boy.

" Well… It wasn't exactly a terrible memory or anything. I mean, you mother told Hagrid to save him before her, and I can't think of why that would make him hate her and – Ginny!" Neville's prey showed herself at last and effectively ended their discussion.

" Neville what is it that you wa – He-hey, hello, hi… Harry… I hope your arm is better…" Ginny dropped off midway and faced the ground after noticing Harry, but Neville was far from being in his usual charmed mood by her timid gestures.

" Did you write in the diary again last night?" Neville took a step closer, frowning.

" I don't know what you're talking about Neville." Ginny, sensing that Neville was a little different this time, glanced sideways at Harry in chagrin.

" Neville, I'm sure Ginny would've handed over the diary by now if she had it. You've been asking her about it all summer." Harry, compassionate as any main hero, received a sparkly-eyed gaze from Ginny as a reward for his verbal assistance. Neville was in a mood to throw a tantrum.

" Do you know Colin Creevy's in the hospital wing? He could've died Ginny! Died!"

" I… I never thought you and Colin were this close Neville. I'm sorry…" Ginny took a step back, her expression a copy of any young girl threatening to cry if she did not get her way.

" Hey Neville. It's not her fault that Colin's paralysed. Why don't you go and ask your friend Draco about –"

" Evidences Harry! You can't accuse him without evidences!"

" And that goes the same for Ginny." Harry stated with resolve. He was a proud Gryffindor after all and would stand up to what he believed was right even if the opponent was a respected friend.

" What's happening here?" Percy the Prefect intervened, even if Harry and Neville were not the type to jump at each other with their fists flailing.

The small confrontation ended there, but ever since the Trio had started to work extra hard at the Polyjuice Potion, thinking they could trick Draco into confessing he was the Heir of Slytherin. Neville on the other hand… was simply getting on Ginny's nerves.

" Neville! I'm going to the – to the… the _bathroom_! Can't you give me a second of peace?" Ginny raged, a hand on the girl's bathroom door.

" What? Will a second really be enough for that sort of thing?" Neville was slapped for the first time by Ginny that day. " I'll wait for you out here then…"

Every spare, and even busy, moment Neville had he spent trailing Ginny Weasley. He squished himself in between Ginny and her friends at meal times; waited for her outside her classes; walked her to her next class even if it meant he had to dash to the other side of the castle for his own in one minute; visited her practices for the play even if he did not need to; loomed over her doing homework when she was in the library, unconsciously correcting every mistake she made; he was even following her dot on the Marauder's Map when he was forced to separate from her monitoring the Hoglake Club.

Although Ginny was not the type to go run and cry to her brothers for protection, the Weasley boys – or the one – who tried to threatened Neville failed miserably at a single cross of the swords.

" If you don't leave my little sister alone Neville, I'll take this to Dumbledore and threaten to have you –"

Percy got to here before Neville said in his off-handed tone, " You know, Percy you're right. I've been helping Ginny with her homework too much lately and haven't even had time to have a long chat with Penelope –"

" Actually Ginny. Do you know Neville is one of the top students in his year for Transfiguration? Please continue to help her Neville – first year is a very important time for a witch's education."

Ron probably knew Neville was following Ginny because of a baseless suspicion that she was the one behind the attacks from Harry, and only worked harder at the Polyjuice Potion. If only the twins were like him. Unlike Percy, they would have had a lot of threatening ways to fix Neville, but they seemed to find this situation immeasurably amusing.

" Seriously Neville, if you want to be a Weasley you'll have to do more than Ginny-stalking." One of the twins started first, and the twins routine commenced.

" I know you're doing all the things a boyfriend does, eating meals with her –"

" Walking her to class –"

" Spending every waking moment thinking of her and all –"

" But if you want to see her like you did last Christmas –"

" You two know about the '_incident'_!" Neville exclaimed and Ginny also stared at the twins as if she was a convict caught in the spotlight while escaping a prison.

" Charlie told us." Fred patted Neville on the back.

" It's ok, we'll use it as blackmail at a later date."

" Don't you _dare_ let another soul know about it!" Ginny looked apoplectic and turned to leave. " Oh Charlie is _so_ getting an angry owl."

" You can borrow Trevor." Neville followed her towards the Owlery.

" I don't need your help Neville!" Ginny screamed, looking ready to rip her hairs off with her tiny fists.

The twins started singing after their bickering backs. " Neville and Ginny, sitting on a tree."

" S-L-A-P, Neville's down the tree."

0

0

0

" You are dismissed." Snape's cold command ended their latest Occlumency lesson.

" Professor Snape, I have a question." This statement was as close to the bane of Snape's existence as it could get nowadays and he had half the mind to deny Longbottom the permission to ask.

" What is it this time Longbottom?" Snape resigned through clenched teeth, knowing the boy would ask anyway.

" Don't you think Harry's in some real danger?" Neville said, almost in a sing-song voice. " You know, the mysterious way the barrier closed at the start of the year. The mysterious Bludger during the Quidditch match. The mysterious attacks on late-night roamers of the castle."

" I am _delighted_ with your weekly updates of your musings regarding Potter, but it is of no concern of mines." Sure enough, Snape's tone was nothing near delighted. Though to Neville's delight, he saw a minimal, maybe even mistaken, flicker of worry in Snape's eyes.

As Neville reached closer to Snape's level at Occlumency, he took advantage of the older man's habitual intention of reading his thoughts, and half forged and half showed his genuine concern for Harry's wellbeing. Neville was trying to a small effect, but surely in gradual progression, misdirect Snape's frame of mind towards Harry as 'Lily's last relation to the world about Snape' instead of 'Potter's orphan'. On several occasions during Potions, Neville caught a stare-down between Snape and Harry, but it was nothing like the hostility in the books. Harry was curious, lost, and slightly eager to learn the full relation between Snape and his mother while Snape was thoughtful, reminiscing, and was shockingly always first to pull away.

" In that case, I'll head back to my dorm Professor." This was one of the few times Neville was away from Ginny these days – much to the young girl's relief. As Neville closed the door to Snape's office and reached inside his robes for the Marauder's Map, a slender figure called out to him down the corridor.

" Neville. It's time for our tutoring lesson." Cho had obviously been waiting out here for him to finish with Snape and Neville groaned inwardly. This was another one of the few occasions Ginny was left unwatched – meaning another person was in danger of the Basilisk.

" Cho," Neville nodded curtly. " Listen, we've had one or two sessions so far and let's face it, we both know you don't need the lessons."

" What do you mean? Didn't we talk about Banishing Charms the last time?" Cho acted innocent and as pretty as she was, Neville just wanted to have a look at Ginny's whereabouts. He was starting to miss Colin Creevy's random camera flashes that interrupted at timely moments, like when he stole off others plate at dinner.

" The Banishing Charms are in the fourth year syllabus. You've already caught up, and beyond the progress of your class." Neville would never portray Cho as an airhead – she did get sorted into Ravenclaw. It was just that she would get too clingy, too teary, and too sensitive in a relationship – probably.

" Well I find your tutoring very educational." Cho's compliment sailed right over Neville's head.

" You asked if we could have our lessons at the Quidditch pitch. Look. I know the reason why you wanted me to tutor you." Neville laid down his cards, " You wanted a chance to get closer to the famous Harry Potter, the Boy-who-Lived, youngest Seeker in a century, mysterious defender of the Philosopher's Stone et cetera."

" He really did face You-Know-Who last year?" Cho's eyes lit up and Neville just sighed. The incident from last year was not reported by Dumbledore to the public and everyone only knew about the incident through unverified rumours.

" Whatever. I'll hook you up with Harry for a lunch or two and we call these tutoring sessions quits. You get time with Harry and I get my exemption with the littlest time input."

" Actually, you were with him at the forbidden corridor last year with the Philosopher's Stone too right?" A mischievous smile played on Cho's lips, whether it was unconsciously or not. " Who says Harry Potter was the person I wanted to get a chance to get closer to?"

" You mean… Ron?" Neville wondered how his arrival in this world seemed to have ascended Ron's luck with women.

" Or it could be you." Cho's revelation dropped Neville jaws more effectively than a right hook. " Destroyer of the Cannons Stadium, Tamer of Peeves, President of the Student Council et cetera. Most importantly, I suspect a closet Quidditch player."

" Err… Actually, you suspected wrong." Neville was actually at a loss on what to do regarding his present situation. Sure Millicent had even confessed her love for him in his face before but comparing her with Cho... Well, attractiveness aside, Neville had a feeling Cho would not be as placid as Millicent in him not giving her a reply if Cho really asked to date. _Plus, this isn't even telling me she's interested in me that way. Cho, from the books, doesn't do that sort of thing. I mean, she never runs outs of guys fawning over her! This might as well be her sense of humour thing – not that she had much in the books._ " Well I don't know why you want to know me at all –"

" Don't worry about it – it's that Ginny Weasley right?" Cho's tone really did not seem fazed at all. " I was just walking past the Student Council's office the other day when I heard you upset that Hannah Abbot girl."

" Upset? Hannah wasn't upset. No one was upset – well, maybe Ginny because I made her miss the twin's prank on Frankie Lambert…" Neville had actually dragged Ginny along with him to a Council meeting to keep an eye on her, the meeting called up by Lockhart's idea of a Duelling Club. Hannah protested that a non-Council member should not be there and Neville just made up the excuse that he was training her up to be a future Council member if needs be. " Anyway! That's not important. The point is, we can stop these tutoring sessions now right?"

" Wrong. I'm not letting you off this easily. If you don't like teaching me Charms, maybe we can go flying next time." The two of them both knew that Neville wanted Filtwick's exemption and he would not get it without Cho's complement.

Neville sighed in defeat. " I thought you're not fit enough to ride a broom because of your Angelica Fever. Strenuous exercise should still make feathers fall off your back."

" I'm glad you cared enough to look up my symptoms. Well, I guess you can fly the broom and I'll just sit behind you." Cho giggled and left Neville alone standing lost in the corridor. _Harry isn't going to be happy if he finds this out._

" Well, well, look at that." Neville snapped his head around at the voice and was greeted by Ginny's, first ever, satisfied smile at the sight of him. " That girl seems to like you."

" Happy you just got one less love rival, future Mrs Potter?" Neville countered, rendering Ginny red in the face. " So why are you here?"

" I know you'll find me after Snape's lesson and it's better me jumping out at you than vice-versa."

" Sorry about Monday." Neville clearly remembered barging into her practicing her most looked-forward-to scene in the play – the kissing scene with Harry the Prince. _I almost had a whole afternoon of stomach cramps trying to keep a straight face._

" Oh shut up." Ginny bristled out in front and stopped with an 'oh' of surprise at the end of the corridor. " Hey look, it's Percy."

" Is he patrolling the corridors?" Neville asked, and looked in Ginny's direction. " Wait a minute! Isn't that Penelope Clearwater? God, she looks good in that mini-robe… Too bad she has guard duty with Percy… Oh! Guard duty!"

" You're sick Neville. Really." Ginny rolled her eyes after seeing Neville's drooling expression. _It's not my fault! I'm blaming it on teenage hormones…_ " Hey wait – why're they going into an empty classroom?"

Ginny exchanged a look with Neville then bowed her head blushing. Neville on the other hand was furious at the possible scenario and refused to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. Growling, Neville stomped towards the door the two prefects disappeared through, while they _should be on patrol duty_, ignoring Ginny's desperate red-faced protests. Lifting the bottom of his robes, Neville side-kicked the door as hard as any housewife would while busting their cheating husband.

" Neville! _Ginny_!" The two of them both stared on as if the door led them into another dimension. _In a dimension where the weasels and worms were popular with the ladies._

The ever so pretty Penelope actually had messy hair for the first time Neville had seen her and Percy Weasley's hands should have tripped the alarm for touching a work of art worthy for a museum. Percy's mouth gapped rapidly like a goldfish, and his face had turned purple by now, and soon to be indigo. Penelope was embarrassingly looking at the floor, rightfully in Neville's opinion, and tried her best to ignore Neville's hurt stare.

_Penelope! Why? Oh why? Did you forget the fun letters we sent each other during summer? Or all the stupid things I told you about Percy? Or how many George Clooney smiles I showered you with? Percy? Seriously, Percy? Anyone but Percy!_

" Err… Hello." Ginny was the first one to stammer, completely dazed by the awkward situation of running into his brother with his girlfriend.

" Hello… Ginny was it?" Penelope cleared her throat. _Girls really are better at tricky social situations._

" But _Percy_?" Neville, one hundred percent male, burst out incredulously as if he just made a discovery as ludicrous as the planet Jupiter being God's bowling ball.

" Hey! I haven't even started with you bringing my sister into an empty classroom!" Percy erupted as well and his face glowed luminous pink.

" Now calm down Percy." Penelope was definitely the one wearing the pants in this relationship as she exclaimed, " Isn't this nice? We're dating each other and your little sister is dating someone that I see as my little brother?"

" Little brother?" Neville collapsed at hearing how the pretty senior thought of him and put a hand on Ginny's shoulder as support. _Seriously! Why can't I attract… the people I want to attract?_

" Oh alright! But you are _not_ making out with my little sister!" Percy stormed off out of the room but not before Ginny recovered and chased after him down the corridor, shouting denials all the way.

0

0

0

The Duelling Club was to be held monthly, with the supervision of Lockhart and Snape. It was actually quite surprising Snape came to Neville himself and told Neville he was supervising, which was as good as him asking Neville nicely. He had just managed to finish his Transfiguration essay before Ginny urged him to get to the Great Hall for the club's first meeting. The two of them got there just in time to see Lockhart being blasted the length of the stage backwards by a Disarming Spell from Snape.

_And would you believe it? Snape glanced at Harry as if he did it for his arm's revenge. No wonder Snape wanted to supervise…_

Lockhart, as in the books, tried to cover his tracks. " Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape if you'd like to help me…"

Neville, as vague as his recollections were of this book, remembered Harry spoke Parseltongue publicly and became the prime suspect of being the Heir since. This was one of the first periods of the students' isolation towards him and a step towards the brooding Harry Neville did not want to see. _But seriously. If Harry really is the Heir, with powers to kill anyone he chooses, shouldn't any one with a brain be smart enough to try and stay on his good side?_

Just as Neville was about to partner with Harry, someone bumped past him boisterously. " Potter! You and me! Let's settle who's playing the Prince once and for all!"

" Hannah is the head of the performance group Malfoy. She already told me to turn up for practice next week for the rehearsal." Harry was not about to back down and drew his wand.

" Oh yeah? Well I just spoke to her this morning and told her I won't be playing any other part apart from the Prince, so you should just back off."

" Get him Harry! I bet he's all talk!" Ron egged them on and Neville knew he was already too late.

" You shut it Weasley! Crabbe! Goyle!" Draco's two lackeys surrounded Ron and Neville rushed in to try his best to contain the situation.

Neville only got a few steps closer before Lockhart bellowed for them to start on the stage. " Remember. We're disarming only! No other curses!"

Harry was hit first, then he sent a Tickling Charm and downed Draco, but got careless and was hit by Draco's counter. Ron would have been able to make a direct hit at Goyle, but his half-snapped wand exploded out of his hand at whatever curse he tried and Goyle took the opportunity to hit Ron with a full Body-Bind Curse. Crabbe, the stupid idiot that in the original future set fire on himself and Ravenclaw's Diadem, actually tried to curse Neville.

Neville narrowed his eyes, slashed out his wand and dispelled Crabbe's curse. With a quick step, he got under Crabbe's bumbling arms and had the tip of his wand under Crabbe's chin. " Drop your wand."

After Crabbe was disarmed non-magically, Neville turned back and disarmed Goyle in the distance magically before Ron got cursed again, at the same time making his way through the crowd towards Hermione not far away, stuck in a Millicent's headlock.

" Take this for always hanging around my Nevi!" Neville slapped his palm on his forehead as he heard Millicent's grunt.

" Let her go Millicent," he frowned and Millicent's expected cutesy act assaulted him.

" Oh Nevi! I wasn't strangling your friend! I was just… _hugging_ her! That's it!" Hermione's red face said otherwise but she was too busy rushing to Ron to free him from his Body-Bind state.

" _Finite Incantatem_!" The aftermath was not pretty and the students who ran loose nursed their respective injuries. Ginny was covering her face with Eloise Midgen trying her best to assure her again whatever ugly curse she was hit with had worn off.

Lockhart was on the stage again. " I think I'd better teach you how to _block_ unfriendly spells. Let's have a volunteer pair –"

" Potter and me will do it sir!" Draco sneaked a sneer towards Harry, who was going to bravely but blindly comply before Neville stepped in.

" No. Allow me. Draco, let's go." Neville did not allow time for Draco to protest and pulled him onto the stage.

" What enthusiasm! That's what we need for our next generation! And what a duel this is going to be! The President against the Vice-President of the Student Council!" Lockhart laughed heartedly and moved to Neville's side. " Now Neville, when Draco points his wand at you –"

" I got it." Neville non-verbally disarmed Lockhart as he searched left and right, wondering who sent the curse.

" Right, right! Your confidence reminds me so much of when I was younger Neville. Almost brings a tear to my eye – almost. Men don't cry you see –"

" Let's start shall we?" Neville took a few haste steps away from Lockhart on the golden stage. Every pair of eyes in the Hall was on the two of them and Neville gestured for Draco to go first.

" You sure about this Neville? You'd better be ready." Draco boldly laughed, " If you want, we can take it easy."

"Sure, good idea." Neville shrugged and Draco interrupted it as a chance to strike. _Tactically sound, and very Slytherin._

" _Protego_." Neville decided it was a safe idea to not announce to the whole school, like everyone at the Duelling Club right now, that he could use non-verbal spells. Draco's curse deflected behind Neville, unfortunately hitting Lockhart and sending him hurtling off the stage. " Sorry professor."

" No – no. No worries! You don't think your professor would get hurt from a student's curse would you?" Lockhart climbed shakily up on his feet in the clearing the students had dodged out of the way for him to land on. " Now back to the duel Neville! Never look away from your opponent! Focus on your surroundings and –_Yelps_!"

" Sorry again professor." Neville drawled, another one of Draco's deflected curses had scorched Lockhart's hand.

" Not bad Neville! But what about this!" Draco took a deep breath and bellowed, " _Serpensortia_!"

A snake burst out of Draco's wand and landed with a hiss on the ground between them, right in front of Justin Finch-Fletchely. Neville could not stop a smile from donning his face, ready to blast it to smithereens with a Blasting Curse. _I knew pureblood families would've taught their kids extra spells outside Hogwarts. Anyway, let's get this over with and Harry won't need to speak any Parseltongue._

In the second that Neville spent musing, the snake had suddenly jumped like a spring towards Justin Finch-Fletchely. Neville immediately blasted the snake and pieces of snake skin and blood splattered all over Justin, stiff with shock as his wide eyes continued to stare at the place the snake had been.

" _Hiss_…" Neville snapped his head in the direction of the sound, just as the rest of the students, and saw Harry's eyes staring at where the snake had been just a second ago. _Uh-oh. Why'd you have to speak Parseltongue Harry! You and your stupid Saviour Mode! I had it under control!_

" What do you think you're playing at?" Justin yelled, looking ready to both lunge at Harry and flee at the same time.

" Justin, Harry was just trying to get the snake off you." Neville said and Justin snapped his head back towards Neville in fright.

" You know Parseltongue too?"

" Of course not! I was the one who blasted the snake remember?"

" There! You said it! Potter would've killed me with the snake if you hadn't blasted it!"

" That's not what I said!" Before Neville could argue anymore, Justin had already escaped out of the Great Hall. The crowd sounded like a pool of snakes at that moment, with all the forced whispers the students hissing beside each other's ear. Harry was very distinctly left standing on his own in a clear radius with Ron and Hermione. _I screwed up again, didn't I? Can't I change things that I _want_ changed?_

" That's quite enough!" Snape seemed to have stepped up to answer Neville's question. " This meeting is dismissed. Get back to your dorms instead of raving about how worthless Gryffindors can ever be the Heir of Slytherin!"

As much menace and distaste Snape had put in that statement, Harry was still very grateful for the man trying to get him off the suspects list. Neville, feeling utterly defeated, followed the flow back to the Gryffindor Tower. They sat together and discussed the implications of Harry's snake-talking abilities while Neville made a start on the Astronomy homework he had to finish by tomorrow.

" I've decided! I'm going to explain to Justin I was calling off the snake and not setting it on him. What do you think Neville… Neville?" Harry turned around to find the twelve year-old President sleeping soundlessly on his parchment.

" Let him sleep," Ron got up from his couch to retire back to the dorm. " He's been rushing that History of Magic essay last night too. That Duelling Club really wasn't worth his effort."

" Yeah. Be quiet now." Hermione gave a last guilty look at Neville's frown in his sleep and ushered the boys away.

The next morning, Neville woke up to find a roll of parchment left to dry beside his head. It was the Astronomy homework that he had no recollection of finishing last night. He read over the now finished essay and found a quote referenced from the Merlin's Magical Encyclopaedias Collection with a smile.

Also, Harry woke up early to find Justin that morning. Unluckily for him, Harry only found Justin's paralysed body and the plotline continued…

0

0

0

A/N: I got lazy at the end, but you guys know what happened. Holidays are over and I'm gonna be thrown back into work I've procrastinated to do for the following weeks…


	33. Book 2 Chapter 11

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

Neville started to tail Ginny around Hogwarts to stop her from attacking students but they found Percy's little secret instead. The Duelling Club took place just as in the books – just as how Harry revealed his Parseltongue ability. Harry and Neville are still tightly wrapped around the plot of the books indeed…

Chapter 32 – Everyone can't wait for a peaceful Christmas holiday to get away from 'it' all.

" Neville? You're not with that Weasley?" Draco looked up in surprise. Neville was also surprised to see Draco sitting in the Hufflepuff table, heedless of the dark looks Ernie McMillan was throwing at the blonde boy from across the table.

" Yeah. Just thought I wanted some good desserts from this table before setting off." Neville commented and sat himself down beside him.

Apparently Draco's two body guards were not forced to follow his seating arrangements as Hannah stuck her head out from the other side of him and asked, " We have Tiramisu today."

" If I ever own a restaurant, I'm gonna make you my waitress." Neville commented at the smiling girl and took up on her suggestion.

" By the way Neville, where'd you learn to duel like that?" Draco harrumphed defiantly, remembering his curses mostly landed on Lockhart instead of their original target. " Don't think you're all that though. We decided to take it easy on each other after all."

" Yeah. I mean, I'd really only used the Shield Charm. Not to mention I was expecting all the hits." Neville spooned out a scoop of jelly from another bowl while saying through his mouthful of Tiramisu, " It's Christmas soon, what're your plans?"

" I have to stay, my mother is away on holiday with her cousin this year." Hannah nervous added, " Everyone else from my dorm is away as well… They're scared of being attacked during Christmas."

" I'm staying too Hannah, but we're not muggle-borns so the Heir won't attack us," Draco said matter-of-factly.

" Why are you staying at Hogwarts? Weren't you just making fun of Harry because of this last year?" Neville asked, finding it strange Narcissus Malfoy agreed to lose the rare chance to see her precious son.

" My dad said he was very busy this year. I don't know why…" Draco's head probably bowed for half an inch before remembering he was at the Hufflepuff's table and his neck was strong as steel again. " Maybe he wants me to stay in school and find out who the Heir is!"

_I think Lucius Malfoy just didn't want to take any chances of people accusing him of slipping something to Draco through the holidays, or giving him instructions, or whatnot. Lucius sure is determined to stay clean of this Basilisk business to sack Dumbledore and frame the Weasleys._

Neville finished his desserts and stood up to go, earning a sigh from Hannah. " Where do you have to rush off to now?"

" Something like a tutoring lesson." Neville gently shook his head.

" I've wanted to ask you this when you sat down… Why've you got Potter's broom? And you're going to tutoring lessons with that?" Draco definitely was not one to overlook anything related to Quidditch.

" I borrowed it from Harry. Some bet from last year he was determined to uphold." Neville caught the eyes of Cho Chang as he looked over at the Ravenclaw table, who smiled in a way that probably made a handful of guys fall for her. _Harry's probably included in that list._ " Well, I've got to go. See you two later."

As Neville marched out of the Great Hall, not bothering to check if Cho followed, trying to remember the first appearance of Cho in the books. She was playing Seeker and actually had the nerve to try and use her feminine charms during the game to distract Harry. Flying skills aside, Neville still considered her to have displayed a bad sense of sportsmanship for that.

" Hey Neville, wait up!" Cho panted as she patted his shoulder, and kept her hand there, as Neville was very much aware of, as they headed out of the castle. " I'm recovering, remember?"

" Then why don't we cancel this flight?" Neville suggested flatly.

" You'll be the one flying remember? I'm leaving it all in your hands Captain!" Cho really knew the vocabulary to make the male mind wander. _Oh look, and even the playful salute. All we're missing now is a stewardess cosplay._

" I won't mind if you flew alone. Your objective should be this right?" Neville pointed at Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand. " Harry's broom?"

" Oh, I get it." Cho giggled and headed on out to the courtyard. " You're still convinced I'm trying to get close to you in order to get to Harry Potter."

" Yes." Neville frowned when Cho giggled again and snatched the broom out of his hands.

" Well Harry Potter is a celebrity after all so you can't blame anyone for being curious about him. And the way he never talks about himself and is all secretive…" Cho placed the broom horizontal in midair and sat sideways on it, looking back down at Neville. " But. He's just a celebrity, you know? I don't know the last thing about him even if he is Gyffindor's Seeker. It'd be different if I'd played against him though."

Neville thought it was better to get this over with and jumped over the broom as if he was mounting a horse for the battlefield. Cho did not yield with the front seat and Neville was forced to smell the pear scented shampoo in her long hair from behind her. He gripped the small space left for his hands between Cho and him and the broom slowly ascended up from the castle grounds. Though he had not been secretly playing Quidditch, as Cho seemed to think, Neville made sure he spent a bit of summer learning how not to make any unwanted sharp ascents now.

Wanting to make chit-chat as to speed up their session together, Neville asked, " What happens if you've played against someone in Quidditch?"

" Are you kidding? I play Seeker and that's practically a duel between the other team's Seeker alone. You get to see the other person's habits, traits, expressions, how they react... Are you saying you really never played Quidditch before?"

" Well, I had a throw-about with the Weasleys through summer." Neville admitted. " Not an actual game like the House Cup."

" Eh? You really should try out for your House team then! Your skills shouldn't be buried like that." Cho turned back to look at Neville, and her soft hair grazed past Neville's cheek as smooth as a caress. " I remembered last year, when the Student-Teacher game ended. I really thought you were going to crash into me from above – but you pulled out of that dive at the last moment, not leaving any excess time at all. That's something even I can't do so easily."

" Harry knows that move – what is it again… Wronski Feint too, you know. That's how he got the Seeker job." Neville's memories were jolted back to last year at the mention. By being with this girl now, talking about Quidditch, it gave Neville the feeling again that he had all the time in the world to explore this world of magic as he used to before Hogwarts. Nowadays, it felt as if he was trying to juggle numerous flaming torches simultaneously every day here at the castle. _Sure, I'm having fun, actually doing stuffs… but… There really are times when I just want to do things like – this. Flying on a broom. It's not like I can do that in my past life…_

" Why don't we try a Wronski Feint now? I'm sure you can do it too." Cho suggested, her eyes shining brightly in expectancy.

" Seriously. Two people. You want to fall to your death?" Neville closed his eyes as the wind washed over him, ignoring the silly girl's suggestion. He was starting to understand why Harry liked flying so much. Flying was like being a bird, and that was a connotation of open freedom. _Maybe I really need an eventless Christmas holiday soon._

" Neville, of course we can't dive with you controlling the broomstick like this. Has anyone ever taught you how to grip?" Cho giggled and caught Neville off-guard at that precise moment. She had taken his hands off the broom handle.

" What're you doing woman?" Neville instinctively reached around Cho's body and grabbed the real part of the broom where it would give the most control. " If we're in a car, that was like taking my hands off the wheels on a motorway! Seriously!"

" So you do know where you should put your hands." Cho smiled back and Neville pulled out from his rant. The position they were in now was… _Okay, I was practically hugging her._

Neville was mentally beyond the teenage stage after all, and with his peculiar feelings for Hermione, he was still able to summon adequate resistance to Cho's charms. He simply stated, " Sorry about this. You should've let me sit in the front."

Neville felt Cho's hand covering his and she said, " Whatever. Now that we've got your hands on the wheels or whatever, let's dive!"

" Hey wai – Stop it!" It was too late and they plummeted down towards the Hogwarts Lake. Ignoring the feelings of her delicate fingers on his, Neville clamped the broom under him with his legs and decelerated the best he could.

With a splash, the lake water sprayed out in a crescent-shaped arc just before they hit the surface and Neville performed his 'Longbottom Ascent' again. Cho's bell-like laughter suddenly sounded a lot more contagious than her Angelica Fever ever did, but Neville forced himself to clear his throat and retracted his hands to brush the wet hair away from his face.

" That'll be all for today." Neville swerved and flew back towards the castle entrance, though unconsciously a little slower than on the way out at the thought of having to check up on the Trio's Polyjuice Potion again. As much as seeing Hermione would be a mood-lift, he had made himself a tight schedule after the drop-in with Council and school work.

Touching down on the stone steps that led into the ground floor, Cho skipped off the broom first and playfully gave Neville a half bow. " Thanks for your tuition today Professor Longbottom."

Neville allowed himself a small laugh before his feet touched ground again and swung the Nimbus over his shoulder. " Goodbye Cho."

He walked past her, not planning on giving her a backward glance, but utterly failed upon her parting words. " Don't tell me I wasn't huggable."

Having ruined his cool image under her words, Neville rammed a frown in the face of her giggles and left with a huff. Su was strolling pass at that precise moment and was about to ask Neville why he looked to be restraining a smile but he had overlooked her and had sped off round the corner. Su shrugged and continued on her walk until she saw Cho.

" Hey Cho! Can you teach me more flying techniques?" The younger girl asked.

" Sure! I'm in a great mood today." Cho smiled back but her eyes were gazing after where Neville disappeared off to. " There's some information I want to get out of you as well…"

Neville put Harry's broom back in the dorms and headed to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. On the way, he heard a girly scream from down a corridor and rushed towards it at top speed. _Is it another attack? Who is it this time? Justin was lucky the plot is still taking place with Nearly Headless Nick, but who was next on the list again?_

Turning a corner, Neville's frown deepened and he pulled out his wand at the sight. " _Reducto_!"

Crumbling the ceiling above Peeves, the poltergeist was effectively buried under the rubbles and Neville walked towards where Peeves was just harassing the first year. " Ginny."

" Neville…" Ginny did not meet his gaze. " Hey…"

" What was Peeves doing to you?" Neville demanded.

" He… was just making fun of how I stood up for Harry… I mean, we both know he's not the Heir right?" Ginny was playing with the hem of her robe sleeves as she asked this, eyes watering. Despite Snape's immediate comment back at the Duelling Club, and it had probably been toned down compared to the books, there were still some witless people bent on seeing Harry as the Heir just because he was a Parselmouth.

" Yes. That's the reason why I told you to stick with him, and he to you." Neville decided that following Ginny around twenty-four seven did not seem to have any great effects after Justin's attack – and he needed to endure her badmouthing him every few minutes as well. Coupling this with his other problem of not wanting to leave Harry to face the negative effects of the school's gossip alone, as he did in the books, Neville assigned these two to be partners. Ginny would more than gladly follow Harry around and Harry could open up to the girl, just as he had somehow decided to in the later books. " Why are you alone here?"

" I was at the library… and needed to come out to the bathroom." Ginny was still avoiding Neville's eyes.

" Alright, I take it Harry's in the library. What's he doing there?" Neville was about to head off in that direction when he stopped midway after some thought. He suspected, " Harry's not with you, right?"

" He told me he had something to do and left…" Ginny sniffed. " I don't think he wants to be around me very much…"

" Don't be ridiculous! Of course he –" Neville's shouts were cut off as Ginny seemed to have reached a boiling point after Harry's supposed rejection and a run-in with Peeves, who had vanished by now at the sight of Neville.

" Oh stop shouting at me Neville! I've done nothing wrong! Harry was the one who left me, not the other way round! Even if you're the Student Council President you can't order me around! And for the last time, for real, I don't have any diaries and neither Harry nor me are behind the attacks! Just leave me alone from now on!"

Ginny ran off crying and Neville was made to feel like the biggest ass in the world. _She's an eleven year old girl after all – possessed by Voldemort no less. I really shouldn't have shouted at her this morning about Justin… Now she's going to be even more unhappy and write more in that diary and then… I'm just an idiot._

With every notion to go back outside again and give Harry's broom another flight, even if it was with Cho, Neville crossed paths with the Trio in the corridors.

" Neville! I can explain why I'm not with Ginny!" Harry held up his hands. " I wanted to check up on the Polyjuice Potion and didn't want Ginny to get caught up in the trouble. I've already crashed Mr Weasley's car and –"

" It doesn't matter Harry. Just make sure you don't let people's gossips get to you or bear it on your own." Neville summoned up his strength again and advised, " By the way, Ginny thinks the reason you ran away was because you don't like her. You should clear that up."

" You know I really don't like your attitude with my sister. I'm this close to giving you a knock around the head, you know that?" Ron fumed.

" Ron!" Neville's gaze followed Hermione as she latched onto Ron's arm in case he really did carry out on his words.

" I know, I know. Well Neville, you can't be suspicious of Ginny for long!" Ron laughed, " Harry came up with a way to get the potion ingredients from Snape!"

" What is it?" Neville turned to Harry and ask.

" You know the Body-Bind Curse Goyle somehow managed to hit Ron with at the Duelling Club? Doesn't that make Ron look like he's… petrified?"

" Don't tell me… You're going to pretend to be attacked by the Heir, lure Snape to see you, while someone else goes to raid his private stores?"

" Something like that. We're going to curse Malfoy instead when he's on his own after play practices so it doesn't seem so suspicious." Harry added, " That's what you'd do right Neville?"

_Have I corrupted Harry Potter? Have I?_

Neville could not stop himself from suggesting, " Actually, I would've attacked a muggle-born you had zero dealings with if you really want to throw off the suspicions."

_Yes, I am a meddling, bumbling, wretched idiot._

0

0

0

" Su, remember to –" Neville stopped as Su threw a pair of reflective goggles at him.

" I get it. Expel anyone who doesn't wear these on their way back to the dorms from practices." Su rolled her eyes as she twirled her pair of goggles around her finger. " Nice transfiguration work aside – why?"

" Protection." Neville was with half of Su's group in a spare classroom, which had now been allocated to store the scenery to one of the sets for the play. Hermione should be in the other half of the group doing the costumes, but Luna was here though.

" Yes, reflective lenses are said to be the best way to drive off Hillbillies." Luna had stopped working and picked up a pair as well, examining it with her usual curious gaze. Peeves had been tagging her for a bit until the news spread throughout the castle and no one dared to bully Luna anymore.

Su laughed, thinking it was a joke of hers since the word 'Hillbillies' probably held different meanings for the two girls. Su turned back to Neville and asked, " How're these goggles going to protect us from the Heir?"

" Just trust me and make sure everyone puts them on before they leave this room." Neville sheathed his wand, clapped his hands, and was ready to retire for the night. _At least I hope these goggles would work._

" Oh! What cute glasses! Neville, are these for the costumes? Which characters are wearing them?" Sinistra came into the room and took a pair to examine for herself with like a mirror. " Now remember just because you've been busy making these goggles, you can't fall asleep in my class again."

" I won't." Neville promised for the numerous time.

" But these do look pretty… Oh! I've got an idea!" Neville and Su both froze at Sinistra's proclamation. They gave each other a look and was reminded of their detention with the Sudowoods.

" W-what is it professor?" Su asked unwillingly. _You just have to ask questions don't you Su?_

" The characters in the play are all older than first and second years right? And we can make the actors look more real if they had distinct qualities like spots, boils, warts, scars…"

" Oh! I want a tattoo of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" Luna piped up.

" We get you! We get you! Can't we just… draw them on? Tattoos, moustaches, whatever!" Neville gulped, not wanting any students to end up with a Snorkack on his face for the rest of their life just for this play.

" Let's ask Professor Snape to brew up potions for us!" Sinistra clapped her hands together and the two children groaned. Luna just shrugged.

_Asking Snape to participate in student activities is like… asking a turtle to sing. No, asking a rock to sing. No, asking a rock that looked like a turtle to sing. Well, it's just impossible._

" I don't think Professor Snape… Well, has the time to help." Su forced out a laugh. " We can do just as well with a few charms and that – or leave it for Draco's group."

" No – no, this definitely falls under costumes. And we should go find Professor Snape right now! He should be in his dungeons at this time…" Sinistra, completely heedless of the children, wandered out the door and Neville was forced to follow her. Su just wished him good luck and stayed to tidy up.

Sooner than Neville had hoped, they were already outside Snape's office and Sinistra even knocked on Snape's door in a childish rhythm. _Snape's going to slam the door in my face, I just know it._

" Well, well. If it isn't President Longbottom. Your lessons are not scheduled for today." Snape sneered behind the door through the crack he had opened.

" Oh! You have lessons with Professor Snape Neville? Is it remedial Potions? You really should work harder at school." Neville watched as Snape let go of the smirk on his face, obviously not having seen Sinistra beside Neville until she spoke up.

" Professor Sinistra. Of what pleasure do I owe your visit this evening?" Snape managed a smile, and Neville glanced back at the woman. Sinistra was still her normal self with that clueless grin, completely unaffected by Snape typical lack of warmth.

" I was just wondering if you can help the Council's production of Onyx Black and the Seven Muggles. It's really fun! We need some potions to make the students look the parts more realistically. Like, the hunter will probably need a scar down his face, and a student had wanted a tattoo of something or other… "

Neville would have laughed if he was watching this scene at a safe distance, but Snape's lips were trembling more and more as Sinistra rattled on. Neville was ready to make a run for it when Sinistra even suggested for Snape to host extra lessons to teach the students how to brew Artificial Acne Potions.

" Professor Snape? What do you think?" Sinistra hung her head to the side, her long hair partly covering her big clear eyes. _Are you sure she's not the kid here?_

Neville closed his eyes and was ready to bare Snape's wrath but was shocked when he heard Snape choke out, " Fine. Give me a list."

" What?" Neville quacked but was shut up immediately by Snape's glare. It was an unmistakable look that said it was all Neville's fault and he would pay for it later.

" Professor Snape! Professor Snape!" Neville and Snape brows furrowed simultaneously. Both of them turned to look at the direction of the newcomers, who looked more surprised than they were.

" Neville? What're you doing here?" Harry asked and even without Snape's Legilimency powers, Neville knew Harry was about to start panicking. _Don't tell me they're planning to steal from Snape now?_

" What is it Potter?" Snape snapped. The Trio jumped and it was Hermione who had her wits back about her first.

" There's another attack! Just outside the castle and we didn't know what to do! You were the closest professor so –"

" Lead the way." Snape marched off forwards, cloak fanning behind him. Neville and the Trio exchanged a few quick looks and Hermione and Ron went after Snape and Sinistra, leaving Harry and Neville with the unlocked office door.

" We won't have much time." Neville pushed open Snape door and the two of them made for the private stores. Neville did this once before, but his face froze when he tried the drawer.

" It's locked!" Harry had pulled on another drawer and found it the same. "_Alohomora_!"

Harry's spell was to no effect and Neville peered into the strange shaped keyhole, tapping it randomly with his wand. _There wasn't a lock on this before… It must be Snape's extra precautions after I raided him… My meddling again…_

It seemed as if Neville got lucky though and on the tenth tap, the keyhole transfigured into a funnel shape that resembled a megaphone. Harry gave Neville a puzzled look, but both of them had no idea what it did.

" Neville! Harry! Where are you?" Sinistra's voice made the two of them jump and before they could even find a place to hide, she had already dragged her long robes into the office. Seeing the two students however, she showed all her teeth smiling again and clapped her hands together. " Oh! What are you children doing? Professor Snape sent me back for you two halfway."

" We… err…" Harry stuttered as Sinistra closed in on them and peered over their shoulders.

" My! Isn't this where Professor Snape keeps his private potion ingredients? What are you – Oh! Don't tell me!" Remembering his first detention, Neville was debating whether stunning Sinistra now would be the easiest way out. Once again however, her ability to think 'creatively' astounded Neville. " You guys are having a bet right? To see who can get into Professor Snape's cupboard first! I've always wanted to see what's the difference between his and the students' stores. Please let me join in as well!"

" Err… O… K…" Harry unsurely replied and Neville just rubbed his temples. Harry gestured towards the megaphone-shaped device, " We managed to get this far. We're sure this has to do with unlocking the drawers."

" I see, I see… Hm…" Neville expected a fully qualified witch, a teacher no less, to have an answer. Sinistra admitted with no shame, " I don't have a clue at all boys."

_Clearly I expected too much._

" I know! Look! It quivers every time we speak! Maybe you have to say a password!" Harry, having quite the knack for detective work throughout the books, luckily or not, came up with the idea.

" Okay. Even if this is password protected, we don't have any clues about the password." Neville sighed, already starting to think of their escape plan before Snape came back. _Why can't things be like an RPG where every puzzle has hints to solve it lying right beside them?_

" Oh! I know! It's 'chocolate parfait'!" The three of them were left standing there in an embarrassing, at least to Neville, silence as Sinistra made an obviously wrong guess at the password. Her spirits were not to be dashed though and continued with the fuel of her curiosity for Snape's stores. " It must be Io. No? However about bats? I know! I know! Doggies!"

" Please professor. Random guesses are not going to work." Neville interjected, trying to ignore her reaction.

" Bu – but… Those are my favourite things and I use them as my passwords…" Sinistra sniffed at being snapped at by her student, her lower lip trembling dangerously as Harry hurried to try and coax her out of crying.

_Favourite… things?_

" Lily Evans." Neville spoke into the megaphone and after the sound of a series of clicks, every cupboard in the store room slid open smoothly. _Well… that's certainly an easy to guess password… Then again, the deal with Lily isn't really general knowledge to anyone else._

Harry's mouth dropped opened, as Neville expected, but he knew they were fast running out of time. Neville tried to recall where the needed ingredients were kept and called out to Harry, " Look, I know you're curious about your mother and Snape, but let's take the loot and get out of here."

" Wait." Even if it was only a monosyllabic word, a chill ran up Neville's spine as the sound cut through the room like diamond to ice cream. Looking over his shoulder, Neville wanted to slap himself at how careless he was. He was so worried about Snape that he had completely overlooked the current teacher in the room. _It was one thing to join in on the students' fun to crack the code of a fellow colleague, but to look on while the students stole stuffs? Stupid me…_

" Wait Professor, it's not –" Harry began to make an excuse but he was directly ignored. Neville took a closer look at Sinistra's expression and furrowed his brows. He had never seen Sinistra looking so much in contrast to her usual self. She was slightly trembling, but with a light frown of anger, yet a flicker of expectancy in her eyes, and a minor inclination of her head showing confusion. Her expression was a mixture of complicated emotions that Neville had no idea the cause, but he took advantage of the situation and slipped the required ingredients in his robes when her eyes seemed to be gazing into a space far away from the small potions office they were in.

" Neville, how do you know the password. Harry, who is Lily Evans." Sinistra was clearly not asking them questions, but merely demanding answers.

" Lily Evans, well Potter, after she got married, is my mother. As you know, she died when I was a baby…" Harry quickly answered, apprehensive of the change he had also sensed in their usually light-hearted Astronomy teacher.

Sinistra then trained her gaze on Neville and he imagined that was what the stare of a Basilisk would do to him if he ever saw it. It was even more piercing than any of Snape's Legilimency attempts and Neville almost flinched at the pressure.

" Just what is going on here?" Neville was rescued from answering the question he could not answer when an apoplectic roar thundered the walls of the dungeons.

At the doorway stood Snape, his long black cloak settling behind him with a sinister swoosh having just descended upon the crime scene. Hermione and Ron were both tagging behind him, looking nervously at Harry and Neville on the other side. Neville wondered if Snape had used his Legilimency to see through the Trio's ruse and hurried back.

" Can someone explain to me why the cupboards in my private stores are all opened? Longbottom?" Snape bellowed, training his glare on the only person who he knew could guess the password.

" Professor Snape." Sinistra took a step forward towards the man and suddenly, an extremely visible wave of panic infected his recently incensed face. " May I ask the inspiration for your stores' password?"

Snape speechlessly glanced between Sinistra and Harry for several times before glowering with fatal venom at who he knew was the cause of all this. Neville was certain a green flash of light would strike him within a moment and armed himself with his wand, trying to look for a place to hide in the small office.

Much to the surprise of Neville and the Trio, at the verge of the volcanic eruption that would be Snape's rage, Snape turned and fled from his own dungeons.

0

0

0

A/N: In regards to the last update, I don't know why the site screwed up in respects to HTML files, but I guess I can't do that anymore. I'm guessing the formatting is still okay now. I hate change.

Now, are we gonna count Cho as OOC here? I'm basing Cho here on the scenes from the third book with her at the Quidditch match. She was currently younger, happier, and more confident since she might not even know Cedric yet, let alone let his death have any effects on her. By all evidences, Cho, before Cedric's death, was an attractive and popular girl on par with later years Ginny. We'll see how it plays out.


	34. Book 2 Chapter 12

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

Neville goes for a broom ride with Cho and temporary forgets his worries. Ginny is on even worst term with him after he tried to stick Harry onto her, and the Trio finally got all the ingredients needed for their potion. Though through a strange turn of events, Harry found out Snape's stores' password is Lily! Even stranger, Snape seemed have a Kryptonite at Hogwarts…

Chapter 33 – Christmas business.

" Harry, snap out of it." Neville shook his four-eyed friend as Harry's unfocused gaze straightened. " I know what you're thinking about… And I don't have a clue either."

After the 'Flight of Prince' in the dungeons, the Potions Master had barely spoken two words to Harry or Neville. Harry's eager questions, regardless of whether they were class-related, were all shot down by the professor's patent refusal and Neville's Occlumency course seemed to have come to an abrupt end. The black stalking bat had even holed himself down in his dungeons for meal times – his usual seat now occupied by the unusually regular attendance of Sinistra. Neville had not lied to Harry when he said he had no clue about what was going on, since he could not explain what he was witnessing. It was unbelievably clear, from Snape's reaction that evening and ever since, that he was avoiding Sinistra like the plague.

" I still can't believe Snape ran away." Ron shook his head, momentarily putting down his Quidditch magazine and sitting up on his bed. " He ran right out the dungeons faster than I've ever seen him move before."

" That's not the important thing!" Harry moaned and turned to Neville, " You really have no idea?"

" I got a lucky guess because I could tell your mother and him had ties from that memory I read from him – the memory you also know now." Neville put his set of quills into the backpack he planned to take home. The Hogwarts Express would be taking the students back to London tomorrow for the Christmas holidays, which were most of the school due to the attacks. Gran would never allow Neville to stay at the 'dangerous' school and miss the rare chance of seeing his grandson after months. _I just hope she won't spring me on a trip to Romania or Poland or wherever this time._

" But that's… I don't know," Harry resigned with a sigh. " Well, is there anything you can tell us that'll help us with Malfoy?"

" Like how he's the Dark Lord reincarnated?" Neville joked.

" Hey, I'll believe it!" Ron shrugged.

" Just be careful on your little adventure." Neville crawled into bed and drew the curtains.

" Oh look at you! Look how thin you've become!" Gran once again left Neville with no sense of dignity as she swept him up in a grandma-hug on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

" Gran. Nice to see you again too. Please unhand me." Neville pulled himself away, trying his best to ignore Su next to him.

" Oh really!" Gran seemed to have picked up Su's presence at that moment as well and greeted, " Well hello there. Aren't you going to introduce us Neville?"

" Su, this is my grandmother. Gran, this is Su." Neville made it quick and stepped off the train, helping Su with her trunk. _Why does that girl insist on bringing her books back home for the holidays? Damn Ravenclaws…_

" Hi Grandma Longbottom. Nice meeting you! Thanks for helping me with the trunk Neville. I'll see you when we go back to Hogwarts – my brother's probably been waiting ages for me already outside." Su added as he handed her the trunk back, " My brother isn't magical and since 'Hogwarts Express' doesn't show up on the lobby billboard, he's bound to start thinking I got into a train wreck. Anyway see ya later – and don't forget my Christmas present!"

" Yeah and Merry Christmas to you too," Neville said sarcastically to the girl dashing off down the platform. Turning back to Gran, Neville asked, " I hope we won't have any more unexpected trips abroad this Christmas?"

" Oh no, we're definitely staying at the manor this year." Gran's expressions at that moment irritated Neville and he quickened his steps away from her. Gran said as she came after him, " You know, I wonder how many more young ladies will I have the pleasure to meet. There was the polite Miss Granger last year, cute little Hannah during summer, and now this lively girl Su. Now really Neville, with delivering Christmas presents alone, your owl Trevor will be absolutely exhausted."

" I'm sorry Gran, I missed what you said over the steam engine there," Neville uttered.

" Oh, I said how many –" Gran almost crashed into him because of his abrupt halt and pointed stare. " Alright, alright, I'll stop. Now let's hurry back since Algie and Enid should be dropping by at any moment now."

" How is my great-uncle doing?" Neville shook his head, " From his letters, I presume he's still to shake off that addiction to Hoglake?"

" Yes, he's still very much taken by it. I hear he's got enough of his friends interested for a real game every weekend now. Not that he doesn't use every opportunity to drag Enid and me for a game on the board."

Neville and Gran walked a few blocks from the station and Gran side-along apparated back to the Longbottom Manor in a deserted alleyway. _You can't make a Portkey without heavy legal hassle and leaving your fireplace open for Floo when you're out is just as bad as keeping the front door unlocked. It may be about time I start learning Apparition… I mean, Apparition is like driving and under-aged drivers are more than common – just look at Initial D… though I won't be delivering any tofu._

Neville went to unpack before his great uncle and aunt arrived, looking forward to the two weeks holiday he would have. As he entered the room that he mostly just spent his time sleeping in, a comforting smile graced his face as his duties at Hogwarts could all be dispelled from his mind for the coming festive season. Snakes were not killing people, there need not be heated arguments about room bookings with Filch, or trying to rush four different essays for the end of the week. With a wave of his wand, what little clothes and things he brought back from Hogwarts sailed into their appropriate spots and Neville strolled towards the windows.

Neville was a minimalist when it came to his rectangular bedroom: His bed was in one corner, along the same wall as the door to his walk-in closet. He had a nightstand accompanying his bed on the other wall, adjacent to the en-suite bathroom. Further along that wall was a shelve, doubling as a bookcase, next to a corner desk that would be quite useful in a few years when home computers would come into existence and if Neville could get an electricity plug for the manor. The only other furnishing was one of those office boss chairs – black, smooth, and leather. He could sit on it and wheel about the massively empty room, or out of the French windows that opened to a white sandstone balcony.

Neville stepped out onto the balcony at that moment and caught the very last glimpse of the sun setting below the horizon into the ocean. The Longbottom Manor was built somewhere a few miles from a small town in the Lancaster area, which was pretty close to Scotland really. There was a small wizarding community a bit inland at Pendle, but Gran only went there for wizard bridge club once in a while. Supposedly the Longbottom family moved to this cliff by the sea a bit before the infamous witch hunts at Pendle and stayed peacefully here ever since. That was how Neville had been granted this magnificent view and gentle sea breeze where he could clear his thoughts and find joy in his solitude.

" It's so cold…" Neville's brows furrowed as he seemed to be hearing words in the wind. " So cold down here... If only I had…_company_…"

Neville leapt back as something white and translucent floated up in front of him on the other side of the banister from the crashing waves below. Immediately he armed himself with his wand and pointed it at the ghost-like being with seaweed all over her face and sopping white robes that still managed to fan menacingly just as it did in horror movies.

She continued to haunt, " The seaweeds… they were around my neck! Tighter and tighter they strangled until I–"

" _Stupefy_!" Neville shot the red cruse at the 'ghost', who let out a shrill scream like a little girl and dodged away just in time.

Neville was dubious about the apparition since the beginning. For one, he was not aware of anyone drowning near the manor, and Gran would have told him if a new ghost were to start haunting their home. Plus, ghosts were intangible, both ways, and they could not even pick up a fork, much less kill people. The more vicious ones used the power of suggestion and such like, but they were left to be eradicated by professional Exorcists. _Very specialised field of study, pays well… but not my career. If I ever need to get rid of a ghost, I can always rent a Basilisk._

" What're you doing Neville! Don't you know I'll fall hundreds of feet down to nothing but jagged rocks then get crushed against the cliff walls by the waves?" The 'ghost' resumed her usual voice and accent as Neville tried a guess on her identity.

" Ghosts are dead and can't be killed, Elena Drakul. _Finite Incantatem_." With a wave of his wand, the seaweed, the white sheen and all the ghost-like attributes disappeared and his quarter-blooded vampire second-cousin from Romania was back. _Albeit still floating…_

" Well sorry for our school not having ghosts to inform us every detail of their mid-way existence! I should've known you can't see a joke even if it slapped you in the face." Elena spotted Neville's gaze directed at the air below her feet and smiled as smugly as he remembered, still showing her larger than average fang teeth, "How's that Neville? The ghosts never taught you how to float at Hogwarts?"

" And is floating magic compulsory at Beauxbatons because they're all too lazy to walk?" Neville still could not get over the exaggerated princess curls trailing down the side of her cheeks, but it suited her personality he guessed. " Well, greetings aside, why're you here?"

Elena rolled her eyes, giving him a demeaning laugh. " Greetings aside? I thought the English were supposed to be polite people."

" Why do foreigners always think we're still in the days of Mr Darcy." Neville turned to walk back into the drawing room, guessing Elena's parents and Old Al should be here as well.

" We were invited to spend the holiday here as guests by your grandmother after we took you in last year." Elena continued to float as she followed Neville out of his bedroom door. " Was that really your bedroom? It had fewer things than a standard hotel room."

" I spend more of my time in the study." Neville answered simply.

" But the reason a study is called a study is because it's for just studying right?" Elena swished round to try and cut off Neville in his march and he would not have been able to get past her without a spin move. _This floating spell of hers really is a great boost in mobility… _" So all you do when you get home for summer is stay holed up at the study?"

" Well… no… I have dinner and things. And… I went into the garden… once." Neville tried to remember all that he did last summer when he was at the manor. " Oh, and I played Hoglake with Old Al in the drawing room."

" Yeah, my dad is so addicted to that game thanks to great-uncle Algie… Anyway, so you really did spend your whole summer down in the books?" Elena sounded like she would have snorted if she was the type. " I mean, I spent my summer with one of Madam Maxime's friends in a Potions lab, then had a trip to Russia with Daddy and Mummy and –"

" Still stuck at the Daddy and Mummy stage huh?" Neville remarked.

" Oi!" Elena's face turned almost as red as her eyes but was interrupted the moment Neville opened the doors to the drawing room.

" Young Neville!" Dracula's voice signalled for Neville to lash onto his wand again and ducked just in time as an ornament sword from a nearby suit of armour shot just over his head. " Since our parting last year I am here to fulfil my promise of testing you once again on –"

" Hello Neville, nice to see you again." Mrs Drakul had timely conjured up a pair of dumbbells on top of Dracula's head. Half-blooded as Mr Drakul was, or Dracula as he insisted to be called by Neville after one slip of the tongue, it was a sore sight to see someone who looked every bit like a vampire cower like that.

" It is nice to see you again Mr and Mrs Drakul. Please make yourselves at home." Neville gave a brief glance in Gran's direction, who was clearly having fun by once again surprising her grandson. _Why was springing these things on me ever so amusing to her? Did the real Neville get this as well without the books mentioning it?_

" So did he fall for it?" Old Al, seemingly having lost a few pounds since summer, probably too busy playing his weekend Hoglake, chortled in his usual way.

" No!" Elena stomped her foot and whined to Mrs Drakul, " Mummy! He tried to hex me!" _As good as Mrs Drakul looked, and Elena seemed to have inherited the pretty-genes, that attitude really should go. Elena's now, what, about fourteen? Seriously, that kid-act spoils the looks she inherited._

" The Stunning Spell can't technically be classed as a hex." Neville turned back on the great-uncle who brought him trouble even before meeting him for the first time after half a year. " And was it your idea for her faking a ghost great uncle Algie?"

" No, I just told her which window was your room." Old Al just could not keep a smile off his face as he glanced at Elena, then back at great aunt Enid, who rolled her eyes as if he made a bad joke. " So tell me about this Hoglake Club at Hogwarts!"

" I already told you in the letters," Neville was expecting he would have to play a lot during these two weeks. " I'm only there to monitor the start and didn't even join the club. It's building up pretty well and Ron is a celebrity every time he drops in."

" Oh yes! You've sure had a very busy year since our last duel young Longbottom!" Dracula had recovered by now and used his wand to conjure up a board version of Hoglake. " Creating such an ingenious game! Absolutely amazing!"

" Well allow me to be the one to congratulate you on the more important achievement of setting up a Student Council at Hogwarts." Mrs Drakul gave her husband a small frown but continued smiling at Neville, " I plan to bring the idea up at Beauxbatons' next PTA meeting and who else better to ask more about it than yourself? I hope you can tell me more about its operations this holiday."

Neville ignored the demeaning '_che_' from Elena and replied, " Certainly."

" But my dear wife! Hoglake is _very_ important! I'm soon planning to round up enough people to start weekend games like Algie!" Dracula clammed up at one disapproving look from his wife but Old Al continued in his place.

" Yes, just look! Hoglake bought Neville his first self-earned profit!" Old Al took out a pouch of what sounded to be coins from its jingling sounds.

" Algie! How can you teach Neville to gamble?" Enid looked as if she was about to conjure some heavy weights for her husband as well.

" I did not bet on anything great aunt Enid… I guess that was the real purpose behind your weekend games huh?" Neville sighed, wondering how the game he devised for Ron's birthday transformed into a gambling tool.

" We just liked to spice things up a bit, you know, just enough for the winning team to get a round of drinks at the pub afterwards." Old Al hesitantly glanced at his wife, but gave up and chose to flee from her stare instead by putting an arm round Neville's shoulder. As if having Neville as a shield strengthened him, Old Al explained, " This money is from my other Hoglake friends who wanted a board-version of Hoglake. I figured since it was Neville's idea, he really should have a share of the profits."

By now Old Al had handed the pouch over and Neville was almost dazzled by the galleons inside. It was filled with golden galleons and only galleons – not even one sickle or knut. " And how many boards did you sell great uncle Algie?"

" Oh, just a few. I managed to string them along for a bit." Old Al had really just been taken up with bragging about his great nephew instead and the buyers had mistaken. Neville though, at hearing this, almost had his eyes changed to dollar signs. _Or galleon signs, whatever._

" Is there anything such as patents in the wizarding world? Neville asked.

" What does 'patents' mean?" Old Al asked.

" Patently he's used the wrong words." Elena, born and bred in a wizarding family, just tried to spike him again. _Failing and using a very bad pun._

" No. Patents are like, if you invent something, or have a brand, people can't copy you." Neville explained.

" I still don't understand fully what you mean, but that sounds like the spell they have between Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic." Old Al clicked his fingers in realisation and continued, " Whenever someone's designs or products or something like that are sold, the profits, amongst other things, gets automatically transferred to and from another's vaults. Mostly they are company vaults transfers and the likes. If anyone ever tried to fake a product and sell it, the Ministry would get to know about it. That's what all the big broomstick companies like Comet and Cleansweep relies on after the big scandal back in –"

" How do you know all this stuff about Gringotts?" Neville wondered if this would be a chance to find out something that would help him on getting Hufflepuff's Cup. Harry and co. were more than extremely lucky in the books for making it out alive.

Things never went this easy though and Old Al puffed out his chest. " When I was young, I was in charge of the Longbottom family's finances! Oh yes, all the pureblood families dwelled in businesses and the likes – some better than others of course. I'm not bragging Neville, but my investment choices were always right! A keen eye was what my grandfather said I had!"

Recovering from his slump of not getting closer to the Hufflepuff's Cup, Neville was awarded with a brilliant idea. " Great uncle Algie? How would you like to be a partner in your only great nephew's new business plan?"

0

0

0

" Neville! It's time to go!" Gran's voice made Neville look up from the book he was reading about artefacts identification from the study. He had picked up the habit of keeping on him a number of confiscated items from the Shrieking Shack this half-year since he made less nightly trips, wary of Dumbledore's invisible surveillances of the castle. Some toys really were just flashy and loud, but he had got quite a few neat things from the confiscated pile. The Eton Ear was a good example – even Ron borrowed it very often just to recite word-for-word what the teachers said to imitate and annoy Hermione.

" Coming Gran!" Neville spun round and jumped out of the open window from second floor.

" Neville!" Gran's worries were unfounded. Neville glided towards the ground at a steady pace with the billowing of Dracula's Cloak behind him, and would have looked every bit like a descending vampire if he had some fake fangs. He found out Dracula was the one who taught Elena the trick of floating and was able to get a promise of tuition during one of the heated discussion about the proposed Hoglake business.

Dracula, Old Al and Neville would be business partners in starting up a business where they would sell Hoglake equipment and initiate tournaments. _Almost like the Games Workshop on wargames and role-playing games…_ Granted, Neville did not have much capital, but he was the originator of the game and with his years of experiences in simulation video games, an extra decade of business news, and the accessibility to the Hogwart's Hoglake Club, he pulled his own weight. The Hoglake Club would be a great way to test and publicise anything, and then the children's letters would effect the parents. Plus, though Old Al would be the main director for Neville's duration away at school, Neville was prepared to take part in the business's running through letters and the summer period. Dracula was really more of an investor since Old Al infected him enough for Dracula to want whatever newest updates and products Neville had planned for the game. _This is going to be my first bucket of gold in this world! I'm sure of it!_

" Whoa!" Neville felt something hit his feet as he stumbled before his landing and tumbled ungracefully on his back until Elena stopped him with her furry boots.

" Not bad young Longbottom! A little more work on the landing but the gilding part is very good already." Dracula, oblivious to his spoilt daughter's actions, commended with a clap. This seemed to have angered Elena even more though as she just harrumphed and turned around without giving Neville another glance.

" Elena!" Mrs Drakul berated while Neville got up with the help of Old Al.

" Pisst. Neville." Old Al covered the side of his mouth while whispering, his eyes glancing between Elena and Neville. " The little miss is angry at you, you know."

" Why? I haven't even made one joke about her in the days she'd been here." Neville was quite confused indeed. He had tried to be the most civil and polite host as he could, restraining on as many occasions as possible to not aggravated the proud princess on her high horse. Her attitude only got worst as the days went by though, and he tried his best to hide away or discuss business with Old Al and Dracula.

" That's exactly the problem… well, not really. It's just that you should spend more time with her and less with us older folks," Old Al reasoned. " And you really topped the cake yesterday by sending out the Christmas presents."

" It's not like I wanted to send presents, but it'll make me feel bad if I didn't send anything while ending up with a pile of stuffs from others." Neville complained, never believing in this gift exchanging idea. _I would feel bad as well if the presents exchanged are of largely different values. Though if we assume they are equally priced, then why not just save each other the money and one can buy whatever more suitable to their needs instead of the other wasting time shopping at this hectic time of year?_

" Apart from so many people on your Christmas list being girls, haven't you forgotten someone you've still to give a present to?" Old Al tried to clue Neville in but all he could think about at the moment was if Trevor would be able to finish his deliveries by tomorrow.

" Let's get that list back out then." Neville pulled a crumpled piece of parchment from his back pocket and read out, " Hermione, Harry, Ron. Hannah, Draco, Su. Twins, Percy, Penelope. Dean, Seamus, Ginny. Gran, you two and the Drakals. Come on Old Al, can't you married couples just share a present?"

" Yes but – Well…" Old Al just rolled his eyes and patted Neville on the head as if he really was a great uncle imparting a lifetime of wisdom to his kin. " You are still just a youngin' Neville…"

" Algie? Will you take Elena as well by Side-Along-Apparition?" Gran ended the chat between the two men and Elena took Algie's hand after a scowl for Neville.

On the other side of old Al, after the squeezing sensation Neville tried his best to memorise for his practices with Apparition later, the party arrived many miles away on Pendle Hill. It was still too early in Britain for snow and the weather was bristly cold. The blades of grass underneath their feet were bound to make crunching sounds when stepped on, and the hills about them were scattered with dark naked trees. The sun was hidden behind the clouds even in the late afternoon but was well on its way to disappear all together anyway since it was winter. These shadow-less fields were the last place people should go for a hint of festivities. _At least for Muggles._

Gran walked towards the only Evergreen tree in vicinity, just a metre tall and had a tattered old Christmas hat at its tip. She tapped the ragged hat's bobble with her wand and without even a pop, a stone archway surfaced from the ground as if it was on rails. Peering through the archway, where there should be an image of a frosted tree stomp on the other side of the archway, Neville saw the crowds of a Wizard's Christmas Market instead.

Elena was the first to run through, temporarily forgetting Neville following behind her, with her head looking left and right constantly at the new and unusual things about her. Nutcracker figurines were floating about the air, a pair of which was even duelling with wooden swords. Neville had to whip his Cloak around to spin out of the way of a speeding sleigh pulled by white reindeers. He was more on-guard the next moment though as he blasted a floating Santa hat that tried to swallow his head.

This earned him a stern frown from Gran, but was quickly replaced by the much feared artificial smile of hers. _I'm going to pay for that spell now aren't I?_ " Neville. Elena dear has already shot forward into the crowd. Go find her."

" Algie, did you not say you wanted to look at this year's nativity scene?" Enid followed swiftly.

" Well, I trust you'll take care of Elena for us then Neville." Mrs Drakul sealed the fate of Algie and Dracula, who clearly had no interests in visiting any nativity scene since they already took a few steps towards the stall selling mulled wine.

" Okay," Neville replied a little hesitantly. After all, this reminded him of how he ended up fighting a Romanian Longhorn last Christmas. The women dragged the disgruntled men away into a side street as Neville made out on his own after the reckless Elena towards the stalls.

The Pendle Christmas Market was a space set up on Pendle Hill for wizards that gathered from nearby counties. There was a circular town square in the middle of the area, filled with stalls selling the usual Christmas merchandises. Out from its radius were looping side-streets that eventually led back to the square anyway, lined with shops or cafés. This was the centre of Pendle's magical community during usual times and Neville had been here once or twice before Hogwarts, knowing his way around okay.

Having spotted Elena in front of a stall through the crowd, Neville made his way over and tapped her on the shoulder. It made her jump and Neville could only shake her head as she fumbled for the wand in her coat pocket. _Absolutely uselessly in any battle situation._ Very soon though, she noticed it was Neville and her face flushed.

" Why'd you sneak up on me like that? Where're my parents?" Elena spun her face away from him but continued muttering. " Thinking you're all that just because you're the president of some stupid council. And don't think I don't know about you sending a letter along with that gift to that Ginny Weasley!"

It was true Neville was still on bad terms with Ginny after the incident outside the library, and he did take extra care with the little girl's present. After all, keeping her in a good mood was the only thing he could do right now to stop the Basilisk attacks.

Having his thoughts brought right back to the hassles at Hogwarts, Neville sighed and rubbed his forehead, " Elena, please. Ginny is closer to hating my guts than Draco's, and that's saying a lot. Let's not mention much of school for the holidays shall we?"

Elena's harrumph was a signal that she accepted and Neville looked on behind her at the stall they were standing at. Sparkling stars lined the wooden shack's roof, and on display with other floating stars were jewellery of all sorts. _Trust the princess to make a beeline for jewelleries and shiny things._

" I saw that! That look!" Elena pointed accusingly at Neville's nose. " You definitely thought ill of me there, didn't you?"

" No," Neville lied and directed his gaze steadily on the different bracelets.

" Yes you did! Yes you did!" Elena crossed her arms, stomping her foot. " I came all the way to Britain, some place that doesn't even snow during Christmas, and you've hardly spoken ten sentences to me! Is that any way to treat a guest?"

Neville rolled his eyes and realised the shop keeper had taken her eyes off her Daily Prophet and was staring with a bemused expression at the two of them. Neville quirked his eyebrow and the Asian woman, who gave him a similar expression back, looking pointedly at Elena and the jewelleries she had on display. _Now this is good business practice… _

" Sorry, but are you interested in working for a new shop my family is starting?" Neville forgot the spoilt princess for a moment and asked the woman behind the stall. Every store needed good sales people after all.

" Business, Hoglake, your council! Is that all you can talk about now? And just to my parents? Y-you… _You_!" As if that was the most effective insult in the world, Elena ran off in a huff after shoving Neville back a few paces.

" Boys. I'm glad I didn't have any." The sales woman rolled her eyes and picked up a silver bracelet, lined with a pattern that reminded him of an elegance more in the form of swordplay rather than high ballrooms. " This was the bracelet that girl was looking at. I'll close the deal with two galleons."

Neville took a quick look at the bracelet which really did suite Elena's fiery attitude quite well. It was nothing fancy, but eloquent enough to complement her looks. Turning back to the shop keeper again, he asked, " Seriously, what do you say about the job? You are good."

" Young man. How old are you?" The Asian woman laughed, " Anyway, no thanks. I'm only putting a stall up at this Market as a favour. Now if you don't chase after your girlfriend she might get readily snatched up. I've seen quite a lot of charmers today at this market. I mean just a while back…"

" Okay, two galleons, I'm not good a haggling." Neville paid the woman and took the bracelet, planning to set off after Elena before she got lost and he was blamed for it. Neville screeched to a halt after a few steps as he added for a final goodbye, " By the way, my name is Neville Longbottom. Contact me if you change your mind."

Not waiting for a reply from the sales lady, Neville scurried about the market, utilising a little of his immature floating magic to increase his dexterity in the crowd. He was sure if he mastered this technique, it really would feel as if he was stepping on the air or riding the winds. He quickly found Elena, but it only brought him a frown, as she was being surrounded by a group of teenage boys. _Oh come on! This is just too rich. That sales lady knows Divination? …If she does, I really want her working at my future store!_

Without stopping a step, and accelerating with unusual speed in midair, Neville swooped in and pulled Elena away from there like a hawk capturing a rabbit. Leaving the baffled teenage boys wondering what had hit them, or whether Elena had disapparated, Neville stopped only after they had reached the centre of the market. It was marked by a stone pillar, but presently decorated by sizzling tinsels, popping bubbles, and bells charmed with wings that circled the tall structure.

" Why did you pull me away Neville?" Elena bared her fang tooth and refused to even direct her pout in his direction. She seemed to have recovered herself now from her sudden abduction." I was having a perfectly wonderful time with some true English gentlemen back there."

" Right… True gentlemen…" _Not to mention the one behind you staring at your ass. _Neville produced from his pocket the silver bracelet he bought previously. " Anyway, the sales woman said you were looking at this earlier. Let's count this as your Christmas present okay? I didn't have anything interesting to give you back in the manor. I'd thought you could find something here today anyway."

" Oh…" Elena looked as if she was struck dumb for a moment before stammering with a red face, " Well, I wasn't really expecting anything…"

" So that means I won't be getting a present back then," Neville stated. _Well_, _I don't mind. After all, I'm mentally so much older than her. _" Then again… as long as you quit shouting at me so much… Well, actually, I'm kind of getting used to it. It's like that's just the way you speak – more like an accent than that Eastern European one of yours. Seriously, if you don't change that attitude, you really won't land yourself any decent guys –"

" What're you talking about!" Neville ducked a slap from Elena, but could only parry the rest of her rain of fists following. He was just lucky they were girly punches. " Boys need to queue up around the courtyard to give me my Valentine Day presents every year! I can have anyone I want and you… you… Well, how many girls like you at Hogwarts? I bet you didn't even get a single Valentines last year!"

Neville jumped out Elena's circle of attack and gasped, " Actually… I did get one." _Yes, it was covered in Dungbombs but it was still one._

Elena halted her assault at his reply and narrowed her eyes. Crossing her arms she threw him a glance as if he was just some dirt on the road. " Who? Is it Miss Butt Naked?"

" Ginny wasn't even at Hogwarts last year." Neville nursed his arms a little_. Seriously, when a guy says 'ow' to girl punches, that doesn't mean for her to punch harder. They should know there are female boxers in the world._

" Then who sent you the Valentines?" Elena took a corresponding step forward, her eyes glittering in its crimson hue.

" Millicent Bullstrode," Neville answered. After all, there was no way Elena would ever know the Slytherin anyway… Granted, once she did know, Neville was sure some snide remarks would be heading his way.

There were no snide remarks now though. Elena lowered her frown downwards away from him, her curly locks now hiding her eyes as she turned away, probably trying to use her imagination. " And… What's this Millicent like?"

" Oh… she's just… like, the prettiest girl in Hogwarts or something." Lying without heed, Neville continued to gloat, finding it pretty amusing. _Immature as besting this little princess with lies is, it's kind of fun to best her at her own game. Meh, it's the holiday season, why not just lay it on thick?_ " Not only that, but Millicent is also… a cheerleader! Yeah, they're just the most popular group of girls in any school. Also, she's great at… any subject. Herbology, History of Magic, Charms, you name it! She's got a great personality too, she doesn't shout at people, and always speaks to me with a sweet voice and –"

Elena stomped on the ground and lunged at Neville with her arms outstretched. She grabbed onto his collar and pulled him so close that he could only see her shimmering eyes as she exclaimed, " Well did you expect –"

" There you are Neville! I've been looking – Oh." Elena could not finish her sentence as an interruption turned both her and Neville's head to the newcomer. " Moved on already Neville? What of Ginny Weasley?"

Neville jumped a foot in air, even without floating magic. " Why are you here?"

At the exact same time, Elena had turned back to him and grabbed his collar in a tighter strangle, " Don't tell me you've already dated and dumped that naked girl from last year?"

" Naked?" Cho raised an eyebrow, sensing a gossip. The observant Ravenclaw was dressed in a long white coat, her contrasting black hair smoothly running down her back. Her lips raised at one corner, as if finding great amusement in creating an apparantly tricky situation for Neville.

" No! No one was naked!" Neville regained his composure and jumped backwards, gliding further than usual with magic, snapping out of Elena's hold. " Why did you say you were looking for me? How are you here anyway?"

" Can't I be here Neville? My aunt runs one of the stalls and said she saw a Neville Longbottom a while ago so I thought I'd find you for a chat." Cho teased, smiling as if she was the one in complete control of the situation. " I never thought I'd be interrupting a date with your newest girlfriend."

" She's not." Neville clarified without missing a beat.

Elena shot Neville a glare and he took another small step away. Her crimson eyes settled back on Cho, and Cho was examining her with quite the curious gaze. After a while, Elena gave out a curt laugh as if she had won a staring contest, " I know who you are. You're that girl who shameless gave a Valentines to someone like Neville. That Millicent girl."

Cho frowned and asked, " Who?"

Elena curled her lips, baring her unusually sharp fang tooth, a hand reaching into her pocket. " I heard from Neville you were quite… _perfect_ in every way. I challenge you to a friendly duel Millicent!"

Elena pulled out her wand and was already incanting in Romanian some random curse before Neville knew what was happening. Being the actual target of a curse, Cho reacted a lot faster than him and armed herself with a wand as well, hurrying the same way as Elena with preparations to curse back. Neville had no idea what strange hexes or charms they might throw at each other, but he was already rushing forward on reflex between the two girls. With his inexperience in floating, his body shot forward faster than he expected. The last thing Neville felt was the impacts from two rays of light from either side.

0

0

0

A/N: And so ends Neville's life. Thank you and goodbye… Na, just kidding. This chapter is kind of just recreational and background set-up. I actually wanted more air time for this Christmas Market scenario but I would be running the risk of people thinking this period as a filler period like last year's Christmas. Return of the Drakuls this chapter too, and if you think Elena's changed, well it's pretty easy to spot. All will make a bit more sense later in the story.

I wonder if anyone's noticed the sub-genre of this story as Romance, and there had been a lack of it so far. At least, not serious ones. After all, most of the cast is too young for this now, but later there will be more.

Also I got the idea of whereabouts Longbottoms manor was after reading 'Where Are the Longbottoms From?' by S. Hall on the Lexicon. And just in case - .org/wiki/Christmas_market kinda describes this whole scene.

As always, thanks for the reviewing guys. Things will surely but slowly deviate from canon at its gradual pace…


	35. Book 2 Chapter 13

Synopsis: The dimensionally-travelled Neville is in his second year of Hogwarts. Though the general flow of the plotline was still in place, his arrival had already caused ripples inside the school: Hogwarts now had a Student Council, with Draco as the vice-president; Hermione's crush on Ron is her and Neville's mutually shared secret; and, even if Neville was unsure, the fissure between Harry and Snape showed promises of not being a lost cause? Either way, the second year must go on!

Christmas holiday is here and Neville goes home to enjoy a well-deserved break from all the worries throughout the year so far at Hogwarts. Just as last year though, the Drakuls and Elena had unsuspectingly sprung on him to share the holidays. He was doing fine by busying himself discussing plans for a new Hoglake business until he was dragged to a Christmas Market, where Elena and Cho had a run-in. Hilarity does not ensure because Neville was caught in the middle of two curses…

Chapter 34 – Longbottom senior's inheritance.

" I'm… really, really, _really_ sorry!" Cho clamped her eyes shut and apologised with her hands clapped together. _It was such a typically cute apology expression from those animes… I would appreciate it more if I wasn't lying in a bed at St Mungo's though._

" It's okay Cho, it's not your fault." Neville reassured, " It was really quick charmwork on your part however... You sure we need to continue your tuition –"

" Yes, I'm sure Neville." Cho shook her head good-naturedly.

" I'm really sorry again dear for what our daughter did to you." Mrs Drakul was also at the bedside, but she frowned at the doorway as she added, " We've really spoilt our daughter too much."

" No, no. I'm sure it was a mistake since Elena thought I was someone else." Cho's politeness shone like a beacon to the head of Beauxbatons PTA. If Mrs Drakul had a son, Cho would definitely be the type she wished the son would bring home. Neville knew better.

" Oh Cho dear, I really want to make it up to you in some way…" Mrs Drakul continued to swoon for Cho while the young girl countered flawlessly. Neville turned his attention to the shadow behind the ward doors' window, where Elena had banished herself to stand.

Neville, who had been practicing Dracula's floating magic too much, shot in between the two girls' spells with a bit of miscalculation and was simultaneously hit by both. The two curses alone were probably nothing significant, but since the spells originated from two different branches of magic, and hit simultaneously, they mixed into something complicated. At least that was the reason a Healer gave for Neville's admittance to the ward for a night of examination even if he felt fine.

_Spending Christmas Eve in a hospital… If I feel fine then I should be free to go wherever I want! If they think I'm some weak foal that'll collapse after two spells from two little girls, then how am I ever going to help Harry with Voldemort? I fought a troll last year! How many Healers here fought a troll, huh? Restraining me to a hospital bed! The nerve!_

As if hearing Neville's thoughts, Gran gave him a stern stare as if to say if he tried anything, he would have one hell of a retribution for it. Neville avoided glancing at Gran and looked at Old Al, the person who immediately apparated the fainted Neville here in his arms. _I only blacked out for about… a moment or something. They're making too much of a fuss… Why do wizard hospitals smell as bad as muggle ones anyway?_

" Neville, is there anything you need brought to you from the manor?" Old Al asked and Neville shook his head.

" We'd better go now, visiting time is almost over." Enid pointed out and the group prepared to leave.

Cho turned back for the last time and apologised again, " I'm really sorry Neville. I hope you get better soon."

" I'm _fine_! There's no need for me to be in a hospital at all!" Neville grumbled but Cho laughed as if she was playing him like a Tickle-Me-Elmo. She leaned into his ear and whispered without the adults hearing.

" Wait until we get back to Hogwarts and I'll make it up to you, okay?" Cho's smile as she left gave Neville a lurch in his stomach. Not that clichéd 'butterflies in my stomach' type lurch, but the 'this is going to cost me' type that was a lot closer to dread and wary.

" And I was just wondering when was the next time I see another girl – ahem, _female_ friend of yours." Gran was the last to leave and she had a glint in her eyes that rivalled Dumbledore, forging a sigh, " But to think you're being fought over by two girls already –"

" Gran. If they were fighting over me I won't be the one who got hurt." Neville tried his luck for the last time, " Can't you ask again if I don't have to stay the night? I feel fine!"

" No." All humour in Gran's expression was gone and she lectured, " I will not have you risking your health just because you're scared of sleeping alone in a ward."

Neville rolled his eyes, frustrated that Gran thought he was some kid when usually she trusted his maturity. " You know it's not that Gran…"

" Then why do you hate staying at the hospital so much Neville?" Gran asked, concern in her eyes.

Neville looked away out the window at the dull sky and surrendered, " Fine. I'll stay. I just don't like it."

Gran sighed and left after waiting for a second or two for an explanation that never came. Just as Neville thought he could charm the curtains around his bed close, heedless of underage magic laws in the public eyes, a small figure with elaborate hair shuffled towards his bed with her head bowed.

" Hey. Are you alright?" Elena asked without looking up. Neville could tell she really was sorry this time, but her pride just got in the way of apologising. _Cho is almost a year younger than you so how come you're the one that acts so immature? Seriously, you're just going to get shouted at by Mrs Drakul later…_

" I'm fine Elena. Just remember don't be so quick to draw your wand next time. Actually – ever." Neville recalled their initial meeting and let out a laugh, " What's with you and duelling people you meet for the first time? It's not some vampire tradition is it?"

Elena clearly remembered how they met as well and stammered, " Of course not! Vampires are the most elegant and graceful –"

" Don't forget proud, arrogant, and brash." Neville cut off her steam and she looked as if she would hit him but stopped when she remembered she had still to apologise.

" I… I just want to say… it's just…" The little girl's face was getting redder by each word, and Neville put her out of her misery as he spotted her fiddling with the bracelet he gave her, now on her wrist.

" Just give me back the bracelet and we'll call it even." Neville said with a smile and Elena expectedly jumped back in shock.

" What? You can't! You _can't_! You already gave this to me and… and… You just can't!" Neville never thought his joke would drive the little vampire almost to tears and he quickly straightened up on his bed.

" I was just kidding Elena. Don't look like I'm going to murder you." Neville tried to pacify the young girl, which was something he was never good at doing. " I know you're sorry. Just don't do anything like this again, okay?"

" O-okay…" Elena hiccupped, but her hand was gripping the bracelet on her wrist tightly. " I'm sorry Neville… And thank you for your present…"

" Wow… That… actually sounded genuine." Neville put a hand on his heart as if he had just suffered a stroke and that seemed to relight the fire in her.

" That was the first time I said sorry in my life and you… you…"

" You've been stammering a lot since I've met you again. You really should try harder at learning English." Neville really should not have said that because Elena gave him quite a knock on the head before she ran out of the ward.

_Now that's the little vampire pain of a cousin I have._

0

0

0

Neville jumped out of bed with an aggravated frown and stormed out of the ward. He had worked himself up mentally, while he was futilely trying to fall asleep, at how he really should not be stuck in a hospital like some sick animal. He decided to walk off his huff and if anyone were to say roaming the halls on Christmas Eve was not allowed, then whoever it was would help him vent quite efficiently. _One of the perks of being twelve years old was that I can be unreasonable with minimal consequences._

Neville roamed about St Mungo's, the emergency room too far away downstairs to be of that much noise. He was just wandering around the corridors, thinking when he could run into some hot nurses when a sign caught his eyes at the end of the corridor. _Spell damage…_

Neville recognised this place from the few times he was here, and knew who resided behind those double doors. The last times he was here, it was just half an hour of awkward silence, smiling politely and avoiding anyone's eye contact. After all, although the original Neville really loved his parents, it was simply impossible for him to act exactly the same now, especially to someone out of their minds. He took a few trying steps in the other direction, berating himself internally, when a patient somewhere started bellowing Jingle Bells down the hall. _It is Christmas Eve after all… And I'm here seldom enough as it is…_

Neville took a deep breath and headed for where Frank and Alice Longbottom would be, treading lightly since some of the other patients were already asleep. Pulling past the white curtains, Neville stepped into the bed spots of his parents in this world. It was next to the windows and actually had quite a scenic view of the garden below, but neither of the occupants here looked out of it very much. At that moment, the pale winter moon shone through the glass and highlighted the white hairs on the two elderly-looking faces in front of him.

Frank was in his wheelchair, idly staring into the wall with a drip suspended magically in the air. Alice sat on the edge of her bed, her mouth hanging open for the candy she took from the bag on her lap, still wrapped. Even the moonlight did not bring out the same blue spark present in Neville's that should be in their eyes, for theirs were doomed to remain dull and lacklustre for the pain they had to endure in the last war.

Neville refrained from sighing in front of them, and made his way closer to Alice to help her with her eat her treat. It was a sort of wafer candy and Neville gently pried it from her hands, but she was not about to put up any resistances anyway. He unwrapped the candy and fed the candy to her mouth, and was most relieved that she managed to at least understand that she should chew on the candy with her untidy set of teeth.

Just as Neville straightened himself up to stand, Alice stretched out her arm with her palm faced upwards. He instinctively searched her gaze, but they were unfocused as usual. He wondered what it was that she wanted, deducting it must be another sweet from the bag, and was just about to bin the wrapper still in his hands when she emitted some sort of screeching noise. He followed her line of vision and this time he understood.

" Oh… Yeah, the candy wrappers." Neville never really connected with these two people before, whom he should refer to as parents in this world, but remembering the books, somehow he still felt a pang of disappointment. As he surrendered the wrapper over to Alice, grasping her hand around his, she stared at Neville blankly for a few moments. She then returned a slight smile as if Neville had helped pick up some of her fallen oranges off the ground. A stranger's gratitude.

" Alice. And Frank too." Neville turned and called to the frail man not far way, who turned to look their way probably more for the noise than recognising his own name. " There is something I have to tell you… And as you seem to know Alice… I am not your son, Neville Longbottom.

" The truth is, my name is Ness and I am from another universe. About four years ago, your son unfortunately… drowned in Blackpool during an accident. It was not through my intention and I've still to understand why, but somehow I have taken over his body. It might be possible that he can be living in my body in the other world, but I really don't know... I am sorry you lost your sole heir, and if you are conscious you might hex me right now for using his mouth to speak to you like this – but I must keep this identity. You two are both famous Aurors who lost your sanity due to Voldemort. I know he's coming back, and I'm going to help stop a second war from breaking out if I can help it. That is why… I must borrow this identity in order to do so… I can't promise I can leave the Longbottom name in history as anything great – but I will definitely live the life that I would have lost otherwise to its fullest. If I had not came here… I know your son Neville would have grown up to be a great man."

Neville stopped there, feeling as old as he should again for one of these rare moments. He released Alice's hand and at that same moment, a distant cheer could be heard from another part of the hospital. Glancing at the nearby clock, it showed that the time was midnight.

" Ah yes. I forgot. It was Christmas Eve…" Neville stood up and scratched the back of his head. He looked at the Longbottoms and said, " It's probably not the best atmosphere here, but Merry Christmas. It's my first Christmas with you two – sorry about that. Most of the time outside Hogwarts I hardly even leave the manor with me busying myself trying to find some traces of Arcane magic –"

" Water the Cat." Neville almost jumped when he heard the rasping voice. He turned his wide eyes at Frank, who was staring out the window towards the moon.

" D-did you say something?" Neville hesitantly approached the hunched over old man who should look a lot younger, Neville's gaze trained on his dry and cracked lips.

" Water the cat …" Neville whispered to himself. He would have bet anything that was what he heard from Longbottom senior's mouth, but it made so little sense. The Longbottoms usually lost the ability to speak due to their mental illness, but at their rare moments of verbal capability, they were able to quote things they had said before with great precision. At least, that was what Gran told him. _You can either water the plants or feed the cat… but this contraction just doesn't work._

" Nev…ille…" Neville was in for another shock when Alice nudged him from behind. He blinked as she had her fist stretched out towards him.

Not knowing what to do and wondering if what he confessed was so much of a shock that even they would assault him for it, Neville took a step back. Alice only advanced though and stared insistently at her fist. In one of the few great gambles he had made since he arrived in this world, Neville reached out his own hand under hers.

Alice released the contents in her hand and the candy wrapper, as plain as any, with a big yellow 'Wafer' printed on its side, drifted onto Neville's palm like the first fall of winter snow when he was a kid.

0

0

0

The dew that gathered on the grass since morning remained frozen and white. Just as a shadow loomed over them, and the expected crunching sound of the brittle needles was supposed to come, they were merely grazed by a drift of gentle breeze. Amidst the rest of the flora temporarily slumbering underneath the frosty blanket of winter, a young girl exhaled a gleam of breath sparkling in the pale daylight. It was the picture of a fairy gliding through paradise, with her hair caressing her pale cheeks as she turned her head back behind her…

Only for Elena to see a panting little boy ungracefully kicking at the air as if he was a monkey learning to swim in the ocean, fighting to stay afloat. Neville's motions in the air were far less fluid than Elena's and he looked as if he was riding an invisible clown bicycle. They were in the manor's garden, supposedly playing a game of 'tag' outside while Neville practiced his floating magic. Of course, his aptitude in the spell compared to Elena was like comparing the flight of a hawk to a chicken. _Gliding while falling down was one thing, but actually floating a distance through the air…_

" Seriously! Why did dad even teach you our magic? You're obviously too stupid to ever do it properly!" Elena's smile had a superior twist to it as she looked down on Neville, who had by now squashed the grass underneath him as he sat to catch his breath.

" Just… just… just you wait!" Neville gasped, wrapping Dracula's Cloak tighter around him. As mentioned before, it served to adjust his body temperature: it was cooling his warm limbs from the exercise while he could use the collar to warm up his numb cheeks from the wind that blew on his face as he flew.

Elena frowned at his actions, " Stop that! That's a vampire's cape! You really have the sophistication of an ape."

" So quick to forget how apologetic you're supposed to be?" Neville growled, standing up again to his full height.

Of course, it was still shorter than Elena as she stepped closer to him just to emphasise that fact. " The healers said you were fine and you came home right the next day!"

" You sent me to hospital Elena," Neville stated flatly.

" Where did you get to know that Cho girl anyway?" Elena crossed her arms and looked away, blatantly trying to change the subject. _Changing the subject is never subtle. If it is, then you're speaking to some very professional politician. _

" I tutor her." Neville took a last deep breath as his gaze travelled out to the sea just beyond his garden. The manor's garden was enclosed by a low white stone wall, and housed both magical and non-magical plants. Neville never spent much time here of course, even for his physical training, as expected from his lack of Herbology talents.

" How can you tutor her? Isn't she a year above you?" Elena asked disbelievingly.

Neville figured it would sound even more ridiculous to tell her that Cho did not really need tutoring and spent their time instead arguing whether she was interested in Harry Potter. " Well, I'm just smart."

" Ha." Elena faked a laugh and pointed her wand at a nearby flower of some sort. It changed from a pale green to a luminous purple colour and started dancing on its stem. " Bet you can't do that."

Neville waved his wand at the silly plant to preserve whatever was left of its plant-like dignity then turned to the small pond. He first sliced the ice frozen over the pond into rectangular slabs and then stacked them into a house of cards on top of the water surface. All this was done with only a few swishes and stabs of his wand of course.

" Is that the best you can do?" Elena rolled her eyes. " Moving objects and simple cutting magic."

" Okay, we'll do it your way." Neville rolled his eyes and pointed at the iced deck of cards again. The ice slabs quickly rearranged itself into the shape of a boom box and started blasting out music in time with water shooting out of the pond like a fountain. " And for the last touch."

The boom box was turned into a purple colour. _Practicing hard this year sure paid off… At winning a game of showing off with my cousin – but it's a start._

" Pppleease!" Elena did a quick motion with her wand and set Neville's work on fire. " Now if you're ready to see some real magic –"

" Actually I would like to put out the cattails that caught fire because of you destroying my display." Neville growled and Elena gave a loud laugh to mask her own chagrin. " _Aguamenti_!"

Neville shot a jet of water at the burning plant and since the fire was on the pond to start with, the flame was quickly extinguished despite them being magical. He stared pointedly at Elena, who adamantly avoided his gaze.

" What a nice garden this is! I bet your grandmother put a lot of time in here," Elena commented, nodding as she surveyed around her.

The acting ignorant tactic did not work with Neville. " Actually, it's just the house elves. But that doesn't mean you can set our plants on fire."

Elena took a few quick steps away and he could tell she was fighting to retain her neutral tone of voice. " Nice foxgloves you have here. We have a beautiful botanical garden with a long stretch of greenhouses in Beauxbatons. The flowers in there –"

Neville offhandedly spiked, " So, what about those showy magic?"

" Okay! I screwed up! Happy?" Elena pointed her wand at the aforementioned foxgloves and sliced it with a Severing Charm. " And I suggest you drop it before I give you a new hair cut like I did with these foxgloves."

" I'm so glad you're not really a princess or else a lot of people are going to get innocently beheaded." Neville shook his head and was just about to walk back inside for a snack when he halted at the sight behind Elena. " Hey… you said before you liked plants right?"

" I didn't say I like plants. I said I was good at Herbology." Elena scoffed at Neville as if he was a remedial student and rattled on, " I'm even better at Potions. Those two subjects go hand in hand really. You need to know how to acquire the perfect ingredients for precise potion-making after all –"

" Yeah very nice." Neville cut her off, wondering how much the original Neville would agree with her. She gave him an irritated frown but he had a very interesting observation to share, " Do you know of plants that… you know, morph? Like morphing from one plant to something completely different?"

" Morph? Like an Animagus?" Elena quirked her eyebrow. " How bad are you at Herbology again? You can't just make species up."

" Then please explain how the cattails that were on fire turned into foxgloves, then are sliced to grow back into… Well whatever other weird name they've got, I know they belong in a Western movie."

Elena turned round dubiously but gasped at the sight of the morphed plant. " A rabbitbrush? I can't believe you're right Neville, rabbitbrush only grows naturally in America."

" Hey! I didn't get a zero in Herbology you know! Not very good marks, but it's something," Neville reminded her. " Well, back to this. Why does the plant do that?"

" The plant's clearly been charmed Neville." Elena turned back and asked, " You're _really_ bad at Herbology, aren't you?"

" A moment ago you were about to set my garden on fire." Neville waved her away and plucked one of the rabbitbrush to examine. " It looks… completely normal."

Elena came back with, " Could you even tell the difference between normal and abnormal?" _I'm _this_ close to snapping her head off. _

" Well is it normal rabbitbrush?" Neville asked.

" Oh yeah. It's normal." Elena risked his wrath anyway and decided to try the Severing Charm again, but the rabbitbrush stayed cropped this time on the ground. " So fire?"

Many different spells were tried on the poor rabbitbrush after that to satiate Elena's curiosity, with Neville on the side trying his best to preserve some of it. It seemed as if that patch of plants was indeed charmed and it just kept growing back, given enough time. It was a solid half and hour before Elena got bored – and Neville convinced her that Gran would probably know.

Turned out Gran did not though when they asked her in the drawing room. Neville walked back to his room after the snack Gran lured him into eating, and thought about the strange plant again. _Who would enchant some random plant by the pond to change species? If one of my ancestors liked the different plants they would've just planted them! It's not like we don't have room… _Neville walked into his bedroom and slumped himself down on his leather chair, head still down in contemplation.

_Possibly it's just a test or something… Like the Weasley twins probably did to random objects at the Burrow. Or it's all together just a random stray spell that turned out weird? _Neville studied the wafer wrapper Alice Longbottom gave him in the hospital as it caught his eyes lying on his desk. _Yeah as if. If this plant did not have a story behind it then there would be no murder mysteries or suspense novels in this world._

" You know, this place _really_ is empty." Neville jumped right off his chair at Elena's unexpected voice from behind his chair.

Glaring into those big red eyes that would probably get a few Rei-loving otakus crazy, Neville growled, " I see you have followed me back."

" Obviously," Elena went to lean against his desk as she continued to look around her. " I'm surprise you didn't go to the Study. You know, cooping yourself with books as always. Anyway why the change today?"

" I figured it won't be long till I go back to Hogwarts, oh and you guys back to Bulgaria, and I can afford a few days off until then." Neville thought back to the things that awaited him back at Hogwarts and he took a long breath.

" And now you have nothing to do except for staring at an empty candy wrapper." _This girl's always one to lift your spirits, isn't she?_ " If you want wafer candy I suggest the kitchen."

" Wait. Say that again." Neville leapt out of his chair and asked. _Funny how words sounds so different with an accent._

Elena replied shrugging, " The kitchen?"

" No, before that."

" Wafer candy?"

" That's it! I've got it." Swiping the wrapper with him Neville hurried out of the door.

" I know you love to eat by now, but why are you suddenly so excited about wafer candy?" Elena hurried after him, hesitating a bit as they missed a turned. " The kitchen's the other way."

" I know! I'm talking about the… weird – morphing plant," Neville could not find a better word to describe it at the moment. Arriving back by the pond, the rabbitbrush was no longer there, its position replaced by the original cattails. " I knew it."

" You expected it to turn back into cattails? Well… obviously. I did too."

" Do you remember how you set fire to –"

Elena snapped, " Accidentally! Are you ever going to let it go?"

" Well, you know how I put out that fire?"

" I asked are you ever going to let –"

" 'Water the cat' means water the cattails._ Aguamenti_!" Neville shot the jet of water again at the cattails and as he expected, they turned into foxgloves. " _Diffindo_!"

" Okay fine. You found out what you did to get us back to square one." Elena harrumphed, but she was obviously just frustrated that he showed her.

" I got this at the hospital. From my parents." Neville handed the wafer wrapper to her and she gingerly took it.

" Neville, I know your parents are – What are you doing!" Elena put her hand over his to try and stop him, but he already finished the incantation to ignite the rabbitbrush. As the plant burst into flames, the smoke quickly cleared and a completely different set of plant grew from the ground before their eyes. " Goatsbeard this time? Neville, how did you know?"

" There should still be one more," Neville tapped his wand on his other palm and asked, " What modern magic spells do you consider… well, Earth elemental?"

" I don't know. Maybe… maybe… a Reductor Curse?" Elena suggested.

" Good as any I can think of. _Reducto_!" Neville directed his wand at the goatsbeard plant. After the dust settled, no new plant came up to take its place and Elena fumed.

" Look what you did! You broke it! And I thought you knew what you were doing!" Elena was just about to make a pull at his ear but Neville hastily scrambled forward and stared down at the inconspicuous hole that presented itself on the ground.

He could not hear anything from underneath except for the waves below the cliff, which he could have heard in the garden anyway. It did not seem completely dark at the bottom of the hole either, though it might be quite a fall. Of course, Neville had enough confidence now with this floating magic to land safely unless he jumped out from the height of a flying plane. He turned back to Elena and said, " Stay here."

Neville was just about to jump in when his Cloak was grabbed and choked him from behind. The spoilt girl exclaimed, " Hey! You're not leaving me here!"

" Elena, we don't know what's down there. It could be dangerous." Neville straightened the collar of his Cloak and turned back with a frown. " I suspect this has something to do with my parents and Arcane magic so –"

" Hey look over there!" Elena pointed somewhere behind Neville, but he just stared back at her with a stone face.

" Oh yeah. The oldest trick in bo –" Elena tried to take advantage of Neville in his mid-rant to jump down the hole right beside him first.

" Whoa!" Unfortunately, in her rush, she tripped and fell head first through the opening in the ground.

" Damn it!" Neville immediately jumped in after her, but worked up his floating magic in order to accelerate in his fall.

In the next few seconds Neville could only see darkness around him, but managed to grab hold of Elena as he had purposely sped up his own fall to catch up. He could feel Elena's voice getting caught in her throat at his unexpected touch as she stopped screaming, and in a flash of light they exited the small 'tunnel' from the garden and were freefalling in a spacious underground cavern.

The cavern seemed naturally formed, and was lit from the opening not far away out into the ocean. They were probably at the bottom of the cliff that the manor stood on, and some protective enchantments were used to keep the ocean waves from flooding the cavern. Amongst the mixture of stone spires and smoothed out rocks that were like sculptures from a temple, a large waterfall spanning the height of the cavern wall created a small clear lake in the middle, which led back out into the ocean. By the side of the lake was an artificial plateau of some sorts, where it was magically cleared to house various furnishings such as desks and bookshelves.

Neville gradually descended from the ceiling of the cavern alongside the waterfall, his Cloak billowing around him as Elena and him spiralled through their descent, Neville trying to keep balance and control over his floating magic in case them plummeted. After a quick browse of the state of the cavern, Neville looked down to find two sparkling ruby eyes glinting back at him, as tranquil as the light reflecting off the clear lake surface that he had just touched down upon with one slight ripple.

He guessed Elena probably wrapped her arms around his neck when they were still in the dark part of the entrance tunnel while she was falling, and he did not receive any auxiliary floating help from her after he caught a firm hold under her shoulders and knees. She was currently being carried across his chest just as any maiden would after being rescued from the tower. Of course, Elena was no maiden and Neville was no knight in shinning armour as he lost balance at that exact moment with his floating magic, and the two plunged into lake in contrast to their prior graceful descent.

" I – I… _Blurgh_… I hate – _hate_ you Neville Longbottom!" Elena tried to shout at him and get out of the chilly lake at the same time, which had her swallowing a few mouthfuls of water.

Neville was much wiser and only started countering her screams after climbing out of the lake, " Why didn't you float down yourself? You're the one who was boasting how you can fly a mile if you had to!"

" Are you even a man? You can't even carry a little girl like me?" Elena coughed as she sprawled, in quite an unladylike manner, on top of a rock by the side of the lake.

Neville decided to ignore her and walked towards the plateau with the old and dust-covered bookcases that were not far away. He browsed through the random pieces of parchment and messy stacks of books here and there. There were also spell dummies not far away, some of which were already broken by signs of burning or whatever other spell damages. Picking up a random book, squinting his eyes as he blew off a thick cover of dust, Neville flipped through the pages and his eyes widened with every word. He frantically picked up another book, then some other parchments lying around as well to verify his findings.

" What are you doing?" Elena said, her wand currently acting as a hair dryer as the rest of her clothes had been magically dried. " You look like you've just found a pile of money."

Neville could not keep a smile off his face as he turned back to the peeved girl. " Money? Oh I've inherited something much more useful."

0

0

0

A/N: Was this a lame idea? It didn't feel so when I wrote it down… Either way, it's still early days and there'll be more magic as the years go on. And not just for Neville, because I have plans for Harry and Ron too. Frankly, I feel I could've done a better job at descriptions and things for this chapter, but it's getting quite long already.


	36. Book 2 Chapter 14

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Neville was sent to the hospital after getting hit by curses from both Cho and Elena, and he spent his first Christmas with Frank and Alice Longbottom. From their 'hints', he and Elena were able to find a secret underground cavern underneath Longbottom Manor and what they found there made Neville very happy indeed. But now, back to Hogwarts!

Chapter 35 – Settling in again after the holidays is like moving a house – so many different boxes to unpack.

" I'm not going to say silly things like 'I told you so', but once again just like last year, I emphasise the point that you need enough evidences to charge a crime." Neville lectured, filling in the usual place of Hermione, who the Gryffindor boys were currently heading to visit in the Hospital Wing.

" You just said 'I told you so'," Ron grumbled. Just as the books, their Polyjuice Potion adventure revealed that Draco knew nothing about the Heir and he was not the one behind the attacks.

" Yeah… I guess it's my fault that Hermione ended up like this."

Harry lowered his head but Neville just exclaimed, " It's not your fault Harry! Who could've known it was a cat hair short of running a DNA scan? Don't ever blame yourself for things you haven't done, okay? Even if something is your fault, don't find a target to blame – just fix it."

" Alright…"

" If it makes you feel better, you can start giving out chocolate frogs to everyone. By everyone I mean me." Neville was playfully shoved back as a weak smile resurfaced on Harry's face, but they straightened up their act once they arrived at the doors to the Realm of Madam Pomfrey.

After the dutiful greetings with the ever-frowning woman, the boys continued towards Hermione's bed. Harry took the opportunity to whisper, " Whatever you do – _don't_ point out any of her… cat-like features."

" Come on, do you think I'm stupid?" Neville raised an eyebrow as they got to the bed with the curtains drawn around it. He decided to make a surprise entrance and pulled back the curtains without any warning, " Hey Hermione! I'm back!"

" Oh Neville! Nice to see you again… How were your holidays? Neville? …Um… Neville, are you okay? You look a little – Whoa! What are you doing?"

Harry and Ron were too late to hold back Neville as he leapt towards what he thought only existed in anime and mangas. " Cat girl! It's seriously a cat girl! Those small, cute, furry ears at the top of your head! They feel so soft! You even have whiskers! They're so cute! Oh and… is that a tail? Really a tail? Seriously! What is there for you to be ashamed of Hermione? Being cute beyond belief_?_"

Hermione involuntarily blushed bright red for a good few moments before fighting back. " Nya! Stop scratching behind my ear Neville! Meo –s, stop it!"

Ron watched on with his jaws dropped as Hermione struggled to pull her tail away from Neville, who was bordering on the line of assault. Ron then turned to Harry and said, " Yes, I do think he's stupid."

" And I agree," Harry shook his head and the two proceeded to try and restrain the boy that was acting as if he had just been surprised with a new pet kitten.

0

0

0

Draco sniggered again for the umpteenth time during Potions at Neville's bruised cheek. The bruise was in a form vaguely resembling Hermione's hand. Despite saying she was very flattered, and lightly disturbed, that Neville thought she was cute in her state, especially compared to how Ron had shrieked and jumped back like a little girl, she had now banned Neville from visiting her in the  
Hospital Wing. Neville figured Ron was _still_ to realise his feeling for her… or her state of feline resemblance was just much worst back immediately after she took the potion. The slap mark however, was courtesy of kitty-Hermione after Neville tried to sneak back in to see her later but was caught by one of Hermione's security ward magic.

" Drop it Draco," Neville growled.

" Oh come on! How funny is that? Getting slapped by Granger!"

_Well you're the one who's going to get punched by her in the future some time… I think._

Neville ignored Draco, " Back to business. Remember to ask Snape after class about the cosmetics potions."

" Alright, alright," Draco grumbled at the reminder.

The Council had decided through their latest meeting that Sinistra's old idea was actually very good, cutting hassle and time in make-up before and during the play. Just as dreaded, Neville was attacked by many newly thought-up ideas by the students through this initial time back at Hogwarts after the holidays. He had been running all around the castle sorting out new things for the play, listening to people's opinions and whatnot. It was the second semester and there were still a few kinks to sort out. The performance date was also finalised and Neville figured they would make it in good time.

Logically though, he should have a lot more free time this semester because the new clubs were all up and running by now. He had asked Ron to keep an eye on the Hoglake club, and of course promote the future Hoglake shop the Longbottoms were planning, while the Cheerleading club had pretty much merged into the high school social hierarchy with more pretty girls dressed in ever shorter mini-robes after the holidays. Draco however was still asked to dabble in the cheerleaders business under Neville's falsehearted concerns.

" Did you send Lavender a Christmas present through the holidays?" Neville asked. By now, he had partially given up on the idea, but it would be a good sign of successful inter-house amity if a fanatic Slytherin like Draco ever dated a Gryffindor.

" Of course! I gave her a custom made crystal statue!" Draco puffed up his chest.

" Wow! That really is a great gift. Incredibly extravagant – but great none the less." Neville was still a bit shocked at the extent of the Malfoy wealth despite knowing him for so long. " What kind of statue is it?"

" Oh, just a bust sculpture of myself. I figure the nose was a bit off – I mean, my nose has to be a lot straighter than that." Draco rattled on and Neville just shook his head.

" Draco. Can I remind you we've been trying to get Lavender to date you since… well, last year? There had been no significant results so far and do you know why?"

" No, why?" Draco perked up. Frankly, Draco really was a bit frustrated by now that Lavender was seemingly immune to his 'charms' even if he thought he had not been trying.

Neville bluntly put it, " Because you're a spoilt narcissist with no finesse when it comes to earning the favour of a girl."

" Are you saying I don't have 'game'?" Neville raised an eyebrow at Draco's rare pink face and wondered where he got that expression from through the holidays. _Hopefully not from some jock-like Quidditch players as he had done last year in Australia._ Draco harrumphed and hit a low-blow, " Well, at least I'm not the one who got slapped by beaver face."

" Hey!" Neville protested as the bell rang for the end of the period.

" I've still got work to do so _you_ can ask Snape about the potions." Draco sneered in triumph and disappeared before Neville could stop him. _Damn that Slytherin! He knows I'm not on good terms with Snape right now and this thing needs to be resolved today!_

Without a hint of mirth or enthusiasm, for both parties involved, Neville stood in front of Snape's desk until the classroom emptied. Snape had expectedly buried his head writing in his parchments, probably wishing just as Neville was that he was not put in this particular situation. Neville realised this really could go on forever if one of them did not acknowledge one another and went for the leap.

" Professor Snape?" Neville was ready for an onslaught of shouting and curses, maybe even a few finely syncopated swear words. The content would of course follow the lines of Neville revealing his sensitive password in front of Potter, or stealing from his private stores _again_, or threaten to put him in a lifetime of detentions.

Snape just grunted.

" Professor… The Council… and Professor Sinistra –" Neville really thought he was going to get a Killing Curse sent his way just for mentioning the absentminded teacher. After a fraction of a second though, Snape was calm again. Neville was not the best Occlumens in the world, but he was able enough to spot the Occlumency techniques Snape deployed to calm himself. Either way, Neville knew better to press the issue even if he was incredibly curious as to what Sinistra did to make her Snape's bane of existence. " Anyway, we decided to give you a list of the cosmetics potions we will need for the play."

" Fine. What are they?" Snape uttered as if he had to swallow a thousand needles.

" Well, we might change it as time goes by, but there's an awful lot. Some as simple as changing hair colours while others can include ageing potions –" Neville was cut off as he pulled out a parchment.

" Actually, I no longer think I have the time." Snape probably did not want any more ties with Harry or Sinistra than minimal and made the wisest choice to break his promise.

" But didn't you accept this as a personal favour before Christmas?" Neville was slightly surprised. He never thought Snape would back out of anything, but somehow, Sinistra had predicted this and told him of a counter plan. " Professor Sinistra is going to be disappointed. She said if you do not have the time she could brew the potions herself if only you loan her free roam of your dungeons –"

" Longbottom!" Snape grinded his teeth together, ready to strangle Neville from behind the desk. They both knew the state of things and after giving Snape a few moments to calm down, the giant bat actually surrendered. " I have a better idea. I will teach the students you assign how to brew your necessary potions for your unnecessary play! Then you can be out of my hair! Remember Longbottom – only students are allowed to come to these sessions! Now get out of my sight!"

" Okay," Neville shrugged, still pretty much baffled. He wondered if Sinistra was a seer from how well she predicted Snape's reactions and how did she turn into Snape's nemesis. A nemesis that caused him to short-circuit his brains long enough to suggest such a flawed proposition in defence to seeing Sinistra.

" Hey Neville, what did you talk to Snape about? He sounded pretty loud in there." Harry and Ron had waited for Neville outside of the Potions classroom when their friend did not follow them after class.

" Snape decided to teach a few students how to brew cosmetics potions for the play." Neville said and Harry's eyes lit up. _Seriously, Snape did not see this coming?_

" I know I'm not in the props group but I was wondering if…" Harry did not even need to ask.

" Not that I see Snape would answer any of your questions, but yes you can come along too. It might even raise your Potions grade a bit." Neville turned to Ron, " What about you? Want to join in on the occasion?"

" Willingly spend time with Snape? As much as I want to bump up my Potions grades, I'll pass. Plus, your Eton Ear is actually helping me a lot already. I'll have to borrow it again when the exams comes around."

Ron had been going to the hospital wing to visit Hermione more often than Harry and since Neville himself was banished, he suggested to Ron about giving her precise recordings of all their classes with the Eton Ear. Neville had been observing Ron's behaviour and was actually suspecting Ron of missing Hermione's presence. Thinking back to the books, it was only when Hermione was hospitalised, or avoided him because of their arguments, did Ron pathologically start to remember all her good points and want her back. Even in the case of realising his feelings for her, Ron only managed that after she isolated herself from him after he started dating Lavender.

" Neville? Are you okay?" Harry asked and Ron was also waving his hand over his eyes.

" Yeah, I'm fine. Just tuned out for a bit." Neville shook his head to clear it and tightened his hold on his book bag. " I'm going to head to the library."

" Again? Even if Hermione is hospitalised, you don't have to make up the crowd by going there just as often." Ron pointed out.

Despite the reduction in Hogwarts workload compared to last semester, Neville had to apply himself to the treasure he had found back under Longbottom Manor during the holidays with Elena. He guessed the underground cavern was actually a sort of training grounds slash study that Frank and Alice Longbottom had used as Aurors. Neville's mention of Arcane Magic in the hospital probably jotted the hints of its location out of Frank because that was the particular branch of research they had been doing. _To think the information I wanted was under my house for all these years!_

There was however still one big obstacle. The wealth of books and research papers left by his parents were littered with runes and ancient symbols that even Elena had no clue about. _To think she picked Ancient Runes at Beauxbatons. At least I had fun irritating her about it…_ Either way, this was the reason why Neville would have to spend a lot of time decoding his inheritance. He was making gradual process, but his problem of Dumbledore monitoring his whereabouts in the castle was troublesome. He suspected the headmaster possessed something like the Marauder's Map and he was bound to get pulled up one time if he went on one too many nightly strolls. The only other place he could think of to practice spells was the safe Dragon Room, but he did not really like the site because he did not want to aggravate Norbert or destroy the room if a spell went out of control.

" Neville! Earth calling Neville!" Harry shook him out of his rumination this time and he apologised again.

" We were just saying you should stop going to the library and come with us to visit Hagrid," Ron filled in the gaps. He added, " Maybe we'll get more turkey."

" There weren't turkeys Ron. They were his roosters." Harry corrected, which alarmed Neville to a halt.

" Rooster? Why is Hagrid serving you… roosters?" Neville asked cautiously, fearing the worst.

" We don't know, but something seems to be killing Hagrid's roosters this year. This is his third batch already," Harry explained. " He said he's given up and will probably wait a good bit longer until he gets a next batch."

" And when was this?" Neville pursued.

" Well this time, it was about a day or two into the Christmas holidays. The second time… well you remember, you had a drumstick yourself. It was the time after… well after I puked slugs." Ron said with chagrin, but that brought back Neville's memory. He even remembered Fang having a taste of it too. " As for the first time, Hagrid said it was on the first day of the school year."

" Why are you so interested in this Neville?" Harry enquired and Neville was debating whether he should say anything. _I'm a bit muddled about the second book here… I remember vividly the part where they go into the chamber… and something about that giant spider… But roosters being killed means someone's writing in that diary. And during the holidays… The diary writer must be here at Hogwarts during the holidays! Ginny!_

" Fine, don't tell us." Ron snorted grumpily, crossing his arms.

" No it's not that… I think Ginny has been killing the roosters." Neville said and the two other boys just rolled their eyes.

" Just like you said about Draco, you don't have any evidence that Ginny did it." Harry pointed out, but Ron was a lot less forgiving.

" So my sister was here for Christmas! But the first day of term? She was a first year that doesn't even know her way to the toilet yet!" Ron made a very valid point but Neville still frowned.

" Anyway. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this… Sooner or later." Neville decided to leave the Trio with their nature growth. If he told them it was a Basilisk now, it would just hinder their abilities in the future. _I'm putting my faith in you… I just hope there won't be a real victim…_

" I know that look," Harry put a hand on Neville's shoulder. " You're going to start tagging Ginny again, right?"

" You do know my sister's still really mad at you from before right?" Ron raised an eyebrow and Neville just sighed. _Guess the best I can do is keep an eye on her with the Marauder's Map like Dumbledore's doing with me…_

" Hey Neville, I see you're out of the hospital. Good, good." As if a little yellow bell had rung for dinner time, the two dogs both snapped their heads towards the direction of the voice. Neville had been dreading this the moment he got back and just shook his head.

" Yes Cho. I was out of the hospital right the next day." The two boys once again reacted simultaneously and turned to stare at Neville enquiringly.

" What about your girlfriend?" At Cho's words, the two boys' eyes quadrupled in size.

" She's kind of my cousin," Neville clarified. " Once again, I am sorry for my family's behaviour. She's really… rash at times."

" Oh, it's alright." Cho took a step forward towards the boys and only Neville took an involuntarily step backwards. " It was my fault as well you got sent to the hospital. Remember what I said before I left you at the ward?"

" Nope. Not a clue." Neville took another step back but not before Cho grabbed his arm's sleeve.

" I said I'd make it back up to you." Cho smiled the smile that would have dazzled any other boys his age, namely Harry fainting at one side by now, but Neville just shuddered. " Come with me."

" Hey wait!" Neville was already dragged along the corridor and looking back, his two 'friends' were eyeing him with menace. _If you want Cho on your case so much, I'll swap with you two any day! This girl's giving me a dangerous vibe! She's borderline psychotic for all I know!_

After being pulled up another floor, Neville was dragged to stumble into an empty classroom. By the time he got his balance and turned around, Cho already had her back on the door, and the only exit to the room. She was panting from the short run, and a few white feathers were just settling down on the ground around them. There was a sparkle in her eyes as if something she had planned was going to leap upon Neville very soon.

" You… really shouldn't do strenuous exercise. Didn't your doctor tell you this would happen?" Neville pointed out, trying to make small conversation before whatever Cho had planned happened.

" Oh, everyone needs a little excitement – I mean, exercise – from time to time." Neville could see Cho's tongue flicking over her lips for a brief moment and he took another step back. _Excited? She's definitely psyched about something that involves me – which I really might not like._

" So… there seems to be something you wanted to talk about with me?" Neville was fully prepared to draw his wand at a moment's notice.

" What makes you think that?" Cho advanced towards him and he tried to lure her away from the door by taking another step back.

" You don't?" Neville asked.

" Oh, I do. You see… the best way of making it up to you is by telling you this wonderful… _idea_ I thought up through the holidays." Cho was rapidly closing the gap between them and a familiar pear scented shampoo caught Neville's senses.

" And... what would that be?" Neville eyes were set for the door behind the short girl. _Short, but still taller than me! I hate these Longbottom genes!_

" How about you," Cho pointed at Neville's chest and he could not help but notice her well-manicured fingers. Then she took it away and pointed back to herself, " And me… start up a club together!"

It took a while for Neville to think up of a response. " You wanted to talk about starting a new club?"

" Well of course! Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Cho coyly asked, her hands opened in front of her. _I'm going to pass it as a school rule that _no one_ could ever get this excited about starting a club…_

" Well, it could be you finally letting me off the tutoring." Neville's response system returned to normal and even the room seemed to have brightened significantly. _Why was I being intimated and played with by this girl anyway? She can't even run a few steps without sprouting feathers._

" As if." Cho giggled and resumed her original purpose, " As I was saying, I want to start up a new club at the school. I've looked up the regulations and all that you put up last semester, and here's my draft."

" I'm sorry but I can't head a club because I'm the President of the Student Council," Neville replied as he went into business mode. He flipped through the parchment Cho handed him and raised an eyebrow. " A fashion club?"

" Yeah," Cho nodded, tugging on her own robe's sleeve. " You must've seen the cheerleaders changing their robes. And it's gotten worst after the holidays. Many of my friends and others are all in on the idea, and thought all the students should be able to wear whatever they liked as well. I think this would make things a lot more interesting around here."

Neville gave a quick ponder over this. He remembered from his past life that uniforms in general was for harnessing morale, setting an image, and identification. It was pretty obvious that these plain, black, and awfully standard-cut robes were a morale depressant. For image – well, they were all students and teachers stuck in one castle and some of Dumbledore's own robes were more than 'unique' when entertaining a rare school visitor. As for identifications, even if there were intruders into the castle, they could just use a Polyjuice Potion or other magical means. The common problems such as poor kids being mocked for having awful clothes were also dismissed because any clothes could look different with a few quick spells.

" Frankly, I don't see a problem with it." Neville answered, " But I'll go over this with the other Council members. Plus, we need to get a go-ahead from Dumbledore as well. You're also in charge of recruiting enough members interested for your club."

" No problem President." Cho mocked a salute for him and Neville humoured her with a slight smile. It was wiped away however at Cho's impish smile, " So when _is_ our next tutoring lesson?"

0

0

0

At the breakfast table, Neville was rushing a last minute Transfiguration essay. Frankly though, it was more of Neville eating while his new gadget, Copy-cat Quills, copied Harry's version right next to him. Once again excavated from his pile of Filch's confiscated goods was his new academic life-line. It was a pair of quills: one reading and correcting the essay to be copied, while the other rewords it into a new essay on the blank parchment. There was even a straight copy function but that would never slip past McGonagall.

Hermione, fresh out of the Hospital Wing, was of course frowning at the act but did not comment on it. To Neville's slight dismay, there were absolutely no traces of feline attributes left on her face at all. By the time the owls came with the post, the quills were finished and Neville returned Harry's essay to him.

" Here, all spell and grammar checked." Neville beamed and Harry laughed along evilly with him.

" Honestly! Don't blame me if you _fail_ second year!" Hermione growled as she ducked out of the way of a swooping owl.

" Hey, we've got a new-comer." Ron pointed out as Hedwig, Trevor, and an unfamiliar owl landed on the table. Neville of course had no idea what breed it was, but it was majestic looking with very dark feathers. Most unusual for an owl, it even had a black collar with a silver dog-tag, which read 'Felix'.

" Is this your new friend girl?" Harry cooed his pet owl as Neville fed a hungry Trevor a piece of his bacon.

Neville complained nonetheless. " Seriously. I still don't like how these owls attack us each morning like seagulls at a beach."

" Actually, seagulls only attack people who had been bitten by a Pitafish." The familiar dreamy voice made the Trio and Neville turn their heads at the strange pair that greeted them. Luna was actually at the Gryffindor table with Hannah, who waved at Neville good-naturedly.

" What?" Hermione instinctively argued, "Seagulls attack people for their food."

Sensing the inevitable show-down between the two girls with completely different viewpoints in life, Neville turned to Hannah, " What's up? You knew Luna?"

" Oh, Su introduced us a while back. I just ran into her outside and she asked where the first meeting would be for the Fashion Club," Hannah explained.

" Oh? You're joining the Fashion Club Luna?" Neville asked, interrupting the argument seemingly going on between her and Hermione. Of course, only Hermione seemed to be worked up with her red face.

Luna was still her usual composed self as she replied in her unhurried tone, " Yes. The others have been wearing these torn robes lately and I thought I would help out by fixing them."

There was a silence over the group for a few moments. Neville and Cho projected that the club would have a lot of girls, with quite a good few cheerleaders involved, but he figured art and fashion needed the eyes and opinions of as wide a diversity as possible. Neville gave Luna an encouraging pat on the shoulder, " Well joining a club would be good for you. I'm sure you'll get to learn a lot of things… Yes, including how to fix robes I guess…"

" Thanks President." Once again, the group fell silent at how Luna addressed Neville.

This little blonde girl should really irritate him with her personality – but somehow, he just could not bring himself to do so because of how genuine she was about what she said and thought. Of course, Neville was pretty sure a lot of other people did not think the same as him. " Say Luna… How's Peeves doing?"

" Oh? Peeves haven't followed me around recently. He got bored when people stopped taking my stuffs and he can't prank them. I feel sorry for him." As much as this disturbed the others in the group, at least Neville was glad his plan of protecting Luna worked out pretty well.

This time, it was Hannah who broke the conversational ice set by Luna. " Yeah, remember Christmas? It was awfully loud when Peeves tied a firecracker to that mean fourth year who took Luna's ink well."

Neville was not here but the Trio gave a collective nod. He never expected one from Luna. _Whoever that fourth year was… Peeves sure did a great job. I just hope he doesn't have to do the same thing again for Luna. Now for the other pretty first year…_

Neville looked down the table at Ginny. She was chatting animatedly with her friends like any other young girl her age. This was the period where she stopped writing in the diary, therefore granting her and the school temporarily peace. Neville was still to have a single conversation with her since he got back, and the Christmas present given to her was as good as having been lost in the post. At that moment, Ginny looked away from her present conversation and caught eyes with Neville. The two locked gazes for a second before she harrumphed and turned away.

" Neville, I wanted to talk to you about another event Lockhart came up with." Hannah clarified the reason she came here and Neville turned to give her full attention.

He watched as she fidgeted around a bit and prompted, " What did the idiot think of this time?"

" Well… It's about Valentine's Day." Hannah mumbled with a red face, her eyes determinedly on the ground.

Neville involuntarily took a look at Hermione, who had also heard Hannah and glanced at Ron. Ron was currently looking both shocked and dubious at whatever Luna was saying about his cereal, whom was apparently enjoying herself as she was enthusiastically stirring it with her wand. Harry was oblivious to his friend's breakfast as he had put on a faint blush, his eyes were set somewhere in the Ravenclaw table.

Neville just sighed, seriously considering if he could get Peeves to throw Dungbombs everywhere again like last year.

0

0

0

A/N: Just to prepare you guys, I've sped up the time scale for the second semester. I feel I've spent way too much time for the period before Christmas, and it's dragging. As always, I appreciated the reviews and thank you all for reading.


	37. Book 2 Chapter 15

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Back from the Christmas holidays, Neville finally starts his first steps to learning Arcane magic. He was also to start extra Potions, along with Harry and others, under Snape for the play. Cho confronts Neville, a continuation from Christmas, and shared the idea of starting a Fashion Club. Then as that club was getting underway, in comes Lockhart's holiday idea.

Chapter 36 – This is not how one expects to start the Valentines season.

" Second position – or easier, fourth position. Doesn't it sound better than playing it on the open D?" Neville stood up and handed the cello back to the still slightly confused first year. " Believe me. Just keep practicing."

" Who would've thought you played the cello?" Draco smirked.

" You're one to talk. Who just played the accompaniment on the piano?" Neville came over to him, who was sitting in front of the black piano.

" Part of the upbringing of being a Malfoy," Draco puffed up his chest. " I'm sure Lavender was very impressed when I played that little piece for her the other day."

" Yeah, I'm sure." Neville stated flatly. He vaguely remembered overhearing Lavender saying how girly Draco was, as he played the piano.

Draco resumed his initial thought, " So your family forced music lessons on you too?"

" Eh? Um… Yeah. Pureblood traditions huh?" Neville laughed it off, having no alibi to back it up since he learnt cello during his past life. " Anyway, I'm going to go now. Have to brew those cosmetics potions with Snape"

" Sure thing, just leave the music to us. We just need a few more rehearsals ourselves, then fitting it in with the performance." Draco assured.

" I know you guys have written the music, but the turnout rate for the rehearsal is pretty bad isn't it?" Neville glanced at the few first year boys in a corner, who were supposedly practicing trumpets together. Crabbe and Goyle were supposed to be on the drums and symbols, but were now just hitting each other over the head with the drumsticks.

" Well, there were less instruments-playing students than I'd first thought. We managed to get the seniors students to charm some instruments so they could play by themselves. Mostly we get more people here though, but like Millicent, I think the girls are _preparing_ for tomorrow." A very irksome smile rose on Draco's face, " I wonder what she's got installed for you this year. Another Dungbomb-covered Valentines?"

" Very funny Draco. And what about you? Chickening out on giving Lavender a Valentines again?" Neville fought back.

" Hey! If you hadn't set Peeves off I won't have smelled like crap for the whole week. I wasn't going to approach any girls smelling like that," Draco defended. " Don't worry. This year I've got a plan. As I keep saying Neville, if I try even a little, any girl would just fall under my charms."

" Yes, I'm sure." Neville's voice obviously convyed his sarcasm and Draco laughed as if he would be the winner in the end. " Oh! Damn it! I'm late for Snape! See what you done?"

" I swear I didn't stall you on purpose." Draco's sniggering faded rapidly as Neville flew over the stone floors of Hogwarts castle in his haste to the dungeons. He was literally flying, since it was faster and good practice for the Floating Magic he learnt through Christmas. Compared to Dracula, who could zoom up to the second floor of the Manor, Neville had still got a long way to go.

By the time he burst into the potions lab, the rest of the group involved in preparing cosmetics potions were already here. Su and Luna gave him a small wave, while Harry was still intently staring at Snape as if the bat would just suddenly spill all his secrets regarding Lily. Snape just growled in acknowledgement to Neville's appearance and pointed at the board, a lot more subdued while being wary of Harry.

Neville got his set of brass scales out next to Harry and he whispered, " Why so late?"

" Got held up talking to Draco. No luck with prying Snape's mouth open?" Neville whispered back.

" No… and I've got to rush to a late Quidditch practice after this too." Harry grumbled in disappointment.

Even if they did learn how to brew a few handy potions out of the usual course syllabus, Harry was still far from reaching his primal aim. Snape was still treating Harry as thin air and refused to even speak to him directly, relying on the board or another person to give him potions instructions.

When Neville was half way through his ageing potion and Harry thought it would be another fruitless session with Snape, the doors to the potions lab slammed open and Neville could see metaphorical flames roaring through the doorway. With the lights of the torches in the corridors flickering brightly behind her, Sinistra's shadow loomed over a wide-eyed Snape at his desk.

" Professor Snape." Sinistra's voice was determined and void of any hint of her usual wistfulness. " I have waited patiently for you to stop your childish behaviour for months. I think it is time that I need to talk… No – actually I need to warn you."

Snape noticed then that four pairs of very interested eyes looked on at the scene and bellowed through his own shock, " Get out! All of you!"

" Ah, Neville, Harry, even better. Sorry, I didn't notice you all here for a moment there." Sinistra's usual tone was immediately gone again the moment she turned back to Snape, thin-lipped. "Actually, I think I would not mind the children hearing my question either. After all, I plan on asking you publically tomorrow."

" W-what do you mean?" Neville could not help but whimper in glee at the terrified look on Snape's face.

_This is rich! This is so rich! This is the best payback for all the times you bullied Harry and me! Ever!_

" I thought we could settle my queries in a mature manner, but from your obvious avoidance of me since that night with the boys and me here, you seem to have no intentions of doing so. It also seems Harry had been receiving a similar treatment from you in your classes."

Neville and Snape both snapped their heads in Harry's direction. Neville was one of bemusement at knowing why Harry stayed behind at the last Astronomy class and Snape was in apoplectic fury at his two apparent enemies having conferred behind his back. _It was only logical I guess. Harry and Sinistra were both curious on the topic of Snape and Lily, and combining what they knew might've gotten somewhere. I wonder if Ron knew… Hm, I doubt it. Harry's always secretive and reserved when it came to his feelings – especially when his parents were involved._

" I don't know what you are talking about Professor Sinistra." Snape tried his best to maintain his usual composure of aloofness. It might have worked and looked that way against the others, but for an able Occlumens like Neville, he knew Snape was in deep trouble this time.

Sinistra carried on in her steeled voice, " In that case I will divulge the whole story to see if it will jog your memories."

Snape hastily intercepted, " I have no intentions of sharing our conversations with the students. Now if we would arrange a later time where –"

" I have already sent you many owls before to receive no reply Professor – and we live in the same castle. I highly doubt you will be _able_ to arrange anything." Sinistra did not give Snape another chance to worm his way out and the most unimaginable revelation came without saving any face for him. " We first met when I joined the teaching ranks of Hogwarts, not long after the war. Then almost a year later, on Valentine's Day, I called you to the Astronomy Tower and expressed my feelings towards you."

Neville's breath caught in his chest, seriously wondering if he had just been transferred to yet another alternate universe. Su burst out laughing, out of disbelieve if nothing else. Harry's jaws dropped with a resonating thud, literally, since his entire body fell out of the chair with the news. Luna was… well, she was just curiously waiting for what happened next, which was saying a lot because she was interested enough not to comment on the incredible revelation.

" Well… continuing on." Sinistra had paused at the children's various reactions, but her face was not even a tinge of red even after revealing her previous unimaginable confession to the bat. The bat at that moment was shaking with what was rage, embarrassment or dread. Neville had thought it was the most likely an emotion of rage, but he later would have corrected himself to guess dread from what Sinistra revealed next. " Then you said you could not reciprocate my feelings because you were – very uncommon at that period of time – attracted to men."

" Snape's really gay?" Neville screamed and jumped up from his stool while the other three were on the verge of fainting. _All those Remus and Sirius pairing fanfics were not baseless?_

Ignoring the children and Snape's once-in-a-decade red face, Sinistra continued in her stony expression, " I had believed your proclaimed sexuality for all these years – until the night in question when both Mr Potter and Mr Longbottom were present in your office. I have researched into your heritage and there are no 'Lily Evans' related to you. Though coincidentally, during your term of attendance at Hogwarts there was a girl with that same name, who was coincidentally Mr Potter's mother. I still remember that night I had suggested the password to your stores may be inspired by an object that a person would like, and thus inspiring Mr Longbottom into saying that name."

Even Harry, by now, understood the full implications of their conversation and stared at every expression that could betray Snape's thoughts on his face. Harry got nothing though because the only expression on Snape's face was menace as he glared and blamed Neville for his present predicament.

" Therefore the question that's been running around my head for the past months would be this." Sinistra took a deep breath and asked, " Are you really gay, which I highly doubt… Or are you just still in love with Lily Potter?"

Neville winced at the surname Sinistra used for Lily, as Snape would have as well if he had not put up his full Occlumency shield by now. Neville noticed this and realised it was really getting quite serious, with Sinistra's eyes getting increasingly watery with each passing second. As much as he wanted Harry to know of Snape's love for Lily, Neville never thought an interlude such as this one existed. He looked sideways at Harry, whose brain looked to be in overload at that moment. Neville realised it was time to go.

" Professors, may we be dismissed as you seem to have a private matter to discuss?" Neville asked and stood up. Su was of course as insistent as ever to see the ending but Snape eyed Neville in what was the closest he could muster to a thankful expression.

" You were already dismissed earlier. Now go." Snape was in fact very thankful, albeit the fact that he would feel more so if that Longbottom brat had pulled his entourage away before Sinistra opened her mouth. He watched as Neville dragged a still paralysed Harry out of the door and gave a last backward glance at the innocent Sinistra who was patiently awaiting a reply from the stubborn greasy-haired man.

After shooing off the ever curious Su with the help of a more understanding Luna, Neville helped a still dazed Harry back to the common room, where Ron and Hermione sat by the fire. As if to recap and validate what Harry just saw, Neville told the incident to the other two as Harry sat idly by in his own thoughts.

" What? Someone fancies that git Snape? And it's Sinistra?" Ron exclaimed before Hermione or Neville could clamp their hands over his mouth.

" Shush Ron! If Snape finds out you know anything about this he'll kill you!" Neville glared.

" That was all you took from that Ron? Seriously!" Hermione continued, this time facing Harry, " But if Snape loves your mother, then why is he mean to you _and_ saving your life at the same time?"

" I don't know Hermione… I really don't know anything right now." Harry hung his head, still staring incredulously into the fire. " Maybe… it had something to do with my mother choosing someone else over him? Maybe… Snape really is still in love with my mother?"

_You have no idea._ Neville would have told Harry about Snape's grudge with the Marauders, but he could not make up a source he would get that information from logically.

" You knew right?" Hermione, sharp as a tick, rounded onto Neville. " You knew how Snape felt about Harry's mother. That's how you guessed the password."

Neville applied his own Occlumency skills to avoid slipping up in front of Harry's hurt expression towards him. " It was just a lucky guess that night. Even I couldn't be sure, and have no way of finding out, how Snape felt apart from that memory of him and Lily falling into the Lake. I told you that, remember Harry?"

" Well from Snape's reactions tonight to Sinistra, it's pretty certain he… he… did love my mother…" Harry sighed and the group stayed silent for a while before Oliver Wood exploded into the common room and dragged Harry to his late Quidditch practice, which was for the best. The evening flight should cheer up and clear the boy's mind.

" Harry must be pretty confused right now," Ron commented. The other two nodded and Ron just shook his head, " I'm going to bed early. Hearing Snape fancying somebody, and somebody fancying him back… Ridiculous!"

Neville watched the kid head up the dorm stairs and wondered if he really would learn more tact when it came to dealing with relationships. Upon this thought, Neville looked over at Hermione, who looked preoccupied with her own musings. He asked, " What're you thinking about Hermione?"

" Oh, nothing much." Hermione raised her head to look at Neville. Her big clear eyes were reflecting the flame from the fire beside them radiantly as she said, " I'm just wondering how I would feel if Ron ever liked someone else instead of me."

Neville was fully relying on his Occlumency now to keep his expressions neutral. " I don't know Hermione. But I'm sure it won't feel very nice. Hey, listen, I want to do some spell practice in the Dragon Room, so I'm going to dash –"

" The Dragon Room? Where Norbert is?" Hermione jumped, quite shocked at the news. _Trust her to think of spell damage to a _dragon_! I should get prepared for a fund raiser for SPEW._

" Don't worry, I try not to wreck the place or hit the dragon. And remember, dragons are immune to magic." Neville reminded, seeing her settling herself back down on the couch in contemplation. " I've been there plenty of times before while you were in the hospital. I bet you didn't even notice I was there when you visit Norbert. Well just a heads up the next time though, duck when you enter the door."

0

0

0

Neville woke up earlier than usual the next morning and stared up at the bright skies above. He had enchanted the curtains inside his bed to show a sunny day, every day, for the moment he woke up. It made getting up easier even for someone who liked to sleep as much as Neville. He groaned as the weather outside in reality was of course not as good as he imagined, and his mood was further ruined as he spotted Old Al's letter lying at the top of his desk. That letter came two days ago and he had still to reply. Some product manufacturing decisions regarding the Hoglake business. _I'll make quick work of it before breakfast._

Neville wrote the quick letter, sealed it in an envelope with his wand, and was just about to head to the owlery when Ron woke up.

" Morning…" Ron greeted with a yawn. " Why are you up so early?"

" Letter," Neville muttered in reply and left. He had seen Harry's curtains were still closed and that was why he got quite a surprise to see the young Gryffindor sitting in an armchair, staring out of the window of the common room when he got downstairs. From Harry's state of dress and messier than usual hair, it was quite clear Harry had an involuntarily early start and a lack of sleep.

" Harry? Would you like to take a walk with me to the owlery?" Neville offered.

Harry managed a smile back and nodded, " Yeah, I think I would like that. Give old Hedwig a visit at his home."

As the two headed towards the owlery, Neville tried to talk to Harry a bit to calm him a little. " I understand you don't know how to react to Snape after what you found out. In the end, Snape is just your professor. You found out a bit of knowledge about your mother, but it is just in the past."

" I know what you're trying to say, but… I want to know more about my parents. Anything. I mean… I know they're in Gryffindor and all that, so I can't really see how someone like Snape could like her. Plus, why is Snape always picking on me if he really did like her?"

" At least now there's a very valid reason that explains why he repeatedly saves your life, right?" Neville rendered Harry silent with this point. " Just from my judge of character, I can tell Snape really did love your mother. If you are wondering why or how – then I want to ask you something. Do you even know Snape that well? Or at all?"

" Well…" Harry lowered his head and sighed, " I guess not."

" I'm not saying I know much about the guy either. I never would've thought he would pretend to be gay instead of just rejecting a girl." Neville joked and that seemed to bring a smile back on Harry's lips.

" I guess I really had a bad impression of him since the start," Harry figured. " I mean, the first time we made eye contact, my head hurts like a knife went through it."

Neville pondered this for a bit and came up with a hypothesis. " I told you about Legilimency right? Do you think Snape could've… tried to read a memory about your mother from you?"

Harry had obviously never thought of it that way before and once again lowered his head in thought. After a few moments he said, " If I have the chance, I really want to know how Snape really feels about my mother… and probably the other things too he knows about her too."

" And if he does say that he still loves her?" Neville studied the expression on Harry's face. Although he was still a child, Harry was someone who had a difficult life up until now, and was mentally a lot more mature than people normally gave him credit for. Comparing Harry's abilities to understand these kinds of feelings with Ron's abilities – it would be like comparing the intelligence of a chimp to a snail.

" If he does… I guess I would thank him." Harry confessed.

Just as he opened the door to the owlery, the two boys stopped and stared at the out-of-place character standing in front of Hedwig. Then again, Snape was actually standing next to Hedwig's friend, the black-feathered owl Felix, as well.

" Good morning." Snape's greeted in monotone as if nothing had happened out of the ordinary last night. However, the fact that he had even greeted them with such civility was out of the ordinary.

" Good morning professor," Harry and Neville both answered together.

Neville gave Harry a sideway glance and handed him the letter for Old Al. " This is your chance to ask what you want to know. Just don't forget to mail this to my great uncle."

Neville climbed the staircases back down from the owlery and allowed the two to sort things out on their own. After all, as much as he wanted to see a father-son relationship between Snape and Harry, Neville figured he had done enough already. At least on Harry's side, Neville knew the kid would no longer harbour his original blind resentment for the Potions Master.

Neville was just heading down to the Great Hall for lunch when Ron collided with him round a corner. He fell with his back on the ground, panting from the run. Neville gave him a hand up and said, " I should teach you more than spell work if you can't even keep on your feet. Care to learn Jujitsu?"

Harry and Ron had both been learning a few essential handy spells from Neville, albeit a little slowly. Ron was obviously not interested at the moment though as he gasped between breaths, " No time for that! We… we… we found it!"

" Found what?" Neville asked as a bunch of Slytherin girls walked past, giggling at Ron. Most students were awake by this time now and on their way to breakfast.

" The diary you've been talking about!" Ron exclaimed and Neville felt as if he had just been strike by a bolt of lightning.

" Where is it!" Neville grabbed hold of Ron's wrist and pulled him along the corridor at top speed, stepping through the air with his floating magic.

" I-it's in – In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!" Ron was towed past a sharp corner and down through a step of moving stairs, bumping into a few annoyed Hufflepuffs.

" How did you find it?" Neville shouted as the wind battered their faces.

" Hermione and I were just on our way to find you guys at the owlery when we went past Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Filch was outside muttering about the floor getting all drenched, and Myrtle was wailing like a banshee so we went to see what was wrong with her this time. Turns out someone's thrown something down the toilet at her last night and it's a little black book that looks like a diary! We thought it would be the thing you were bugging Ginny about all year and so I went to get you right away while Hermione guarded the book."

" Good call!" Neville called as he finally saw the bathroom in sights. " Have you two touched it at all?"

" Not a chance mate! One look and all the fuss you've been making tells me it's a dangerous dark artefact. Dad showed some to us once and we've learnt to avoid them like the plague. It has been soaking up all the toilet water around it on the floor though so you probably can't read whatever's written inside anymore."

" No that is –" Neville and Ron both froze as they opened the bathroom door to find Hermione lying with her eyes closed on the ground. " Hermione!"

Never having never flown so fast before as he swept Hermione up in his arms and was right back out of the door. Ron was brought back from shock after Neville bumped past him and shouted after Neville, " Where're you going? What about the diary?"

" Screw the diary! I'm bringing her to the Hospital Wing right now!" Neville was halted in his flight though as Hermione let out a quiet moan. " Hermione! Can you hear me? Hermione!"

" Neville?" He could not help but breath a sigh of relief as he watched her eyes flicker open. " Neville… the diary."

" What happened to you? I thought you were paralysed! Or even…" Neville screamed in spite of himself, which was a typical thing to do after receiving such a fright. If Hermione was to die from the Basilisk's eyes, a feat that seemed so simple, Neville would never forgive himself for coming into this world.

" Neville…" Hermione reached her hand up to touch his cheek. " I'm sorry Neville. I am fine."

" How're you fine? You looked like you –" His rant was halted as he caught a glimpse of shimmer on Hermione's withdrawn fingers. Immediately turning his head to the side, he gave his eyes a hard wipe with his sleeve.

" What happened Hermione? Why were you like that? And where's the diary?" Ron caught up behind Neville and asked what was supposed to be the pressing questions.

" After you went away, Myrtle left too and I was… curious about the diary… so I opened it." Hermione gave a hesitant glance towards Neville, who was not staring anywhere near her direction, but she knew he was listening. " I know Ron, you said not to touch it but… It turned out to be just a blank diary so I didn't think anything of it. Then suddenly, something struck me hard behind the head and… Well, I guess I got knocked out."

" You were knocked out?" Ron looked back into the bathroom and asked, " By what?"

" I don't know, but there's a bump at the back of my head." Ron actually went and verified Hermione's claims by touching the back of her head. Hermione gave a jump and slapped his hand away as her eyes teared up from the pain, " Ouch! Ronald!"

" It's clearly done by someone who isn't good at magic." Neville finally trusted himself enough to speak in his normal tone again. _Thank god for Occlumency._ " Otherwise, a curse would have sufficed."

" Are you suspecting Ginny _again_?" Ron sighed in exasperation.

" That's not important right now. Anyway, Let's take Hermione to the Hospital Wing." Neville said and began floating away, which would have surprised Hermione because flying magic was impossible with a technicality but she was currently in a more troublesome predicament.

" You can put me down… I think I can manage walking…" Hermione said in a tiny voice, but Neville heard it nonetheless. Neville really had not noticed he was still holding her in his arms. After gently placing her back on the ground, he figured it was best to refrain from staying another moment next to the girl who laid wreck to his emotional fields like a tornado.

" Ron, take her to the Hospital Wing. I'll meet you guys in the Great Hall." Neville even supplied himself with a rational reason, " Harry's going to feel worried if he doesn't find any of us there."

" Okay," Hermione answered before Ron even had a chance to question the arrangements. _The girl probably knew I was embarrassed about earlier…_

Before Neville got to the Great Hall though, he ran into Harry, who looked to be in a much better mood. Neville did not press to know what happened in the owlery and figured Harry would tell him if he wanted to. Plus, Neville was the one with the heated news and told Harry everything on their way to the Hall. Harry wanted to go check on Hermione as well, but Neville assured him that she seemed fine bar a minor lump.

" So you're saying they really saw it? There really _is_ a diary?" Neville gave Harry a warning growl as they entered the Great Hall but he doubt Harry heard it from the surprise on his face. The Hall was decorated in a pink fluffy theme and with one more look at Lockhart's lurid pink robes, Neville was reminded of the event taking place today.

He spotted Hannah not far away in the Hufflepuff table, fumbling at something in her book bag in hesitation. " Hey Harry, can we sit with the Hufflepuffs today? I want to check up on some Council thing with Hannah."

" I would prefer sitting somewhere where I can't see pink, but okay." Harry looked a bit distressed as heart-shaped confetti fell on his shoulder.

" Hey Hannah," Neville called out and got a common squeak out of the jumpy girl. " What you got there?"

" N-nothing," Hannah stuttered with her familiar blush.

Megan Jones, who was probably Hannah's best female friend in her house, teased with a sly glance at Harry and Neville, " It's probably her Valentines to one of you."

" Megan! No it isn't!" Hannah protested but Neville had already eaten his first sandwich of the day and turned back to her.

" Have you got what Lockhart wanted organised yet?" The President asked while sipping his coffee. _All I need to complete the image now is a suit and some newspaper._

Looking quite glad for the change of topic, Hannah nodded, " Yeah. They should come in the Hall the moment Lockhart makes the announcement."

Lockhart timely stood up at that moment and shouted, " Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are all enjoying the decoration I have set up as thanks to the forty-five people who have so far sent me cards! And it doesn't end here!

With a clap of his hands, a dozen floating fairies came in dressed with golden halos levitated above their heads, and all of them playing a melodic tune on the harps. They were really Leprechauns that Hannah and Su helped dressed up a little since Neville remembered how rough dwarves could get from what happened to the original Harry. He took his job of protecting the students, possibly himself, very seriously.

" Yes! With the help of the Student Council, we have arranged for you these friendly, card-carrying cupids! They will be roving around the school today delivering your Valentines! Oh! And look at that! They're going to deliver the first Valentine of the day now!"

The entire student population followed the twelve little cupids as they floated over to the Gryffindor table, carrying a trail of pink confetti along with them. Neville shot Hannah beside him a glance, which she replied with a smile of her own and giggled. Lavender Brown was made to stand up while the tiny cupids flew around her, surrounding her in a cyclone of pink hearts as they played their harps to the start of a melody. Then as the music reached a crescendo, the storm of confetti opened up a path on one side and Lavender stumbled out to find herself face to face with Draco.

" Lavender!" Draco bellowed, his eyes actually surveying the Hall instead to see the others' reactions. When he crossed eyes with Neville, Draco gave him a look as if to say, _This is what happens when I try. Now just watch._

" Ah… Draco… Hello…" Lavender was also staring around her, but in chagrin and a lot more self-conscious. As much as girls loved all this romantic stuff and elaborate public display, Neville guessed it was only restricted to a guy she liked.

" Happy Valentine's Day my dear Lavender! Allow me to be the first one to give you my Valentines today!" On queue, one of the cupids flew over with a tray covered by a sheet of pink velvet, and on top was a white and silver card. " Go on! Open it!"

Lavender, looking as if she was about to diffuse a bomb, tipped the cover of the card over with her finger and shrieked when something shot out with a bang. Sparkles and fireworks shot up towards the ceiling of the Great Hall, and a glittering face of Draco smirked back down on her. With a wink, the words 'Will you be my girlfriend?' wrote itself under his face in glitter, which was the exact sly expression as the real Draco down below standing expectantly in front of a speechless Lavender.

" Well?" Draco showed his whole set of shiny white teeth, but once again looking around him for any jealous faces.

" Err… Well Draco… You see…" Lavender panicked and babbled in one big breath, " Thank you but I don't know I can't answer you I'll talk to you later ok so okay bye!"

Even half way through her sentence, Lavender was already running out of the Hall in utter embarrassment from Draco's profligate display. Everyone else in the Hall were also quite flabbergasted at the resulting conclusion and only Lockhart recovered enough to chortle and make a comment.

" Oh the display of young love! Don't worry young Malfoy, I'm sure Miss Brown is just too shy to give you a reply in front of the whole school! I remember back in my days when students would sneak up to the Astronomy Tower at night and…"

" Well Lockhart is partially right this time. But I don't think Malfoy's going to like Lavender's reply anyway." Harry jibbed with Neville, who cleared his throat quickly when he spotted Draco coming closer.

" Well, Potter! Coming to the Hufflepuff table to give your Valentines to someone? I must say she'll be very disillusioned after _my_ display." Harry struggled not to laugh as Draco plowed on, this time facing Neville. " As I've said, and you cease to recognise, I can get any girl with just this _tiniest _amount of effort. Did you see the look on Lavender's face? She was practically jumping into my arms with this almost _effortless_ clarification of my intentions. Effortless!"

" Um… Draco…" Neville just shook his head at Hannah, who was about to give Draco a rude awakening.

" Just let him have it Hannah. Just let him." Neville sighed.

By this time, Lockhart was nearing the end of his tale, " And _that_ is how to avoid getting lured by an evil siren! Now where was I? Oh yes! Valentine's day! Most fitting for the Council's vice president to give the first Valentines but let's not stop there! Why not let my colleague enter the spirits of the occasion? Professor Flitwick here knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizards I've ever met, the sly dog!"

" What in the world is going on here?" The voice of Snape boomed around the Hall as his previously good mood vanished.

" Ah! And Professor Snape would surely be willing to show you how to whip up a Love Potion I'm sure!" Lockhart obliviously rattled on.

Since Snape was standing quite close to him, Neville made a jab, " Actually Professor Snape I have a question about the ingredients for Amortentia –"

" Don't push your luck Longbottom or I'll force-feed you poison!" Snape snapped but at the sight of Harry, who smiled back innocently at the man, he just cleared his throat and went to confront Lockhart.

Neville could tell from then on that Harry would not be picked on in Potions very often and Snape would not be accused of anything more than his greasy hair.

0

0

0

A/N: Somehow, I feel not many fan fics like Snape. Well it's trivial. I don't know why I came up with this Sinistra plot but it seems to have potential to make funny moments. Some may argue Snape would've just ignored Sinistra without batting an eyelash, but relating Snape and feelings were never common and you can consider he panicked and didn't know what to do when someone actually confessed they liked him. Yeah, that's it.


	38. Book 2 Chapter 16

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Neville and Harry finally learnt of the history between Sinistra and Snape, and Harry even looked to be on a friendly terms with Snape after their run-in at the owlery. A mysterious person knocked out Hermione, who was guarding the suddenly-appeared diary that morning. On the note that Draco had publically asked out Lavender, Valentine's Day continues…

Chapter 37 – The rest of Valentine's Day isn't a dream either.

The Trio and Neville were making a detour to the Trophies Room since Ron had seen the name of T.M. Riddle on the diary and connected it with his award there. The Trio was discussing about how Riddle got the award as Neville pretended to look at the other cups and plates in the cabinets. He discreetly pulled out the Marauder's Map, since he did not get a chance to do so after Ron and Hermione joined them for breakfast, and checked the whereabouts of Ginny. The little girl was already in her first class, and Neville had no clue if she was the one who knocked out Hermione. He was seriously getting nervous now at the whole thing, because this definitely did not happen in the books and Hermione could really have gotten hurt. _She really could've died! She was at the entrance of the chamber! Just one look and she would be floating about just like Myrtle!_

" Are you okay Neville?" Harry asked and he just nodded back in response. With a quick glance in Hermione's direction, he saw her staring intently at his face and immediately retracted his stare. _What am I, a kid? I might have over-reacted to her injury earlier but she'd already repeatedly assured us her head was fine, apart from a little lump._

" Let's head to class. We're going to be late." Neville was the first one out of the room.

Harry and Ron slipped into a discussion about the effects of the diary and the possible history that surrounded Tom Riddle and his relations to the last opening of the Chamber. They were even close to the point of deducting Riddle to be the one who closed the Chamber and along those lines when Neville realised there was a strong gaze in his direction. Noticing how Hermione and him had lagged behind a good few steps from the other two, Neville tried to keep a poker face again and smiled.

" You missed an eventful breakfast. Lockhart said thanks for the Valentines by the way." Neville made random conversation as disguise.

" I didn't send him a Valentines." Hermione cleared that topic pretty quick and proceeded with her own, " Can I ask you something?"

" If you need to," Neville answered with a controlled tone.

" It's Valentine's Day today, even with those singing dancing Leprechauns –"

" The Council calls them little cupids."

" Sorry… Well, those Valentines deliverers. I was wondering if you, being the president and all, have a list of who they're delivering to…"

Neville relaxed a little when he knew what direction the conversation was going. " No, the students approach the cupids by themselves and the sender remains anonymous unless they wished to be known."

" In that case, as Ron's friend, do you know if he…" Hermione left the sentence hanging, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks before she lowered her head.

" I don't know," Neville shrugged, putting on a smile even if she was not looking at it at the moment.

" Well, it's not like I'm _hoping_ for one from that insensitive oaf." Hermione quickly lowered her voice when Ron turned his head, but only to follow a cupid that just floated past the group. Hermione stepped closer to Neville and whispered, " It's just that… it's been over a year now since he's given me those chocolates. Sometimes I wonder if he's really my secret admirer – or even likes me at all."

" He's probably just too immature to show it properly or something. I mean, he visited you all the time when you were in the Hospital Wing with that cat incident right?" Neville reminded.

" Don't remind me. I mean he even screamed when he saw my tail." Hermione shook her head, " I mean, compared to you he –"

At the mention of that, the two of them both remembered the scene where Neville was so worried that he carried her in his arms earlier, and was only saved further awkwardness since they had reached the classroom.

Hermione still went and said it. " Thanks for worrying about me earlier."

Neville was tempted to put a Memory Charm on her to forget his previous rash panic and just mumbled, " Okay – Hey, look! There's Seamus!"

Seamus was interrupted in his gaze at Lavender, who was no doubt talking about Draco to the excited Parvati next to her, as Neville sat down beside him to be his class partner for the day.

0

0

0

" Ginny!" Neville finally caught up with the girl today. The rest of her friends, who got the wrong idea of course, giggled, and left the redhead helpless to Neville's ambush.

Ginny took the pre-emptive attack method. " What is it Neville? You should know I never want to speak to you again, no matter how pretty that hair clip you gave me for Christmas looked!"

" It's not that. I just want to ask if you've been to that third floor bathroom today. Or seen anyone entering it? The one that's always got the out of order sign?" Neville studied her expressions as she answered to make sure it was perfectly genuine.

" No," Ginny replied squinting her own eyes at Neville's face. " Why?"

" It's just Council stuffs. We had reports saying people still uses it despite the sign," Neville lied quickly. " Well thank you for your time, goodbye."

_She sounds and looks honest enough. Plus, I'm still very reserved about her being able to knock Hermione out at all. But… but Ginny _should_ be the one with the diary. I saw it with Lucius at the bookstore! And it _has_ to be Ginny because, in the books, Lucius wanted to fame her father!_

" Hey, wait you!" Ginny the fiery redhead grabbed hold of Neville's shoulder and spun him back round. " What was that all about? 'Thank you for your time'?"

" You were the one who just screamed you didn't want to talk to me," Neville pointed out, which seemed to be the wrong thing to do.

" I don't! But… but… Oh just here!" Ginny fished something out from her robes and slammed it on Neville's hand. It was a plain white envelope that looked more suitable as office supply rather than a Valentines. " Your owl, the big fat buffoon that he is, like his owner, landed me with your letter when he couldn't find you in the common room earlier!"

" Thanks. I guess." Neville wondered if it was Old Al hurrying a reply but when he saw the curly handwritings on the parchment, he raised an eyebrow.

" Is that a Valentines from someone outside of school or something?" Ginny was obviously curious but was trying her best to refrain herself from peeking.

_ To Neville Longbottom,_

_ Hello. This is Elena. I wish the magic my father taught you and your own research is progressing at a steady rate. By the time you read this, I will probably be drowned in gifts from boys, and maybe even girls, much more prefect than the Millicent Bullstrode you mentioned during the holidays. I do hope you will not wallow in self-pity for not receiving anything from that violent Cho, or that rude little girl Ginny. I will end this letter here because I am very busy at Beauxbatons._

_ Regards,_

_ Elena Drakul._

Neville even used the charm that revealed invisible ink on the parchment but he still did not find anything that really warranted Elena to write him a letter. He turned back to the 'rude little girl' and told her, " It's from my cousin in Bulgaria, remember her? You did get a mention."

" Yes, I caught a glimpse of my name…" Ginny probably saw the title she was given too. " I never thought she liked me very much last year."

" She doesn't seem to like anything too much." Neville started to head to his next class. " By the way, how're the rehearsals for the play coming?"

" Oh, I remembered all my lines already and – why are you even talking to me?" Ginny suddenly realised she should still be mad and stomped off, but halted after a few steps and turned back round on him. " This reminds me. Why in Merlin's name are you making it a rule for us to wear those hideous goggles leaving the rehearsals?"

" They are for protection," Neville answered plainly.

" What protection? And I heard you were involved with a Fashion Club?" Ginny harrumphed, " Well I won't be wearing those horrid looking things from now on."

" I suggest you do." Feeling as if he was advising a burglar to buy home-insurance, Neville blindly continued, " It's for your own good. I promise you. Please do it for my – no – Harry's sake. He wears it as well right?"

" Don't drag Harry into this," Ginny mumbled, but he knew she would listen. _Well she's a good kid at heart._

" Valentine message for Neville Longbottom!" Neville froze as the strumming of a harp grew closer. He looked around him and apart from the approaching cupid and Ginny, there was no one else in sight. _At least there are no other witnesses apart from this girl. Let's get this over with._

Neville was expecting at least one Valentines from the 'less than perfect' Millicent and, taking the green parchment from the cupid, was immeasurably grateful for her not to have sent a musical version as Harry had received in the books. Unfolding the parchment however, he was once again surprised at what was written there.

_Hey_ _Neville, _

_ I was wondering if you can please meet me at the Fashion Club's clubroom tonight?_

_ By the way, Happy Valentine's Day!_

_Cho Chang_

" Well?" Ginny was kept from reading the parchment this time since he had thought it was something embarrassing from Millicent.

_What did Cho want? This isn't really a Valentines… And meeting her at night in an empty clubroom? Alone? Just what idea did she come up with this time?_

Neville pointed his wand at the parchment and it was shred into tiny pieces. He was quite wary of Cho, and this parchment once again rose his suspicions about her motives to get close to him. _I know I'm acting like Dumbledore is with me but… that girl intimidates me sometimes._

Ginny looked on in shock though and socked him on the arm. Ginny screamed, " How could you do that to a girl's feelings? I don't know who this girl is but you can't just destroy her Valentines for you like that!"

" It wasn't a Valentines," Neville said, though sounding half like he was trying to convince himself as well.

" If it wasn't one, then why did she have a cupid bring it to you? You're worst than my brothers!" Ginny stomped on his foot for good measure and left Neville hopping alone in the corridor.

When the little girl was out of sight though, Neville immediately flew down the direction the small cupid headed away to after his last delivery and found him not long after. " Hey, cupid up there."

" There aren't any more Valentines for you Neville Longbottom." The cupid informed but Neville shook his head.

" No… I'm the one that needs to… send one. Look, it is imperative you keep this anonymous. Now the contents…" Neville's frown never relaxed even after he sent the cupid far far away.

0

0

0

" Okay! Let's call it a wrap! I think we're doing really good here," Neville complimented beside Hannah. " Give it a few weeks and we can do the dress and final rehearsal."

" Yeah," Hannah shot him a perturbed look. " You look very tired."

" I am. It's been a long day." Neville sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

Millicent's Valentine finally arrived when he was doing his business in the boy's toilets on the fifth floor. It sure gave original Harry a run for embarrassment value. He made sure cupids were not allowed to deliver anything in the bathrooms after that. Ginny did send Harry something as par the books, except it was in Transfiguration and the worst tease he got was, 'at least you had your pants on while the cupid delivered yours'. Actually, out of the Trio and Neville, only Hermione was due a visit from little cupid – Ron got one after lunch from a first year at the Hoglake club. Neville was sure that was not the case now though, waving to Ron, Harry, and a frowning Ginny, as they left the Hall with their goggles. Hermione's Valentines was specifically instructed to be delivered to her when she was alone, and away from Ron, where she could not validate whether it was actually sent by Ron or someone else.

Hannah agreed, " Yeah, it was quite a ruckus today wasn't it? With Draco in the morning, Blaise Zabini and those five girls at lunch and… Professor Snape and Professor Sinistra. I think that has got to be the most unbelievable thing ever to happen at Hogwarts."

Neville could not help but smile as he recalled Snape's absolute horror at dinner earlier. Sinistra had not been seen ever since she burst into Neville's potion session last night, and nobody would ever know what the exact words exchanged between the two teachers were in the dungeons. When she was seen again however, probably after a period of restless sleep, she was rushing into Great Hall as if she had just discovered a new planet through her telescope. Turned out though, she figured out what she should do now after Snape admitted to still being in love with Lily – and that was to resume her feelings for Snape and try to get him to fall madly in love with her in spite of himself. Of course, she managed to miss out the mention of Lily, but Snape looked ready to kill himself when he received the Valentine's Card Sinistra offered him with shaky hands.

_This is karma Snape! Remember what you did to me last year with Millicent? Well see how you feel now in my position! Getting rid of a girl obsessed with you without bad intentions is harder than it looks! Then again, Sinistra doesn't look half bad for her age at all… There was no need for you to run away right afterwards like that._

" By the way Neville," Hannah mumbled beside him as he waved again to more first years retreating back to their dorms after today's rehearsal. " How many Valentines did you get today? I bet you had a lot."

" No, I only got one. Well… maybe two."

" What? But I… I mean, why 'maybe two'?"

Having grown accustomed to Hannah's periodical stammering, Neville explained. " A girl sent me a note using one of the cupids telling me to meet her… right now actually."

" What?" Hannah jumped in her seat. " That's more than a Valentines. She asked you out on a date?"

" How's that a date? Don't be silly. I mean, what sort of date would it be with nothing to do in an empty room but…" Neville trailed off here and shook his head vigorously. " She never even told me to go alone."

" I'll go with you," Hannah volunteered as if reading Neville's mind. _It's not like I'm scared to go alone or anything… I am a grown man… mentally…_

That was the reason why Hannah was with him when he knocked on the clubroom to the newly established Fashion Club. It just used to be an empty classroom anyway, and Neville had been here before for the club's first meeting. A clear voice from inside answered, " Come in."

" Good evening." Neville partially hid himself behind the door and peered into the room. It was already furnished with the Fashion Club's essentials, albeit still a little messy with boxes and parchment here and there. The room itself was split into various different sections for different parts of the clothes making process: one corner had enchanted sewing machines while along one wall there were a line of mirrors. There was even a cubicle for changing in one corner, and clothes dummies dotted around the room. In the middle of the room was a large, circular oak table that was covered with parchments of clothing designs and whatnot as a central hub to the design process.

" Wow! This place is really amazing!" Hannah exclaimed as she also stepped into the room and Neville unconsciously nodded with her.

" Thanks. You're Hannah Abbott right? In the Student Council? I don't believe we have properly met?" Only then did Neville turn his eyes on Cho and blinked at the outfit she was wearing. " Hi, my name is Cho Chang."

" Nice to meet you too. Did you make the robes you're wearing yourself?" Hannah could not keep her mouth shut as she approached the older girl. Cho was wearing what must be one of her first robe designs and Neville had to admit it suited her well. The old mundane black school robes were charmed to hang tighter around the body, with a slit running up from the bottom to the waist in the middle, and she wore a pair of matching black pants underneath. The robes sleeves were also trimmed to her elbows, and she could be seen wearing a pink blouse underneath with the collar. showing over the rounded neck of the robes.

" I'm glad you made it Neville." Cho noticed his stare up and down her but instead of blushing, she just twirled around, swishing the tail of her robes about her like a summer dress. " So what do you think of my first design?"

" Err… Well, it's… nice?" Neville cleared his throat, regaining his composure. " So about your… parchment from the cupid earlier today –"

" Ah yes, they're very useful aren't they?" Cho giggled. " I know they're for delivering Valentines but I think they work better as a memo delivery system."

_I was hung up about _this_ all day? _Neville wanted to beat himself on the head. _I knew it was just a note to start with! Damn that Ginny for suggesting the wrong impressions! And Hannah as well!_

Hannah jumped as she saw a flash across Neville's eyes in her direction but Cho did not pick it up. Cho put her hands on her hips and complained, " I called you here for a guy's opinion you know. Can't you give me any better comments apart from 'nice'? I thought about the school robes we normally wear and it's very confining you know? The sleeves always get ink on them and half the first years fall over because of the cumbersome robe tail."

" Right. Well I like what you've done to it, and it sure does make it easier to move around in," Neville replied to her wishes. He continued to comment as he strolled around the clubroom, examining the evidences that were left while Cho was designing the robes." But doesn't this change the robes into something more like an outer coat instead? I mean, it would look… strange without wearing anything underneath."

Cho just gave him a look as if he was out of his mind. " I don't know anyone who goes commando under their robes anymore. Don't tell me you…"

Neville curtly clarified, " No, I don't. My great uncle does with his though."

" That's just old tradition you know. People started wearing shirts or muggle clothes underneath their robes decades ago!" Cho rolled her eyes. _Maybe she really did have a flare for this sort of thing._

Neville spotted something underneath a few pieces of doodling and lifted the parchments up to find a good few boxes of chocolates. " Hey, chocolates!"

" I guess your reputation for being a glutton isn't baseless then." Cho shook her head good-naturedly and offered, " Go on and have some. The cupids delivered them through the day and I can never finish all of them on my own."

" Hey thanks!" Neville dived in without further inhibitions. He was indisputably dissuaded about his earlier unfounded hypothesis of Cho making advances on himself now, seeing how popular she really was and taking no heed to it. After all, he did learn after Penelope Clearwater that he might harbour quite an appeal to fit the position of 'younger brother' to older girls. _Nothing wrong with that. Pretty girls have pretty friends to match-make me with if I ask! _

" Neville, I left something back at the Great Hall during rehearsal. I should go get it now." Hannah surprisingly spoke up at that moment. Neville glanced at her and from her blush and furtive glances between Cho and him, the older currently preoccupied with looking at her reflection in the mirror, he could tell Hannah had misunderstood them for wanting to be alone.

Before Neville could get Hannah to stay and make her see what he saw, Cho had already spoken up, " It was nice meeting you Hannah. Drop by some time too since we always welcome new members."

" Sure, see you later Cho, Neville." Hannah bolted out the door as if she was a mouse chased by a cat. _Meh, I can explain later._

" So you think this'll be the new fad in school?" Cho walked towards where Neville was looking for the truffle on the chocolates selections card.

" I don't know, possibly. I have qualms about how far Dumbledore would let the students stray from tradition though." Neville glanced at the other drawings that were lying on the table. " Then again, my advice would be to go as far you like until someone complains. From what Dumbledore wears though, I think you'll get a warning from McGonagall before him."

" Good advice," Cho reached over Neville's shoulder and took a piece of chocolate for herself.

" Turkish Delight," Neville informed her. " By the way, I was wondering what were in your mind when you drew these designs over here."

" Oh? Have a guess," Cho leaned her back onto the table comfortably beside Neville. Over the aroma of chocolates, Neville could smell the now familiar pear scent and wondered if Cho used some muggle shampoo. Wizard products or cleaning charms rendered the user odour-free unless otherwise specified, which Neville appreciated because he used to hate walking past perfume stores.

" Well the robes are sleeveless," Neville observed as he picked up the parchment for a closer examination. " The hem is cut up both sides of the leg – kind of reminds me of those medieval knights on horsebacks. You jotted down the possible materials at the side, which are all waterproof and wear-resistant. The variation in design and minor cutting aside, I'm going to guess it's designed for labour or some sort of sports. Since we're talking about you, I'm guessing this is a new Quidditch uniform?"

" You're good at this game," Cho patted his head, which he returned with a frown. _Just because I'm shorter than you – now._ " Yeah, I always think the House Quidditch robes are quite a bother. I mean, those sleeves really get in the way when you want to catch a flying snitch _this_ size – and don't get me started about what happens when it rains. It feels like I'd gained a tonne in weight."

" Not to mention how it drips everywhere. I think the same thing whenever Harry trudge into our dorms after a rainy practice," Neville recalled with annoyance. " Maybe there're other things we can think about as well. Take cycling for instance. The things those guys wear are skin hugging for streamlining and so forth. Quidditch is played on brooms so being wind-resistant might also be an option."

" Yeah," Cho seemed to understand his analogue since she was a muggle-born, which saved some explaining.

" Then obviously there should be something different for each position. Keeper uniforms can add some padding – like in football."

" Uh-huh," Neville could sense Cho nodding next to him and he continued as he pointed at her design plans, " I'm not sure here about your different designs for male and female players. Is it necessary? Then again, maybe I'm oblivious that way."

Neville was just about to ask her more about her designs but when he finally raised his head to look sideways, he found himself staring into two orbs of sparkling hazel. _Why didn't I pick up the growing scent of pears?_

Cho was a lot closer than Neville was prepared for and he could even feel her breath when she said, " You got some chocolate on the side of your lips."

_She's only gotten closer because of the stain. That's it._ Neville was busy making credible explanations for this moment between them when they were interrupted by a magically magnified voice that echoed around the castle.

" _All students are to return to their house dormitories at once. An attendance will be taken in the common rooms by the head of house. May all staffs please report to the staff room._"

McGonagall's voice was grim and severe, and the two of them stared at each other for a moment in equal confusion. Neville's gaze mixed an additional panic though as his thoughts called back on the sudden appearance of the diary earlier today after months of peace.

" Go back to your dorm Cho. It's not safe right now. Here, take his." Neville gave her the pair of protective goggles he took from the play's rehearsal from his trip here earlier. The lenses of the goggles were transfigured to be like a camera, which had saved Colin Creevy's life previously.

" Why the goggles?" Cho asked. " And what about you?"

" Just do it." Neville did not give a look backwards as he ran towards the door and pressed his ear on it to listen for any sounds of hissing outside. When he was sure, he opened the door and ushered out Cho, now with her goggles. " Be careful on your way back and if you see or hear something big coming at you, run."

Neville left her and ran down the corridor in the other direction. He was worried about Hannah, who had supposedly headed back to the Great Hall. After all, she was a year below Cho and would not even less of a clue at what to do if she was attacked. He did not let anxiety rush to his head though, and before rounding each corner, he shot a splash of water on the ground to reflect the situation in front to make sure. Although he had decoded a little of the Longbottom's research since Christmas, his practices had not been going as well. The most he managed from what he expected from Arcane Magic was to conjure some water, and not even ice or a single spark of flames. He was still persevering with the decoding though, even if an _Aguamenti_ of modern magic would have done a better job. He just needed more time to understand the research notes and decode the ruins.

Just as he was about to shoot another puddle of water round the corner, something clamped onto his shoulder from behind. _I didn't hear anyone sneaking up behind me at all!_

" Mr Longbottom, where do you think you are going?" At the sound of Dumbledore's voice though, Neville slowly turned around. He was both glad that it was not anything related to the Basilisk but apprehensive at the same time that the old fox had caught him wandering about where he should not be.

" I was just going to the Great Hall." Neville decided to tell the truth this time.

" I know, because the quickest stairs leading up to the Gryffindor common room is in the opposite direction." Dumbledore also saw no point in picking on this small bone as he moved on to something bigger. " Do you know the reason why we are gathering the students? There has been another attack."

Neville would have growled if his whole concentrated was no on his Occlumency shields to fend off Dumbledore's blatant Legilimency attack. The old fox's attack was of a whole different nature from Snape's altogether. While Snape would pound on Neville's shield as if they were being stuck by a hammer, Dumbledore attacked as if he was trying to flood Neville from all directions.

" I suspected that headmaster. That is why I was worried about Hannah, who said she was going back to the Great Hall." Neville did not yield easily though. He did study for about a year under one of the best Occlumens in the world after all.

" I see. Do you know who were the victims of the attack Neville?" Dumbledore's suspicions of Neville were quite clear since he was in no hurry to rush the boy back to the safety of his common room.

" I am sure you plan to tell me now." Neville answered defiantly, feeling the increasing pressure of holding up his Occlumency shields.

" This time, it is a triple attack." Dumbledore said with a sigh, " Three muggle-born first years. John Smith, David Jones, and Peter Barker."

_Finally! Victims that have no relations to the main characters at all! _I_ sure found it strange how Harry knew all the victims in the book._ Neville humoured the old fox and said, " I have no idea who those three children are apart from their involvement in the play."

" Exactly. There is one particular question I wish to pose for you." Something flashed in Dumbledore's eyes as he enquired, " Why did you order the participants of the play practices to wear those goggles. I learnt from Miss Li that you transfigured them all by yourself, am I correct?"

" I assure you I only implemented the rule as a security precaution for the students." Neville was about to explain more, but was rudely cut off by the old fox.

" Do you know the three victims tonight were all wearing your goggles. When we found them, they were petrified like the others with no other external or internal injuries. Though very curiously, the goggles themselves were cindered black and were still smoking when we found them. This effect could only result from having been exposed to very powerful magic."

" I am sure you have personally examined the goggles in detail already." Neville explained in a bored tone, " You should have found no magical enchantments or charms placed on the goggles. All I did was transfigured the structure of the lenses so they resembled Colin Creevey's camera, which showed the same characteristics you just mentioned after his attack."

" Are you telling me you know the true nature of these attacks Mr Longbottom?" Neville caught the slight narrowing of Dumbledore's eyes and stared right back at him.

" I merely deducted this safety method from Colin's attack." Neville turned to leave, getting a little anxious about the safety of the Trio as well now that the victims of the attacks seemed to have changed. " If you will excuse me, I have to retreat to the safety of my common room and I trust you can check if Hannah is safely back in her dorm."

" Of course." Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkled and continued, " I must warn you Neville, security around the castle would be strengthened significantly from now on. Please do no stray around the castle as you have a tendency to do."

_This guy's trying to say he knows my night wanderings. Well, I knew _that_ already._ Neville harrumphed and left to get his attendance taken.


	39. Book 2 Chapter 17

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Valentine's Day came and gone and hardly anything's changed for Neville. Ginny was still mad at him, Hermione is still mistaken about Ron's affections, Hannah was still jumping too hastily to conclusion, Millicent has still to give up, and Cho was still making him very apprehensive. The only change was that the third attack happened, and the unfamiliar victims were saved by his precautions. It only seemed to heighten Dumbledore's suspicions though…

Chapter 38 – Time flies for Hogwarts on high security.

Just as in the book, the next morning after the triple attack, Hogwarts was on high security alert. McGonagall was at the Gryffindor common room first thing in the morning, barring anyone from leaving the tower alone and delivered the depressing news. Quidditch, clubs, societies and even the rehearsals for the play were to be cancelled. Students were to be back in their dorms by seven and to be escorted by staffs at all times. With a deep frown, Neville joined the Gryffindors behind McGonagall to the Great Hall for breakfast. _Just great! Everything is ruined now! The Council's play, the new clubs, and even my chances to find Riddle's diary. _

As Neville took a cautious step down the narrow staircase, with his other housemates shoving against each other in all directions because of the squash, he heard someone behind him yelp, " Whoa!"

Instinctively, he turned and saw a blur of red and black falling towards him. It would have created a domino effect and a good few Gryffindors ending up in the Hospital Wing, but luckily his quick reactions stopped the person from falling beyond his arms. Feeling irritated, he turned back and shouted, " Slow down guys!"

Percy squished his way through a wall of people from the landing above and exclaimed panting, " Are you alright Ginny? I told those first years to line up and be orderly – but they just won't listen."

Neville looked down in surprise to see two brown shining orbs staring right back at him. Ginny's face reddened while she closed her mouth and stepped away from him. She was probably fidgeting her fingers behind her back as she tried to voice something, but she finally just whispered, " Thanks."

Neville was quite aware of Percy curious looks, and Neville himself was also quite baffled at Ginny's change in attitude. " No, don't mention it."

" Thanks for last time too – you know, the stairs, again…" Taking no heed of her house mates walking past them, she took a deep breath as if she had come to a decision to just go through with something. " I understand now you weren't trying to push me off the stairs that time."

" You tried to push my sister off the stairs?" Percy screamed and before Neville could protest, Ginny got there before him.

" No Percy you prat! Didn't you just hear what I said?" As if having vented some nervousness out on her older brother, Ginny turned back to Neville. " I also heard some rumours saying those goggles you forced me to wear after rehearsal was really what saved the three victims last night… And to think I argued with you just because… Well, that time we crashed into each other on top of a landing, if you haven't caught me then, I really would've fallen off the stairs. Instead of blaming you, I really should've thanked you…"

" So are you going to stop blaming me for everything bad that happens to you now?" Neville joked.

" Only if you stop it with that diary thing," Ginny might have meant it as a joke, but Neville just shrugged and nodded. Ginny gaped and asked, " You changed your mind? You really believe I don't have it now?"

" Yeah. The diary turned up by itself, and was stolen again… I doubt you have enough strength to knock anybody out." Neville got to here, since he was once again aware of Percy's heated gaze at their exchanged. " Let's go okay? I want to get to the Great Hall and talk to the other Council members about what we're going to do about the play."

" Oh… I wonder what the school is going to do about that? We all put so much work in as well…" Ginny sighed, and Neville quietly thought she was just feeling wistful from missing a chance to kiss Harry.

" The play will not be held! I think the safety of every student in the school is more important than your play!" Percy stated self-importantly and Ginny looked ready to vomit.

" Hey, Ginny you're still here?" One of her chirpy first year friends from behind in the crowd got to the stairs and took her arm. " Let's go already! By the way, nice hair clip."

That was when Neville noticed that for the first time, Ginny was wearing the green hair clip he gave her for Christmas. It was some form of jade with a simple design that complimented her red straight hair, clipping her fringe to one side. Neville nodded at his own good taste, " Yeah, that does look good on you. Well off you go then."

" Thanks again for the hair clip Neville, I really like it." Ginny was pulled forward by her friend into the crowd and Neville found himself left with Percy near the end of the Gryffindor queue.

" You gave my sister that for Christmas?" Percy muttered, but gave Neville an evaluating side glance. " It looks expensive."

" I got you something too – and Penelope." He could visibly see Percy twitch at the mention of her name from his mouth.

" I know," Percy's look darkened a tone. " You gave her an elaborate quill set while you gave me seven rolls of blank parchment."

_As if the grudged bath towel set from you to me was what I've always wanted._ Neville pointedly ignored his most disliked Weasley and went on his way, but unfortunately they were heading for the same place.

" I know you're still on good terms with Penelope." Percy caught up and stated.

" Of course. I'm her little brother." Neville saw him twitch again, probably remembering how Neville had used that as a pretence to hug her at every opportunity. _It's just a superficial way of healing my broken heart for being completely wiped off her consideration list._

" I also know you run to her and badmouth me every time I catch you breaking the rules." Percy said as if he was an animal being held by his tail.

" Well I'm a busy person. Magic in the corridors and jumping off staircases are just some things I do to stay on time."

" Obviously you're not busy enough if you have time to talk to Penelope." Something flashed across Percy's eyes, " I know you're interested in Ginny. From that time you saw Penelope and me in the empty classroom, I knew it."

Neville humoured him with a laugh, " Oh really?"

" Well one way of keeping you away from Pen – I mean, keep you more busy – I mean, less stressed out – would be if you found a girl your age to bother – I mean, hang out with." Percy fumbled again and again. _How old is this guy again? And he plans to get into politics by showing his bare intentions?_ " Well what I'm trying to say is, you have my blessings. I will throw in a few good words with Ginny about you and… You're not obliged to do so with Penelope for me of course."

" Of course," Neville drawled in a bored tone and was glad they finally made it to the Great Hall. " Goodbye Percy."

Quickly dodging past a few other students, Neville spotted the Trio at their usual place – though with an unusual visitors.

" Take that back Malfoy!" Harry's voice could be heard even over the crowded Hall and Neville quickly stepped in.

" What's wrong?" Neville raised an eyebrow at Draco and his two goons.

Hermione looked hopefully up at Neville's arrival and explained, " Malfoy came over and started saying –"

" Accusing more like!" Ron butted in. " The git said the one behind the attacks is Hagrid!"

" Do you have any evidences?" Harry stood eye to eye with Draco, at least as eye to eye as Harry could draw himself. Of course, Draco did not back down at all.

" Everyone knows that game keeper was expelled from Hogwarts, and do you know why?" Draco smirked as Harry's gaze wavered. " Because he was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets the last time."

" What? You're lying!" Harry shouted, but Neville could hear the shake in his voice because he really did not know that was the reason at this moment.

" Am I? You can go through the records or old newspapers and we'll see who's lying." Draco was practically feeding off Harry's inability to disregard him and Neville thought he should intercede.

" Draco, I have Council stuffs to discuss with you." Neville slid in between the two boys glaring at each other and continued, " I think we should push for the rehearsals to continue, and of course the actual performance. You should speak to Dumbledore though because, as you know, we don't have good impressions on each other…"

" There'll be no need for that! This is the exact reason I came over to find you Neville – well at first anyway, before seeing these clowns." Draco suspended his staring contest with Harry for a moment to produce a parchment from his pocket. " My father wrote to me this morning and told me Dumbledore might be expelled as headmaster of Hogwarts as early as tonight. Oh and Hagrid is going to spend a little holiday in Azkaban as well!"

" You're –" Harry was cut off this time by Draco laugh.

" Lying? Well, we'll see by tomorrow then won't we?" Crabbe and Goyle laughed along with Draco as the blonde boy saunter away as if he had just bragged about a new car. _Even if Draco becomes friend with everyone else in the world, it's quite possible he'll still rub a pie in Harry's face if it's just something as small as Harry getting hiccups or something… _

" Draco's definitely lying! There's no way they'll sack Dumbledore! And I'm going to Hagrid's to ask him!" Hagrid was Harry's first wizarding friend after all, and without having seen the images from Riddle's diary, he would never believe Draco.

" But what about the teachers? We're not allowed to go anywhere apart from our dorms and classes right?" Hermione said to her lap, " We can't even go to the library."

" The Invisibility Cloak of course! Geeze Hermione," Ron rolled his eyes and that set off Hermione again.

" And how are all four of us going to fit under one cloak genius?" She flared.

" Count me out of it. Just remember to wear your goggles." Neville waved and headed over to Su and Luna to discuss more about the effects of Hogwart's high security on the play.

0

0

0

Almost three months before the original books, Dumbledore was evicted from Hogwarts by Lucius Malfoy and his ploy with the school governors. Cornelius Fudge, due also to Lucius, and partly to social pressure, also threw Hagrid into Azkaban in suspect of the current attacks with reference to his previous suspected crimes.

Similar to the books, the Trio were also hiding under the Invisibility Cloak in the corner of Hagrid's hut after what Draco said that morning, and heard practically the original conversation. They were in a constant debate of whether it was a good idea to risk it and follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest, with Ron's support of the idea having dampened without Hermione lying paralysed in the Hospital Wing, and Hermione just not wanting to get caught out at night when Hogwarts was in high security alert.

High security alert or not, that did not effect Neville with his Invisibility Potion and Marauder's Map combo – especially since he no longer needed to worry about Dumbledore's unique gaze from whatever dark shadows of the castle. In addition to the inactivity of the clubs and societies, and McGonagall's vehement rejections in concern over students safety, Neville found himself with more time than ever to study the Longbottom's research notes. Despite having deciphered as best as he could, there remain many parts of the notes that his limited knowledge in Ancient Ruins barricaded him. It was not for his lack of trying when he came upon a dead-end, where he could now use Arcane magic to freeze objects, and conjure ice and water – all of which was also possible through modern magic methods. It was a bit quicker in implementation with Arcane magic, but he found that was the only benefit so far. As for fire or any other elements, Neville still could not summon more than a soil of dirt off from the ground.

With his heads full of strange symbols, letters and possibly wand movements, Neville strolled through two uneventful months. There had been no more attacks, and starting from Lockhart, a lot of the professors started neglecting the high security measures to McGonagall's thin-lipped chastise. For example, Professor Sprout would tell the students to walk on back up to the castle themselves if Neville had just damaged another precious plant; or Sinistra would tell the kids to come up to the Astrology Tower themselves since she could not leave her latest batch of cookies for Snape unattended. Snape even wrenched permission from McGonagall to resumed their earlier potions sessions for the play, which seriously baffled Neville until their first resumed session.

" With the ways some of my less than adequate colleagues are behaving, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Lockhart gets his way and the play will go on as scheduled. I do not wish to be bothered by last-minute brewing of cosmetic potions." Snape's proclaimed his excuse with a brief glance at Harry's direction that did not go amiss under Neville's eyes. _After all, Harry was going to be the prince, which was as close to the male lead as you could get in Snow White. It's just too funny to imagine Snape with a video camera trying to tape over someone's head at the play._ " What are you sniggering about Longbottom? You are one person I really do not want to see again any more than necessary."

" I think Snape misses these sessions with you," Neville whispered to Harry when Snape was busy stirring his own cauldrons with his wand. Regular potions for the Hospital Wing.

" I think he's just restarting these sessions as an excuse to get Professor Sinistra to stop nagging him whenever he's free." Harry provided the other hypothesis, but could not stop himself from grinning while doing so. _Actually I think it's probably a mixture of both._

" If he has a way to go round Sinistra I'd really like to know it what it is. Do you remember her hand-knitted sweater last week?" Neville could not suppress a chcukle at the memory, but was quenched right the next moment with a whack to the back of his head from a thick potions book.

" Stop wasting my time by gossiping like a little girl," Snape growled. Neville instantly looked back at where Snape should have been standing but the cauldrons were being stirred themselves by the wand that was left levitating in his place.

" Professor Snape, I'm not really sure how many leafs of hellebore I have to put into this potion." Harry asked as a diversion.

" It's three, you insufferable numbskull," Snape got his initial pretences out of the way. _With the way he said it, he might as well have said 'you little rascal'. _" And do remember, you must stir the potion three times clockwise, then once anti-clockwise. Here I'll show you – you silly idiot."

Rolling his eyes, Neville suffered another few minutes of Snape's tuition that would no doubt improve Harry's marks drastically in Potions compared to the original books. Snape only went away to answer Su's questions regarding her own potion after almost finishing Harry's for him, wedging a 'dummy' or 'imbecile' between his step-by-step instructions.

" You know, Snape really is quite a good teacher." Harry said after watching Snape's back stalking away to the other side of the room.

" You're the only Gryffindor who would say that," Neville muttered. _Then again, if only Snape's old textbook could pass Harry his NEWTs, it is only reasonable._

" Weren't you the one always on his side before?"

" You aren't the one who got whacked on the head by a textbook."

Changing the conversation to a topic that had bugged Harry ever since Hagrid went away, he took this individual time with Neville to try and rally some reinforcements. " Neville, you know how Ron and Hermione thinks about following the spiders. I know you said you're neutral, but what do you really think?"

" Same as you, I think Hagrid is innocent." Neville of course got a great smile from Harry for his support of their half-giant friend. " But I don't think it's a good idea to go into the Forbidden Forest."

During these two months, even Neville himself took wearing his transfigured goggles very seriously. He knew by now that the chances of Ginny having the diary really was very slim and whoever was possessed now was just as likely to attack anyone as himself. What he did know was eventually Riddle would take the diary owner to the Chamber and regain a corporal form, and until that happened, there was nothing more Neville could do.

" Why?" Harry was in a bit of a distress since his friends all disagreed with his notion of going into Forest and, he supposed, where he would find clues of the Heir and evidence of Hagrid's innocence. " You're not afraid to break the rules like Hermione… I know Ron hasn't been in the Forest either so do you really think it's that dangerous?"

" Yes," Neville answered. He did not remember the exact details, but he did not feel that the meeting with Aragog was that useful.

" Well I guess I'll be going in alone then." Harry's Saviour Mode was initiating again. What he did not know was that Hagrid's innocence would be proven the moment the diary was found and that should be their safest and main priority right now.

" Don't be hot-headed Harry. You've heard how the Slytherins mock the Gryffindors. You can't blindly rush into things." Neville knew that was one of the reasons why Harry hated himself after Sirius's death, no matter how much he blamed Snape or Dumbledore. As much as Neville wanted him to grow from experience, his well-being really is still above all else. That was Neville's difference from Dumbledore – their bottom lines and support were placed at completely different levels.

" But we don't know what the clues will lead us to! I'm going and that's that!" Harry's raised voice made Snape come over again and Harry quickly covered, " Ah, Professor Snape. No, we're not arguing about anything."

" I thought I told you to be quiet Longbottom. _Silencio_!" Before Neville could react, he was already rendered mute for the rest of the lesson.

0

0

0

Without listening to further convincing, Harry went on with his plans the week afterwards into the Forbidden Forest, since Neville had been patrolling at night the first week to stop Harry from doing just that. Taking advantage of Neville's lack of sleep the week after, Harry used his Invisibility Cloak and would have went alone if Ron had not noticed something was wrong with his two dorm mates and refused to let Harry fly solo. Much of the same as what happened in the books occurred – apart from the two returning with torn robes and pincer marks here and there.

Neville was of course the first one who saw them staggering into the common room as the Invisibility Cloak fell off them, almost losing consciousness. He was thankful that he had raided the Hospital Wing last year and immediately gave the two appropriate antidotes and rushed them to Madam Pomfrey. It was fortunate that they did not need to stay in the Hospital Wing for examination or else it would definitely have alerted McGonagall. The news did alert someone else though after she gave one look at Harry and Ron, covered with plasters, the next morning.

" The nerve of you two! I though I told you how dangerous it was! You two could've died if it wasn't for Neville! Hey Neville! Why aren't you shouting at them?" Hermione could probably be heard all the way down at the Slytherin dungeons.

" What's done is done," Neville said and Harry winced as he was put under a disappointed stare. " I hope you know where you went wrong."

" Yes… I should've brought my broom and Acromantula venom antidote." Harry mumbled as Hermione flared up again. Harry protested, " But we finally know for sure Hagrid is innocent! And we also found out what's attacking these students!"

" What? How?" Hermione was clearly shocked to have these two boys telling her the identity of the monster.

" It's a basilisk! From Neville's camera-lens goggles and Aragog saying it was the thing they feared most." Harry said excitedly.

" And Harry being the only one who heard voices before the attacks." Ron also joined in, " Oh! And don't forget the roosters that were killed all through the year! The Heir must have done it before setting free the basilisk!"

" You think you're so smart now just because of that? Do you? Well go and get eaten up by giants spiders for all I care!" Hermione covered her face and ran out of the portrait hole.

Neville frowned at the two immature boys, " I know you two are excited about having worked out the identity of the monster yourself, but she's always really worried about you two. Please consider her feelings a bit more before diving into your next adventure. You two really were lucky to be saved by Mr Weasley's car."

" No, it was thanks to you Neville. If you hadn't taught us those useful spells and different ways to use them, we might not have made it until the car arrived." Ron shuddered as if remember a frightful scene from last night. " Can you teach me about the Banishing Charm again? That really saved us from getting too close to those critters…"

" Not right now." Neville turned with a swish of his robes and went out the portrait hole. Pulling out Marauder's Map, he tried to find where Hermione ran off to. The rule for them to be escorted to breakfast was abolished after Lockhart complained about having too little sleep and the attacks were never in the morning.

Neville frowned after a minute or two as his map did not show Hermione's dot anywhere and only after he had wandered in front of the trolls tapestry did he realise. Walking back and forth three times, Neville opened to the door that appeared, leading into the Dragon Room.

" Hermione?" Neville's voice clearly surprised Hermione as she quickly turned away on the bench she was sitting on to face Neville with her back.

" N-Neville… W-what are you doing here?" Hermione stuttered, obviously crying. Norbert at the alter area gave a low growl, as if urging Neville to do something and comfort the poor girl.

" I don't know, to laugh at you?" Neville's joke was received with a short teary laugh. Neville went to sit beside her and she shifted clumsily down the bench to make room for him. " You should know enough about Harry and Ron by now to know there's no way for them to stay out of trouble. The best you can do is try and convince them to not take unnecessary risks and take better care of themselves."

" But I'm not like you Neville," Hermione cried in her hands. " Every time I see Ron get hurt, I just can't bear it. Like the start of this year, when he flew the car like that, even though I want to just run into his arms and thank god that he's okay, I just can't help but scream at him for making the girl he likes worry about him so much! Well… at least the girl who likes him…"

" Why… do you say that?" Neville cautiously asked, keeping his eyes away from her. Norbert looked back as him as if he was rolling his eyes.

Hermione let her arms fall to her lap and sniffed. " I got a Valentines from Ron. You guys won't know since one of the cupids delivered it when I was at my group doing the props."

" Then what's the problem?" Neville stared back at Norbert, trying to convey to the dragon that this situation was not entirely his fault.

" I know it wasn't from him." Neville froze and braved a glance at the girl beside him. She was once again sitting there with teary eyes, where her troubles all started with a single box of chocolates that was meant as a gesture of thanks.

Neville had been thinking whether telling Hermione the truth was a better way out for a long time now, but the situation was a lot more complex than even the mystery around the diary this year. Knowledge of Ron's ultimate affections and their future relationships aside, if Neville really were just a normal friend to Hermione, revealing everything that went on through last year would definitely meant this was the last time she would talk to him. Neville had dug himself into a pit where the only way for him to be pulled out was for Ron to realise his feelings for Hermione soon enough, or else Neville would have just effectively lied to Hermione the whole year as if it was a sick twisted joke. If she ever found this out… There was no way he could defend himself: saying he knew Ron, though not now, would come to love her in a few years. This hypothesis was all ignoring the feelings Neville should not even have for the buckteeth girl.

" Why would you not think it was Ron who sent the Valentines?" Neville asked, now not looking at either Hermione or Norbert.

" A love poem from a muggle poet?" Hermione laughed, almost at herself. " I don't think Ron even reads poems written by wizards."

Neville could have banged his head on the wall right then for his simple mistake. He tried, " Maybe Ron asked Harry?"

" I doubt it. Would twelve years old boys remember love poems?" Hermione asked. _Actually I took the poem straight from another Valentines I heard that morning._ " You know what? I'm going to ask him."

" Ask him… what?" Neville dreaded the answer.

" Does Ron really like me? Or had he stopped now, after he's gotten to know me since last Valentine's Day." Hermione sniffed again and Neville was, for once, rendered completely speechless.

_At least she's still convinced Ron sent those chocolates…_ As much as he knew he should find an excuse for her not to ask Ron anything, his brain was once again stopped from functioning when Hermione caught him off guard. She had leaned her head sideways and, just as well, put her head on his shoulder.

" But I'm scared… I don't want to hear what I don't want to," Hermione confessed. Neville was too busy estimating the distance between her ear and his thumping heart, since it was his left shoulder she was leaning on. " I know I'm a Gryffindor… but I don't feel brave at all about this."

" You just think too much, that's all…" Neville weakly replied. Twice in a roll, he was caught off guard again since his attention was solely on the spot that was on his shoulder.

Seemingly quicker than the broomstick that flew at him during the Cannons game, Hermione reached out her hands and clasped them on either side of his face. He could feel her nimble fingers caressing past his ears, but was unable to fight her soft pull towards her face. With only centimetres between, all Neville could do was drown in those clear brown eyes.

" Then tell me what I should do Neville…" Hermione's breath danced innocently over his face and he closed his eyes.

With the help of his mental age and Occlumency, Neville returned his heart-rate to normal and said to her lips, " If you really think the way things are now will only make you feel worst, then just do whatever makes you happy."

0

0

0

A/N: Feels like a short chapter, but frankly, this chapter breezed through about two or three months story-time-wise. Just four more chapters left until the end of second year!


	40. Book 2 Chapter 18

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Dumbledore was still suspended and Hagrid kept at Azkaban. As peaceful as the school was, Harry continued to try and solve the mystery of the Heir, and Neville finally realised that the diary really could be with anyone right now. Months passed since the last attack and in the increasingly lax security, the finale is finally near…

Chapter 39 – Onyx Black and the Seven Muggles isn't actually the main show this year.

" Alright! Alright! We're on in five! Now move it! Jenson! Don't you dare drop that thing!" Neville was blaring like a foghorn at the back of the stage, ordering the mess that was going on about him.

True to Snape's prediction, or possibly even his influence, the play was permitted to run with a lined frown from McGonagall. She had been frowning an awful lot these days as many clubs and societies also resumed. Neville had been busy with last minute practices and such. The few times during these hectic hours, he had to deal with the trepidation of a bomb going off when he caught Hermione staring silently at Ron as if she would cut the wire right then. _This really isn't so good for my small heart._

" Neville! It's Draco again!" Hannah popped her head round a curtain and beseeched his help with her watery eyes.

" Draco! Don't make me come over there!" Neville almost screamed.

Draco and Harry both came into his view at the same time, their faces dazzling because of the potion they drank, wearing the same set of Prince costume, and both looking peeved at each other.

" I'm telling you Neville, if you let this idiot go out there, he'll just ruin the show for everybody." Draco was the first to speak but Neville already had enough.

" Harry's been casted as the Prince! Now you go and organise the guys with the effects! You're supposed to be in charge of that whole group!" Neville growled and looked at his watch, jumped, and yelled in the other direction. " Su! Are you ready on the Portkey Board?"

" Yeah!" Su shouted from the back somewhere. A Portus Charm was placed on individual stage backgrounds and props, effectively shifting them to other places without manual labour. A person controlled the Portkey Board and by tapping the various objects on it, a new scene would appear on stage instantly. _Great idea, saves time changing the scenes. It took Sinistra and a lot of senior Ravenclaws many hours to get it to work inside Hogwarts. _

" Harper! You get into place! …Well, get someone to place the Sonorus Charm on you! Ginny? Where the heck is Ginny?" Neville was just pacing about and at his sharp one-eighty turn, rammed right into Hermione.

" Well… I guess this is not a good time." Hermione said, eyes downcast to the side. Her expression looked fine.

She did not look fine ever since she decided to ask Ron about how he felt. She looked nervous, fidgeted, worried, anxious, even teary – no, but never fine.

Neville put down the clipboard of checklists and asked, " What's wrong Hermione?"

" Ron… isn't my secret admirer." Hermione had set off the bomb outside of Neville's watch. " I overheard him talking to Seamus about cheerleaders… One thing led to another and Ron said if he had ever fancied any girl, it would be Jane Becker who graduated last year… That means, Ron isn't my secret admirer and for the past year I've just been… I've just been…"

Neville knew it would kill her if she let her tears completely loose in front of the public eye like this but even before he could offer a single word of solace, Ginny chose that precise moment to show up.

" Here I am Neville! There's no need to yell! It just took a while before the eyelashes started growing." Neville groaned at the distraction and the next moment he turned around, Hermione was already ten steps away and accelerating out of the Hall at top speed.

" Neville! Get off the stage! The curtains are raising!" Hannah came out and pulled the already whirling Neville backstage.

" Witches and Wizards! The Hogwarts Student Council is proud to present – Onyx Black and the Seven Muggles!" Su greeted in her magically amplified voice.

The narrator Alan Harper, the first year Slytherin, seemingly did get his voice amplified and led the audience into the story. " Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away was a witch princess called Oynx Black – and… Oh my god she's so beautiful…"

" Hannah, listen, can I leave for a –" Neville's intentions for checking up on Hermione was nipped in the bud as he realised Hannah was dragging him to the orchestra box.

" Draco never bothered to turn up so you'll have to conduct the orchestra while I fix Sally Wickham's hat even if we're half way through the opening narration and there is still no music…" Hannah was talking to herself by now and Neville could almost see her eyes turning into swirls.

Glancing at his watch and hoping the play would not run over, Neville was left standing at the podium with half an orchestra staring right back at him. Out of some of the familiar faces, Millicent was waving enthusiastically behind her tuba while Crabbe and Goyle were trading blows at each other with drumsticks and stolen xylophone sticks.

" Second score, fifth line, after the coda." Neville hissed and threw in a vicious glare, which worked wonders for the shambles Draco left him. Granted, about half the instruments needed to be activated by Neville to play themselves in midair, since they were enchanted. Frankly though, those were the instruments that carried the whole band. _Well, at least this is original music._

After Ginny finished her starting monologue, with the effects team shooting out confetti from the edge of the screen and releasing birds, butterflies and many other things that completely filled the airspace above the girl, Su tapped the Portkey Board and the backdrop changed instantly.

In the bedchambers of the Wicked Queen, Susan Bones walked onto the stage with her head held high and her potion-enhanced cheekbones. She also took an ageing potion also and Neville, to the frown of McGonagall but laughter from the rest of the audience, made the saxophone do a wolf whistle. _That girl will be a real catch in a few years!_

" Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the loveliest of all?" The audience had thought someone forgot their line when there came no replies. " Oh wait, I forgot I got rid of that stupid mirror for sprouting rubbish. Onyx Black the prettiest of all? Ha! I got this new thing from my research wizards!"

With a point of her wand and a flourish of the orchestra playing a remixed theme from Star Trek, a high-tech computer rose from the bottom of the stage. It was as high-tech as it could go compared to the floppy-discs systems, and it was the large black discs, which were around back then.

" Ah ha! With this and the new… soft… wear, and my new computer, a brilliant combination of magic and science, it will work out with Arithmancy and… Algor… athems – who is the prettiest one of all!"

Neville figured then it might not have been such a good idea to incorporate so many unfamiliar muggle terms in the script. He had to mix the wizard and muggle versions of Snow White, and twisted some things to make them flow better. Although he still did not really get Wizard humour despite having read quite a few 'The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle' comics from Ron.

" What? This can't be possible! This is a hologram of… of… Onyx Black! Even my computer? I can not let this go on!" Susan tapped the drawer next to her and pulled out – a mobile phone. _This can so become an Orange Ad._ " Get me… the Ninja!"

Neville balled his fist and pointed at the orchestra to play the dramatic three notes, " Dum Dum _Duuummm_!"

A thunder bolt struck on the stage beside Susan and after the smoke bomb cleared, to the applause and cheer of the wizarding student body, Ron Weasley as the Maroon Ninja appeared. His red hair and freckles were all covered though with that maroon garb, and he even had a huge shuriken on his back. Neville made sure it was clear he did not get a role where he needed to use his dodgy wand.

" You called… your majesty?" Ron said in the most sinister voice he could muster, which to Neville did not have too much effect. _That guy can't play an evil baddie to save his life – bumbling idiot maybe… I hope Hermione is okay… Hannah! Come back and trade places with me already!_

Neville was too worried about Hermione's whereabouts at that moment to care about the play, and just played the music scores in front of him blindly. The soap opera twist of the Hunter – or rather in this play – the Ninja turning out to be Onyx Black's long lost brother (which once again made the casting quite suitable) was a much more plausible idea than the Hunter just not bearing to kill Snow White.

By the time Hannah finally came back and woke Neville from his own pessimistic predictions of where Hermione could be crying, the play was a solid half way through. Onyx Black was now getting to know the Seven Muggles: Accountant, Dentist, Physicist, Model, Chef, Night-Watchman, and Taxi-Driver. All of the dwarves each having a personality that was stereotypical of their jobs of course.

" Neville… Tag…" He could almost see steam evaporating out her ears. " I'll take care of the music… but you have to do something about Draco."

" He's still at it with Harry?" Neville sighed, but was all too glad to hand the conductor's baton, charmed to control the floating instruments, over to Hannah. _Okay, after sorting out Draco I can finally slip away._

That was why by the time the Seven Muggles went to work using the subway, as they've explained to the amazement of the wizarding students, Neville was once again heading backstage while hearing a familiar argument growing louder.

" Potter you won't suit being a Prince even if you were hit by a billion Prince Charming Spells!" Draco yelled.

" And I guess you'll fit perfectly because you won't even know how to dress yourself Malfoy!" Harry shouted back.

" I bet your mummy dresses you every morning," Ron was of course on Harry's side.

" You take that back Weasley!" Neville rounded the corner just in time to see Draco shouting and raising his wand at Ron. Ron would never have been able to defend himself with his snapped wand but Harry had dived in front of him and threw a curse over to meet Draco's. With a very large _bang_, their curses met in the middle and sent both Harry and Draco hurtling backwards a good few feet. Draco crashed into a whole stack of boxes and Harry was slammed into the background boards.

" Harry! Are you okay?" Ron immediately ran over to his friend, but only to find Harry knocked out from his head's impact with the board. " I'm taking him to the Hospital Wing."

Neville frowned at the hormonally-charged boys and swiped his wand in the mess of boxes to clear them. Draco laid sprawl in an odd shape on the ground, blatantly having lost consciousness and got himself a few dislocated joints. Since he was the first to attack, it was only fair for him to have fallen into the heavy boxes.

Megan Jones was the coordinator, the one who waved actors to run onstage, and the look of horror on her face when she came backstage to check on the loud noise sunk Neville's hopes for sneaking away again. " What in Merlin's beard happened here?"

" Wait," Neville shot two jets of water at both Draco and Harry, which had no effects. " Nope. Got to get some medic potions down them from Madam Pomfrey."

" Who cares about them?" Megan shouted like a true stage person at work, " I had two princes one second and now I have none? NONE!"

" So get someone else to take up the role. Frankly, his role doesn't need to say much… You know, maybe I should take Draco to the Hospital Wing seeing that –" Neville was cut off as he was dragged by Megan towards the trunk that held the various cosmetic potions they had brewed with Snape.

" It's not that easy! Look! We don't have costumes and that stupid Malfoy drank most of the Dazzling Concoction. Oh don't get me started on how we didn't have enough Pearly-whites Toothpaste to begin with –"

" Megan calm down… Okay, we don't have princes, but we have…" Neville saw the huge shuriken Ron had left aside in his rush to get Harry to the Hospital Wing and pointed his wand at it.

The metal shuriken enlarged and floated into midair, then after a few minutes of it being tugged and tagged in different directions as if it was mercury, it settled as some sort of full breast-plate, with a hood-like helmet. Neville finished the costume off by summoning the nearby broom, kicked off its head, and transfigured its tip into a crude spearhead.

" We need a Prince! The armour might do okay, but a Prince has to have a sword!" Megan said as if that was the law of the world.

" Then we won't have a prince. We say… Oh I know. Onyx Black's long lost brother survived after letter her escape, and he sent this knight over because… he's already re-taken the kingdom! Yes, that's it! It's so soap opera-ish these wizarding people, somehow, will love it." Neville shook the spear in front of Megan's eyes for emphasis.

Megan buried her face in her hand, but just shook her head since there really were no better ideas. " Seriously, I knew you were strange from what Hannah said – but you're... Well let's just hope your Transfiguration spells doesn't wear off in the middle of the act. Get into that armour cause you're on next!"

" Hey what? Who said I wanted to be the actor?" Neville took a quick step back. He had thought his job was done here. " I can't. I have somewhere else I have to –"

" We don't have time!" Megan grabbed the floating armour and pulled it over Neville's head. " Oh wait! Here!"

Just as Neville stuck his head into the helmet, he was assault by a flash of gold as Megan threw a bottle of potion into his face. " Blurg! What is it?"

" Brew of Allure. There's no other way you can draw eyes to you or look convincing enough to be Onyx Black's dream man." Megan winked, " Oh and drink this too! Older men are sexier."

" Wait!" Neville choked out through that Ageing Potion she forced down him. " I thought the knight set-up eliminated the kissing scene!"

" How else are we going to wake up Onyx Black?" Megan's eyes widened as she stared past Neville's shoulder onto the stage. " You're late! Go! Go! Go!"

" Whoa?" Neville never applied for any acting roles since he was busy enough overseeing everything as it was, and before the magical spotlight revealed him to the school, he transfigured his helmet so that a visor covered his eyes.

" Oh finally! Here comes a Prin… I mean… Er…" Physicist, who was almost the equivalent of Doc, but more nerdy, was confused for the first time in his pretend-life.

" I – I am Sir… Sir… Knight!" Neville cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure. " Princess Onyx Black's long lost brother has regained the throne in a successful coup d'état from the Wicked Queen! I am here to escort her royal highness back to castle."

" But Onyx is… is… she's cursed! She'll be asleep forever! I'm going to kill myself by banging my head off a tree!" Dentist cried and was held back by the Night-Watchman, who was supposedly woken up by the noise.

" How're you gonna take her back when she's almost like a corpse eh?" Taxi-Driver screwed up one eye and elbowed Neville, " Eh? EH?"

" Well… You see…" Neville made a last ditch attempt to get himself out of a situation that Ginny would probably kill him for when she found out it was no longer Harry she would be kissing. " I am Sir Knight! The strongest Knight in the land! I can break such a silly spell with a graze of my holy spear!"

Neville's self-assured solution was received with absolute silence in the Great Hall. The audience, the actors, even Hannah and the orchestra were all quiet. Then one particularly jarring voice that sounded too much like Percy to be believable shouted, " Kiss her!"

" Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!" With one person taking the initiative, the whole school was pulled into the whirlpool.

_I hate schools. I really do…_ Neville looked back to see the Seven Muggles with snide smiles gesturing the path towards where Ginny laid on a bunch of flowers. _Here goes... She's just an eleven year old after all… _

Swallowing and taking a deep breath, Neville took his time under the loud shouts of the Hogwarts students to walk towards Ginny. When he was above the little girl, her eyes firmly shut and red faced, he just shook his head. Frankly though, she looked radiant with the aid of various cosmetic potions applied on her face like make-up, and it was even more certain than Hermione that Ginny would grow up to be a real bombshell, but Neville still felt bad for ruining the moment she had looked forward to since she got the part. _Well, it's Draco's fault really…_

Neville lowered his head and was just going to whisper in the unfortunately girl's ear that he was not Harry and there was a change of plans – maybe they could just fake it by adjusting the tilt of their faces. Then Ginny herself rose to meet him. Her lips clamped onto his and before Neville could even gasp in surprise, Ginny's arms were around his neck and pulling him downwards to the cheers of the whole audience. _Those Seven Muggles are clapping! Seriously! Clapping? Even counting my past life this is supposed to be my fi –_

Neville was finally released from the prolonged kiss as a flash of flames exploded right behind him. He immediately spun round with his spear shielding the front of him and Ginny. The most unexpected person appeared before his eyes.

" Sorry to interrupt your play everybody." It was Dumbledore, who was supposed to be expelled from Hogwarts. A few students were ready to cheer at the return of their headmaster so timely at the climax of the play, but a few smarter ones such as Percy had a frown on their faces. Something serious had happened. " Now may everyone please remain calm and follow your house prefects back to your dormitories. No students are to leave their common rooms until further notice."

As if on-queue, McGonagall's voice blared like a PA system round the castle. " Will all stray students not currently in the Great Hall immediately return to their house common rooms. I repeat. Immediately return to your house common rooms and remain there until further instructions."

Only then did Neville realise that all the teachers were missing from the audience. _How long had they been gone?_ He asked the ever poker-faced Dumbledore, who did not cast him a glance, " What's going on? Is this another attack? If it is, then why did the teachers just disappeared like this?"

" Professor Flitwick casted very strong protective charms around this Great Hall before they left to assess the situation, making sure it was safe to go outside." Dumbledore did not even glance in his direction and turned to Ginny instead. " Miss Weasley. I apologise for ruining your performance, but may you please follow your brother and fellow students on their way back to the Gryffindor tower?"

" Y-yes headmaster." Ginny lowered her head in a blush and scurried away as if she was a squirrel. Neville gave one last look back at Dumbledore and began to follow the crowd out of the Hall.

" Please wait Neville. There is somewhere I would like you to accompany me to. Plus, I know you must be curious as to why I am here." Dumbledore finally faced Neville as the Great Hall was rapidly empting and he felt as if he was sudden thrown into the vacuum of space. _Legilimency_!

Neville's knees physically buckled at the mental pressure he was suffering, but flared his own Occlumency shields in retaliation. He recovered quickly and asked, " It seems like you're the one who wants to know something professor."

There was really nothing Neville could do apart from follow the wielder of the Elder Wand. Just like any strategy game, in a situation where he could not attack or escape, he needed to amass his strength. In this instance, strength would have to be information. " Professor, why are you back at Hogwarts?"

" My expulsion was revoked after the latest attack Neville," Dumbledore casually said with a wave. " The governors confessed to have been blackmailed and threatened by Lucius Malfoy and reinstated me after matters… worsened in my absence."

" Worsened?" Neville's eyes widened, " You mean a victim was taken into the Chamber!"

Something flashed across Dumbledore's eyes, as if he just saw a prey having fallen into his cage. " Yes, I am afraid so."

_The old fox, instead of saving whoever it is with the diary getting his soul sucked out by Voldemort right now is wasting time with me? Wait… that could only mean he thinks I'm the Heir!_

" We are here," Dumbledore's velvety voice was like a paper cut as he put his hand on the handle of a door. Neville thought he would be led to the headmaster's office, but instead they were in a quiet corridor where an old classroom should be. He frowned as he entered the room because on the bench that should be covered in nothing but dust was a variety of vials containing potions that he would probably never want to be involved with. What made him frown more was the person who was already in the room.

" Ah Albus. This is the boy, is it?" Cornelius Fudge, the current Minster of Magic, wore a solemn look on his face. For Neville, an anonymous twelve year-old, there would be no fake smiles reserved only for the Boy-Who-Lived. The greying man was portly, wearing that disgusting bowler hat, and looked every bit like Neville's stereotypical lazy aristocrat. He had seen him in newspapers before and did not like him any better in person.

" Do not be alarmed Neville, there are just a few… puzzles we need to solve." Dumbledore walked forward and gestured towards the table. " The Minister had permitted the use of Veritaserum after our careful consideration."

" May I ask, what would warrant the use of Veritaserum on a twelve year old child Mr Minister?" Neville had a little Ageing Potion before the play, and with his metal amour still on at the moment, he drew up to his full height as he took a step towards Fudge. " The Longbottom family may have dwindled in numbers past the recent years, but we are still of a true and ancient lineage. My great-uncle Algie Longbottom once had quite the influence in the wizarding world and he will not take this incident lightly once he knows of it!"

Fudge's characterisation was apparent to Neville from the books. A coward like him only needed to be intimidated by status, power, or money and he would be quiet as a mouse. If Lucius Malfoy's blatant free roam outside Azkaban or lack of social rejection was anything to go by, Neville was sure Fudge would fold under pureblood lineages.

True to Neville's hypothesis, Fudge actually cowered a few steps backward from the boy's unexpected outburst and immediately turned to Dumbledore for help. " O-of course there's good reason for me to permit the use of Veritaserum! You tell him Albus!"

Dumbledore completely ignored Fudge's spineless behaviour and gave Neville a false smile. " For one, why did you hide a dragon at Hogwarts? I'll have you know, I am always notified whenever someone enters Hogwarts airspace Neville. "

Neville clenched his jaws, knowing even without that Hagrid could have blabbed. Neville should not have underestimated about Hagrid's reverence for Dumbledore and telling him what they were hiding. _This must be why Dumbledore arranged the summer camp thing! He wanted to see if my intentions were pure and if I was just tricking Hagrid into hiding a dragon to do my biddings. Dragon heartstrings, dragon blood, anything dragon makes powerful magical items._

Dumbledore did not expect to hear an answer from Neville at this moment and continued as if he was listing evidences. " I know the dragon was not responsible for the attacks, since a Norwegian Ridgeback have no means to paralyse a human."

_The old fox even knows what breed it is!_

" Despite that, throughout this whole year, your actions have brought even more suspicions on yourself than Harry, who was the first witness of the first attack – as you know since you were also present with him. The other incident by which the students had mistaken Harry as the Heir of Slytherin is his Parseltongue abilities. I was not present at the Duelling Club, but witnesses told me that you understood Harry's intentions for the snake to back away from Mr Finch-Fletchely?"

" What? From that you suspect me to know Parseltongue as well? This is first year all over again!" Neville finally protested once he saw a break in the old fox's rant.

" You know as well as I do your actions are monitored in this castle, and just as first year, you are still roaming the corridors of the castle at night. Last year, you were only stealing potion ingredients and medical supplies, but that was before your mastery of Occlumency. I see now those detentions really had an adverse effect indeed." Neville balled his fists, knowing from the way Dumbledore played with his words, Fudge was probably five hundred percent sure Neville was guilty. It took less for Hagrid to get his wand snapped back in the day. " To be honest Neville, your record has never been cleared up and I would like to take this chance to understand your intentions. What are all those hours at the library with research for? And late secluded practices of strange spells by the lake? Do you remember our talk last year? Is it just a curiosity for – the Dark Arts?"

" Don't try to sweeten up the boy Dumbledore! He'll just be another You-Know-Who if we don't nip this in the bud. I say forget the Veritaserum and throw him in Azkaban!" Fudge saw a moment of weakness in Neville and took it like the loser that he was.

Dumbledore tried his best not to show his disappointment at Fudge, " Innocent until proven guilty Cornelius. Neville is a very bright student – transfiguring the goggles for example."

" Those goggles had to be cursed! If not that, then he must know about the nature of these attacks! And if he isn't the one behind them, why doesn't he tell you or anyone anything?" Fudge exploded with a red face, as if this would make up for his gutless behaviour earlier.

" Please Cornelius. Despite the truth being in favour of the simplest explanation, and Neville does seem most suspicious, I do not want to fall down the same pitfall as I did last year."

_You already did you biased old fogey!_

" Plus, there is a decisive argument against Neville carrying out these attacks," Dumbledore eyed Neville and he wondered what sort of great argument this could be to bring him an inch in this old fox's favour. " The person taken into the Chamber tonight is your friend, Hermione Granger."

Even if Dumbledore were to channel all his magical powers into a direct Legilimency attack at this moment he would get nothing. Neville's mind was a total blank. This was such an unbelievable revelation that the only thing he could do was look on as Dumbledore pacified Fudge a bit more as if he was a parent telling his child he could not have ice-cream before dinner.

Eventually, Dumbledore turned back to Neville and held out his hand. " Neville, I must ask you to hand me your wand for safe-keeping before administering the Veritaserum –"

Dumbledore only got to here because Neville finally woke up from his daze at his words and the first notion he had was to get out of here. The only way was to duel and defeat Dumbledore, one of, if not the most, powerful wizard in the world. Then eyeing the tall wizard before him, the movie scene where Dumbledore duelled Voldemort in the Ministry surfaced. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Dumbledore's consistent Legilimency pressure on Neville was still active and in this moment of mental slip, Neville's mind was read.

_This is… the exact scene from the movie… so… so…_

Before Neville could think anymore to himself, he remembered Dumbledore would be able to see exactly the same thing and maybe even understand his thoughts. It was proven by the strange and peculiar look Dumbledore was now regarding him with. Neville felt his wand come into his palm and forcefully dispelled the mental connection immediately, blowing both himself and Dumbledore back a few steps.

_Now I understand!_ _My past life's memories are safe! Just like how even the Sorting Hat couldn't read it! At best, Legilimency can get to the time when the real Neville drowned. But the slip with Snape last year of him seeing Lily was because I was recalling the movie scene at the time! So that means if I don't bring my past life's thoughts into the front of my head, my identity is even safer than being locked up at the bottom of Gringotts!_

" A… movie?" Dumbledore mumbled to himself. Neville's thoughts and shields came back to him and he narrowed his eyes at the old wizard that was the only risk of his identity in this world. _There's no way he could guess everything from just knowing Neville's memories were from some sort of movie that had actors resembling him and wizarding people… I mean, just look how he blotched me up now!_

At this thought, Neville remembered there was another time for musings and raised his wand. He had to save Hermione. Before Fudge could gasp and reach for his own weapon, Neville had flipped the wand in his hand as to point the tip back at himself. Acting as if nothing had happened and he was handing over the grip of a hand pistol over, Neville said, " Here headmaster. I will prove my innocence fair and square."

Dumbledore's Legilimency no longer worked on Neville of course, and after regarding him with zero amount of trust, the wizard reached out to take the wand. After a strenuous few moments for everyone in the room, Dumbledore's bony fingers finally wrapped itself around the wand's handle. From his Jujitsu lessons, Neville's eyes sharpened at the moment Dumbledore started applying a pull on the wand.

The reason why the military or secret services had training in physical combat was because they needed to know how to act when they did not possess firearms. The reason was true for Neville and his training in Jujitsu and Chinese Kenpo as well. A wand was like a gun, but could be taken away at one unexpected situation.

Choosing that exact time when the momentum would be on his side, Neville started up his Floating Magic and using the tug on his wand, he propelled himself forward and landed a prompt elbow strike into the bottom of Dumbledore's unsuspecting ribs. The front of the strike was only a distraction though and as Dumbledore went backwards, he tripped over Neville's foot pre-emptively placed behind his and landed on his back on the ground.

As bad as it sounded by physically beating up an old man, Neville knew of no other way of getting out of that room. Dumbledore and Fudge were both wizards who were not accustomed to normal muggle fighting and to be truthful – Dumbledore was physically just a frail old man with his attention misplaced at that moment. Now that Neville had regained full control of his wand, he threw an aggressive 'glance' at Fudge, who was fumbling for his own.

Dumbledore might have been taken by surprise at the physical attack, but his magical duelling abilities were world-class and he had already thrown three shield charms to protect Fudge before Neville could pull out a single curse. Neville was one step ahead of Dumbledore though, grateful that Fudge was here as a baggage, and summoned almost every object in the room to hurtle towards Dumbledore like comets, who was only half way from getting back up on his feet, clutching his stomach.

Dumbledore would have been able to dispel any curse Neville could throw at him with a simple wave of his wand, but with physical objects propelled by magic, his only option at that instant was to blast the majority of them into smithereens before Neville's follow-up attack. Just after the spell left Dumbledore's wand though, the old wizard knew he was tricked again.

All Neville wanted to do was escape, not duel Dumbledore. Neville was closest to the door of the room to begin with and managed just in time to duck out the door before Dumbledore's curse grazed past his hair and onto the door frame. Dumbledore threw an _Alohomora_ at the door and thought that would solve whatever spells Neville must have used to try and hinder his pursuit, but the door surprisingly did not budge. Having hesitated a split second at the decision of whether to use a more powerful unlocking spell or blasting the door open, Dumbledore had lost Neville's trail after splinters of the door exploded into corridor outside.

" Albus! Albus! Where is that brat?" Fudge had one hand on his bowler hat as he stumbled out behind the old wizard, who was shaking his head. Neville had the Marauder's Map for almost two years, it was not difficult to disappear off into a selection of three different secret passages by now.

Dumbledore wondered if he should feel ashamed or proud about Neville having been able to escape him and lowered his head. His brows rose and to Fudge's confusion, Dumbledore bent down on his knee to pick up what looked like a shard of ice. Dumbledore quickly looked back to find the exterior of the door frame covered with crystals of the strange ice, obviously magical. Instead of magically locking the door as Dumbledore had thought, Neville had used Arcane Magic to freeze the door shut instead.

0

0

0

A/N: I was frankly dreading about writing the play since the start… Not my forte if you haven't guessed. Hope it wasn't too terrible. Finally we're going into the Chamber next chapter and this is the climax of second year guys!

I'm on holidays for two weeks tomorrow, but it would be cruel to cliff-hang here so I'll try my best to upload next week too.


	41. Book 2 Chapter 19

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

The play was interrupted at the final scene because of the final attack. Dumbledore's sudden appearance and revelation about his biased suspicion of him throughout the year was a shock to Neville. It wasn't as much of a shock to him though as the news that Hermione was the person who was dragged into the Chamber. After an escape from being forced fed Veritaserum and finding something out about his lock on his past life's memories, Neville had a rescue to stage.

Chapter 40 – The Chamber of Secrets – a stage in the new Harry Potter vs Marvel vs Capcom fighting game.

Puling out the Marauder's Map, Neville searched frantically for Harry's dot but Harry was not anywhere near the Hospital Wing. Neville was still having troubles accepting what Dumbledore had told him as he hovered into a secret passage that would take him even further from the old fox. _There's no way Hermione could have been the person writing in the diary… no way… We were with her for the whole year and she doesn't have a silly girly crush on Harry…_

Neville stopped himself here and looked up to find himself outside a bathroom. Staring at the toilet sign, stupid as that sounded, Neville realised what must have happened. On his rush to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, he had checked to find Ron and Lockhart's dots missing from the Map as well. _This must be it! Not everything's changed from the books! Harry and Ron must've known about Hermione on their way to or from the Hospital Wing! They must've worked out where the entrance was as well and, dragging along Lockhart, was already down there!_

Neville kicked opened the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and realised there was not another moment to lose. For all he knew, Harry could be getting bitten to death right now by that Basilisk.

" Who is it now? Interrupting my evening cry!" Moaning Myrtle floated through her stall's door and gave a look of confusion at the sight of Neville. " How come you can float as well? Have you died recently?"

" Did Harry and Ron come here?" Neville demanded without looking back at the ghost, searching the pipes under the toilets for an engraving of a snake. _Why the heck would old Slytherin, a guy, make the entrance of his chambers inside a girls' bathroom anyway? That guy must have some strange hobbies…_

" Oh that's very rude of you! Barging into Myrtle's toilet and shouting at her! Well you'll just have to guess where your other two friends went!" Neville was in no mood for her behaviour and straightened back up to glare at her.

" They went through this sunk here right? Harry said something in Parseltongue, repeat it to me!" Neville figured if Ron could remember it years later after just hearing it once, Myrtle should be able to as well.

" Well what're you going to do if I don't say it? Kill me?" Myrtle laughed and cried at the same time. " Oh poor, poor Myrtle! Everyone's just picking on me today! I hope your friends will all just die!"

Remembering Hermione being underneath as well, Neville's eyes saw red and bellowed, " Peeves!"

With a 'pop', Peeves appeared on top of Neville's head, looking slightly less eager than usual. " My Lord Longbottom sir! Terribly sorry but don't you know we've got an emergency in the castle right now? Even them ghosts are in danger! Just look at Nearly-Headless Nick! You don't want old Peevesy to get burnt to ashes do you?"

" Peeves, I want you to do all you can for the rest of eternity to make Myrtle's life so miserable that she wishes she would've just gone to the other side." Neville uttered darkly and glared back at Myrtle. " Imitate what Harry did to get inside the Chamber Myrtle. Poltergeists are one thing but I'm sure I can find a Cruciatus Curse that works on ghosts if Peeves ever gets bored!"

" Okay! Okay! Fine! You don't have to look like you're going to kill me – again!" Myrtle gingerly sniffed and went over to the sink with the snake underneath. She gave off an ugly hissing noise, which she had to repeat a few times before the entrance finally appeared. " There! Happy? I hope you die down there as –"

Neville had jumped right through Myrtle's cold body the moment the entrance was large enough for him to slide through. With a swoosh as if he was making an abrupt stop on a broom, Neville avoided contact with the ground as he ended his flume ride and flew down the twisting tunnel as fast as he could see in the dark.

Just as he was about to light up his wand, he heard voices not far up ahead and flew faster towards a faint glow of light. He was just rounding a bend when Lockhart's voice became clear, " Say goodbye to your memories!"

" _Expelliarmus_!" Neville bellowed and even Lockhart was so surprised at the newcomer that the he paused his Memory Charm incantation. Ron's faulty wand flew out of Lockhart's hand and Neville caught and pocketed it in one smooth motion.

" Neville!" Harry and Ron looked as if they were about to run up and hug him.

" We figured out Moaning Mrytle was the girl Aragog said had died the last time! Then we were just going back to the Great Hall and heard the teachers talking in front of the message on the wall and –"

" We'll talk later, we've got to rescue Hermione!" Neville gave Lockhart a well-aimed kick to the shins for wasting his time and continued to fly down the tunnel with the others following in a run.

" A-are you sure we should run so fast through here?" Lockhart stuttered and panted, too scared to be left alone.

" Just shut up and come with us!" Harry commanded, still piqued by what Lockhart had tried to do.

" Don't worry," Ron whispered quietly to the two in front. " Remember I borrowed your Eton Ear yesterday for revision Neville? I never took it off and it recorded everything Lockhart had said! Even if he had erased all our memories, people can find out what he did through it and St Mungo's will probably find a way to save us."

" He did say the Eton Ear was legal as evidence in the courtroom," Neville answered back absently. " Do you know Hermione is the one who's been taken down here?"

" We heard from the teachers," Ron said and Neville could feel the angst and worry in his tone. " We have to save her."

" We will," Neville said this, but was incredibly unsure himself if it was that easy.

Remember the challenges they faced before getting to the Philosopher's Stone, Neville's body felt oddly stiffer in an emotion that he denied as fear. Although he did end up in bed for days because of his fight with the troll, they still made it out alive… Despite all the tasks turning out to feel so much more difficult than described in the books… Even if Ron was smashed by that Queen…

Neville felt a hand clamped down on his shoulder form behind and saw Harry staring back at him, determined. " We'll save her."

If they were still above the surface, in the common room or something, Neville would have just rolled his eyes at Harry in his Saviour Mode. Being down in this damp dark tunnel though, Harry seemed to glow with that characteristic light effect only reserved for the protagonists in films. The strangest thing was, that light seemed to have shone part of itself onto Neville and his limbs felt more flexible again. _That's why the books have his name on it._

Recalling what was supposed to happen in the original books, Harry was actually about to face this on his own. Just as how last year he had faced Voldemort on his own in front of the Mirror of Erised. As much as Harry had considered that he always shared his adventures with the Trio, when it came to the end, it really was always Harry on his own. Whether it was next year's Dementors, or Voldemort's resurrection the year after that, Neville hoped he would either be able to prevent it, or at least be there with him like now.

" What's that up ahead?" Ron spotted the door before the rest of them. Two tangled serpents were carved into the wall, with a set of green emeralds as eyes.

" Harry," Neville took a deep breath and armed himself with his wand. Harry took the cue and hissed. The door slowly slid open.

A long chamber as if they were at an abandoned royal palace presented itself before them. A passage leading to the far end of the chamber was marked out by stone pillars on either side, a snake curling up each, looking as if they were Chinese dragons. Neville hurried them towards the giant statue of Slytherin at the back, keeping his attention on the mouth and aimed to blast at it the moment the moment he caught any movement.

" Hermione!" Ron screamed and shot forward even before Harry, who followed about a second after Ron. Neville's feet touched the ground again and staggered back a few paces, eyes transfixed on an unmoving black and brown bundle lying before Slytherin's statue. Neville could not move as he watched Ron gather Hermione in his arms and gave a few light slaps to her white cheeks while Harry tried to revive her with whatever limited spells he knew at the side. _Are we… too late this time? Are we?_

" Well well well! Look what we have here?" At the voice Neville immediately flew over to the Trio and stood in front of them with his wand raised. Lockhart could save himself – since the man was already crawling over to hide behind one of the serpent pillars.

" Who is it?" Harry bellowed and they searched around the dark room.

" I believe this is… the first time we have met. I am Tom Riddle." The sixteen years old Tom Riddle stepped out from the shadows. He was indeed charming, with his wavy black hair and sharp brown eyes. He even had on some sort of old fashioned suit and a loose black robe that made him look elegant in the green glow that surrounded this room.

" Tom Riddle? But… but you're supposed to be old! You were Head Boy decades ago!" Ron still vividly remembered his trophy-polishing detention.

" We figured you knew something about the Chamber," Harry lowered his wand. " Anyway, you've got to help us get Hermione out of here before –"

Neville did not let Harry finish the sentence, " _Stupefy_! Don't lower that wand Harry!"

Riddle waved away the red light that shot at him so casually it was like he had just opened up his napkin. Neville did not think the spell would have worked, but still shuddered when Riddle laughed. " That's pretty rude of you boy. Still, I applaud you for not falling under my charms. You seem to know Occlumency?"

_How the heck did he know?_

Harry realised something really was not right and questioned, " What is all this about?"

" I am a memory," Riddle's smile widened as if he was watching a kid trying to do simple arithmetic. " I stored my memories in a diary, you see."

Harry and Ron both turned to Neville, who had ranted to them about a diary for the whole year. Neville just glared at Riddle, trying to see when he would lower his guard and they could escape. " Where did you get that wand?"

" Oh? Why this is your little lady friend's wand of course." Riddle mused, petting it with his other hand to Neville's distaste.

" Why've you got Hermione's wand?" Ron demanded.

" She gave it to me herself," Riddle laughed. " Right after she told me how little Ronnie-kins was never her secret admirer to begin with."

" W-what?" Ron stuttered but Neville's mood was too foul to bother with that sort of thing right now.

" Oh, and don't forget her best friend Neville." He froze at Riddle's words, " 'He's so busy this year that I hardly see him outside classes. I really want to help him but there's nothing I can do. Boo hoo.' That little girl thinks far too much."

_One of the reasons Hermione wrote in the diary was… because of me? I drove her to it? Me?_

Harry knew better than to trust the thing standing before him by now. " Why are you here Riddle? How are you here? And what's this got to do with Hermione?"

" Well you see, when I put my memories in the diary, it means I can respond to whoever wrote into it. It started out with her muggle-born ignorance, thinking my diary was some sort of talk-back encyclopaedia. Then she, like many others, fell under my charms. I coaxed out of her little information about herself, her name, birthday, friends, daily events… Then feelings, secrets, and of course, her soul. The more she wrote, the more her soul transferred to me! I was finally able to grow powerful enough to possess her to do my bidding. Strangling the roosters, writing messages on the walls – killing Mudbloods! What fun we had!"

" Hermione didn't kill anyone! Madam Sprout said all the victims will recover once the Mandrakes are ready!" Harry shouted.

" I don't care about those useless Mudbloods anymore," Riddle waved his hand as if he was swatting a fly. " Who I really want to meet now is Hermione's other friend. Harry Potter! The boy who brought down Lord Voldemort! The boy whose life had such striking similarities to mines! The boy who I will kill!"

" You're not going to kill anyone Voldemort." Harry and Ron gasped at Neville's words.

" So you figured it out huh? Good, good. A bright boy indeed." Riddle's face contorted and brought up his wand in a relish, " Now tell me! How did I fail? Why was my future self defeated? What is so special about Harry Potter?"

" Nothing is special about Harry! His mother gave his life to save him from you! You should be dead!" Ron shouted out of extreme fear, which rebounded as extreme courage, after knowing the identity of the presence in front of them.

" Is that all? Hm… yes… I guess there was some sort of powerful counter-charm. There really is nothing interesting about you lot at all is there? Well, thank you for killing time with me – it takes a while before the girl's soul can transfer to me. We're almost there now but I will bother you boys no longer. Now as a token of my gratitude, you all may die a painless death!"

_What? Isn't he supposed to bring out the Basilisk? Why's he –_

" _Avada Kedavra_!" Neville's thoughts only got to there before a green ray of light sailed towards them. Though caught out in surprise, Neville's reflexes were fast enough to jump back and push them all onto the ground. The curse grazed just over their heads and collided with the wall behind them.

The next second Neville looked back up, his gaze was only trained on Riddle's wand tip. Another flash of light shot towards Neville and he instinctively brought his arm up high. As if there was an explosion below, icicles of crystal ice speared out from the ground in front of the three Gryffindors. The curse made contact and the three boys were blown away in separate directions from the impact, completely shattering the barricade of ice. _There were just three ways of nullifying spells. One was to use magic to block it. Two was to Evade. Last, it would be to intercept. Even if the Killing Curse was unblockable, it would be no problem if you evaded it all together – of course, the problem was how long you can keep that up._

" What is this? That didn't look like Modern Magic at all." Riddle stopped for a second as if he was in the middle of a walk in the park and touched his chin in thoughts. " How much has magic changed through these decades? Well no matter, I'll find out for myself later."

Neville's eyes widened as Riddle turned to point his wand at Hermione. Riddle knew her soul was almost drained anyway, and the other three would rush to her rescue futilely, dooming all four of them by a single trick. Even if Neville managed to stand in front and block it with more ice, his speed would never keep up with Riddle's curses.

At that moment, with a high screech that echoed around the chamber, a burst of flames roared above Hermione's body, blinding everyone in the room. Neville squinted his eyes to see what happened, but the flames only burnt brighter, larger and… closer! Neville dodged to the side just in time, the tail of his robes was singed, but the target of the pillar of flames was definitely directed at Riddle behind him.

Riddle let out a small yell of surprise, probably because his shield did not hold against the fire, and also jumped away just in time. After the light of the flames subsided, Neville balled his fist in triumph at the sight of their rescuers.

" Norbert! Way to go!" Neville bellowed. Fawkes screeched as if he also wanted to be praise for apparating said dragon here with his own flames. Neville watched as Fawkes swooped low to drop the Sorting Hall into Harry's lap, as if to best Norbert, who settled behind Hermione.

Hissing sounds from behind Neville brought his eyes back to Riddle and from the sound of moving stones high up above him, Neville knew Riddle also called for his reinforcements.

" Harry! Ron! Don't look at the Basilisk!" Neville shouted for the life of him.

" The dragon is a bit of a problem, but I guess killing all of you won't take too long!" Riddle growled and Neville dodge just in time to see a black coloured curse shooting to the side of him. _Riddle's memory is still at sixteen after all… His magical capacity and knowledge is definitely a few notches down from his real self._

" How many Killing Curses have you got left in you Voldemort?" Neville knew that the backlash and energy consumption was the only thing holding back Riddle from using the Killing Curse constantly. It might be possible for a full-power adult Voldemort, but maybe not Riddle.

" As many as the soul of that little girl can provide!" Neville's blood boiled as Riddle mocked him. He floated into the air and veering left and right in quick succession, he closed in on the distance between Riddle and him to get a clear shot. " Foolish boy! You think you can defeat me in a duel?"

Curses rained in his direction like a storm and for those that Neville could not dodge with his boasted dexterity he felt their stubborn impact on his Shield Charm. A few times he was even blown back a foot or two from the strength behind the hexes. _Damn it! At this rate, let's not talk about taking him down, I can't defend against his curses forever! And we're running out of time! With each second and spell, Hermione's soul is getting drained!_

Harry and Ron, who were previously blown to another side of the chamber from Riddle's initial curse, were currently preoccupied with protecting themselves from the Basilisk with the help of Fawkes. Norbert was periodically blowing fire but Riddle had already worked out a safe distance to maintain from the dragon, who had grounded himself near Hermione. Just as Neville was trying to build up a strategy, Riddle pointed his wand away at two pillars on his side. Neville took the opening and shot a curse at Riddle, but it was read like a book and missed as Riddle side-stepped. The snakes that were previously curling up the pillars came to life and sprung at Neville with a loud hiss. _Transfiguration!_

With that strike of inspiration, Neville pivoted with a foot on the ground and spun round three-sixty degrees with his wand held out to intercept the snake. With two prompt spells the instant the snakes made contact with his wand, they were burst into smithereens. He continued his spin and jumped to avoid two low-flying curses hurled his way by Riddle, who was prevented from pursuing after him because Neville had backed into Norbert's protective zone. _Now all I need is time… I'm counting on you Norbert!_

Back on the other side of the room, with a loud screech, Fawkes finally took out the Basilisk's other eye, making it hiss out loud in agony. The blind snake thrashed heavily down on the stone floor, right beside Ron, and a barrage of sharp stray rocks shot at the redhead.

" _Impedimenta_!" Harry waved his wand at the hail of rocks and as if hitting an invisible glass panel, only a couple got through to Ron.

" Thanks!" Ron breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead with the Sorting Hat in his hand. " What's this hat going to do to help us with a giant snake?"

" Fawkes is Dumbledore's phoenix, so the hat must have some reason to be here!" Harry said with resolve, once again shooting a few spells he learnt from Neville at the Basilisk. Of course, the best it did was cause some scratches, but he was rapidly getting more apt in all his unfamiliar spells, such as the Impediment Jinx just there. Imminent danger was the most effective way to force out potential after all.

" Then you put it on," Ron pulled the Sorting Hat over Harry's head.

" Ouch!" All Harry could feel was as if Ron had smashed him over the head with a hammer. Ron quickly pulled off the hat and a glittering sword fell on the ground between the two of them. The Sword of Gryffindor.

" T-that's goblin's silver! I'm sure of it!" Ron spotted the magical properties of the treasure right away. " My great aunt Muriel has a tiara made from the same thing!"

" Then we can probably use it to slay the Basilisk!" Harry screamed and as if having heard him, the Basilisk snapped its head in their direction and dove. " Ron! Catch my wand!"

" What?" There was no time to argue and the two boys dodged in separate directions as not to get swallowed alive by the snake. In his jump back, Harry had thrown his wand over to Ron, who managed to catch it as he landed.

" When I tell you to, shoot a Banishing Charm at me!" Harry shouted as he ran away from the thrashing tail of the snake.

Ron tried to cover him by summoning shards of rock and shooting it at the snake, " What? Are you crazy? What're you planning to – Harry watch out!"

With a turn of his body, Harry's side was slammed by the Basilisk straight into a pillar. Fortunately, Harry had raised Gryffindor's Sword just in time to shield himself from the direct impact. Still though, he felt as if he would cough up blood from his run-in with the stone pillar.

" Are you okay? _Episkey_!" Ron's clumsy spell was not fully working and Harry hardly felt any bruises vanish at all. Still, it was a better job than Harry could have done on himself.

" On the count of three, I'm going for its head!" Harry shouted, " One!"

Ron gritted his teeth and thought his friend was crazy. Then again, he should be used to crazy people after growing up with the twins, " Two!"

" Three!" Harry and Ron shouted simultaneously. Hearing their voices once again, the Basilisk head-butted Fawkes away and dove for the two of them once again. Harry leapt into the air and at the peak of his jump he could hear Ron's incantation. He felt as if an elephant had been released from an aeroplane, and happened to land on his back – except gravity was working the wrong way for him, sending him flying skywards. His glasses acting as flight goggles, Harry's pupils widened as the head of the Basilisk drew rapidly closer.

In midair, like a cross of the swords between two enemies, the decisive moment was only visible to the two involved. In that split second, Harry's sword slashed up between the Basilisk's eyes, ripping clean through skin and skull, gash running cleanly to other side of its head. The Basilisk did not even graze the bottom of Harry's foot with its venomous fangs.

The hit was made and the both of them plummeted towards the ground. Ron immediately ran out from the shadows to avoid getting squashed and was just preparing to break Harry's fall when his eyes widened. The Basilisk had still to fully lose consciousness and its tail flipped up at where Harry was in order to bring him down with it as a last desperate attack. Spotting the fallen segment of a previously destroyed pillar, without thinking Ron levitated it like a baseball bat and swung against the Basilisk's tail. In and explosion of rocks the pillar crumbled, but Harry was safe.

Feeling the wind blowing back his hair as if he was on his Nimbus, Harry felt his changed trajectory due to the previous impact. Instinctively turning the point of his blade downwards, he took the full opportunity of his new landing spot – the top of the Basilisk head. The Basilisk had fallen quicker and his head had even rebounded off the ground upon impact.

" Haaaah!" Using his falling momentum, Harry drove the tip of Gryffindor's sword right through the snake's ascending head and through into its mouth, skewering it shut.

Harry was panting and rolled over off the snake as his knees fell weak. Ron saw it and used a Cushioning Charm before Harry crashed with the stone floor. Ron ran towards him shouting, " Harry! Hang in there!"

Fawkes was much faster than Ron though and the phoenix zoomed past, landing at the side of Harry to begin the healing process with his tears. After a moment, Ron got to his side and helped the semi-conscious Harry up on his feet. " Is that you Ron?"

" We did it! We killed the Basilisk!" Ron was just glad Harry was okay, but both the Gryffindor's joys were short lived as an explosion trembled the entire chamber.

On the other side, Riddle had just blasted Norbert in the face with a strong curse and although he was immune to magic, it would take a few seconds before Norbert could snap out of his daze. Riddle turned back to the troublesome boy that was more annoying than a hungry mosquito.

" There's no use in cowering on the ground boy!" Neville was currently kneeled on the stone floor, his eyes closed and his wand tapping with irregular rhythm on the ground. " Where is that drive you had at the start? Finally smelled the terrors of death have you? You can't hide behind the dragon any longer!"

" You wish," Neville shot off from the crouching position he was in and flew as if he was on a broom towards Riddle.

Having seen that trick before, Riddle hurled three successive curses at the boy. One to stir him off-course, one to slow him down, and another to go for the hit. A flash went past Neville's eyes and with the precise timing necessary, focused his magic into his wand as if charging it. His wand was practically resonating as he slashed at the three curses consecutively and nullified them. This sort of advance blocking technique was only successful after observing Riddle's attack patterns towards Norbert while Neville was setting up his trap earlier.

Riddle's eyebrow shot up appraisingly as the boy had reached five yards of him. Comparing twelve years old Neville with a sixteen years old Riddle though – there was still a far gap. Just as Neville raised his arm to throw a curse, Riddle already sent out his own. On the airspace Neville had flown into, as if closing a gate, three jet-black bolts of lightning shut down on his body out of nowhere. Neville turned his body just in time in midair but one of the lightning bolts had struck his arm and with a scream, Neville crashed landed onto the stone floor. He skidded with the force of the landing and rolled a good few yards to the right.

It felt as if Neville's arm housed a million minuscule snakes at the moment in its veins, all of which took several bites at him every second. He was just glad it was the left arm and as he struggled to keep his eyes opened on the ground, all he could hear was the thuds of approaching footsteps. He started counting the steps.

" So – I've finally shot down the pesky fly now, have I?" Riddle laughed and raised his wand.

" No!" Neville could hear the shouts of Harry and Ron but it was quenched in a second.

" _Incarcerous_!" Riddle bonded both the advancing boys in ropes and laughed. " I'm going to let you two watch as your friend gets murdered in front of your very eyes!"

" Hey Riddle," Neville had gotten back on his feet by now, but one arm was hanging painfully useless to his side. " Haven't you forgotten something?"

" If you mean that dragon, don't count on it to save you. It hasn't left ten steps away from that mudblood girl and you're now out of his range! Ironic, despite how well it guarded her, she will die anyway!"

As if to confirm Riddle's words, Norbert blew a breath of flames in their direction only to subside a good distant away from their position. Through Neville's manic laughter and his confident smirk, Riddle knew something was amiss. Playing back the dragon's flames' distance, Riddle would bet anything it would never reach them.

" Riddle, have you ever taken science classes?" Neville stared pointedly at him.

" Muggle magic? Ha! That's rich!" Riddle's sense of danger heightened and he decided to cut the drama short. " This is the end for you!"

" Really? Please look over there again." Neville gestured with the point of his wand towards the ground just in front of Norbert. Where there was just smooth stone floor before was a stone funnel leading into the ground, strangely dispelling white mist like a chimney.

" A delay spell? And how would your life's last transfiguration help… you…" Riddle's eyes widened at that instant. After Norbert blew his previous wave of flames, a layer of frost and condensation appeared on the ground's stone tiles. The damp trail led all the way to where Riddle stood right now from the stone funnel.

" Now!" Whether Norbert really understood Neville or not did not matter, for the dragon had already blew his flames into the funnel.

The frosted trail of the ground heaved up and buckled as if a monster was tunnelling underneath it and before Riddle could react, the spot of ground beneath him exploded. A geyser of high-pressured steam shot up with tremendous force that would rip any living human into pieces, the noise drowning out any of Riddle's screams.

Neville had used Norbert as a protection and decoy while he performed this mass transfiguration work. He had transfigured a hollow tunnel from Norbert's roaming area underground to a calculated spot. That was not all however, since he had also used his limited Elemental skills in Arcane magic to freeze the space underground to as low a temperature as possible. His last transfiguration of the funnel was to direct a sudden heat blast from Norbert's flames to make the air underground quickly expand. Due to the limited space underground, the expanded gases would build up pressure and finally erupt out from the weakened spot of transfigured ground underneath Riddle, despite the flame itself not making that distance. The tricky part was to get Riddle onto that designated spot of attack, which sacrificed Neville's arm.

The jet fountain slowly subsided… but just as the noise died down, as did the three Gryffindors' spirits. That was because when the last sound from the steam abated, all that was left to echo round the enormous chamber was Riddle's cruel laughter.

" That was marvellous! Simply marvellous!" Riddle clapped his hands as if a circus show had just finished and he was applauding the clowns. " A delayed transfiguration, and making full use of the dragon. Not to mention your proficiency in nonverbal spells, your perfect Shielding Charms, and the miscellaneous arsenal of magic! Even I concede I was not at your level when I was your age. If we were at Hogwarts in the same generation, we would have been equals. Rivals, friends, and if you had my ideals, we could have taken over the wizarding world together Harry Potter!"

An awkward moment of silence ensued around the three Gryffindors. After all, how strange was it to point out to the enemy that the person he thought he was duelling was actually someone else.

" H-ha! W-who would – would've thought the Dark Lord is – is – is an idiot!" _Well it's a job someone had to do._

Everyone looked sharply at the direction of the voice to find the awkward revelation was from the big mouth of the resident joker – Gilderoy Lockhart. The Gryffindors had completely forgotten about him and Riddle probably did not even acknowledge his presence in the first place. What really stunned everyone in the room though, and probably the source of Lockhart's confidence, was the object in his hands. Lockhart was standing just next to the fallen Basilisk's protruding fang, with a black diary raised above his head, a moment away from bringing it down to the fang tip.

_Why didn't I think of that? Attacking the body? I should've just thrown the diary into the Basilisk's mouth!_

" _Avada Kedavra_!" Riddle screamed. The thing was, even before the curse left his wand, Lockhart had speared through the pages of the diary on a venomous fang. The most impressive thing was, the green curse just shot right by the side of Lockhart's face without any tiny facial twitch from the man. Granted, everyone there knew that Lockhart was just too scared to move or dodge. _Still, the scene alone was sorta cool. Should do it in Bullet Time and Lockhart's hair flowing backwards… I'm quite sure Lockhart's gonna artificially recreate that scene and sell it some time in the future…_

In a bone-chilling scream, Riddle's shape contorted, which probably had something to do with his last curse's misfire, and within seconds he was no more. Neville gingerly tried to take a step towards Hermione, still lying there on the cold floor but his legs gave way and he fell forward. He was caught by Harry though, whose bindings were gone along with Riddle. Neville also felt his arm slowly regaining its feelings.

" Hey Neville! Are you alright?" Harry asked, trying his best to support Neville's weight on his thin frame.

Neville nodded and looked over at Ron, who was calling to try and wake up Hermione. After a few calls, Hermione's eyes must have opened as the girl immediately flung her arms around him, and began crying on Ron's shoulder.

" I'm just glad everyone's okay." Neville choked out and as his body relaxed completely, he lost all knowledge of the world around him.

0

0

0

A/N: I sort of cut the talking to bare minimal between Riddle and the guys at the start. Why? Cause everyone knows it already, and more explanation of what happened this year behind the scenes would come next time.

If only I can just take what I imagined in the fight scene from my head, add a soundtrack, and make it into a movie… Hopefully, the scene wasn't too confusing…

I'd finished writing this whole chapter in one day by the way – not counting edits though, haha.


	42. Book 2 Chapter 20

Synopsis: Second year after the ripple through space-time was as eventful as ever. The famous Harry is still famous – though he was made to consider his most hated teacher as his most curious connection to his mother. Hermione is prematurely head-over-heels for Ron, who was to her dismay was still an ignorant insensitive brat. Hogwarts itself is being subjected to a Student Council, assigned to manage clubs and events under President Longbottom and Vice-President Draco Malfoy. Then the most significant person this year, Ginny Weasley, is still vehemently denying her possession of the first Horcrux.

Neville finally found out who was in possession of the first Horcrux all along and rushing into the Chamber of Secrets with Harry and Ron, they duelled Tom Riddle's memory and the Basilisk with the help of Norbert and Fawkes. Just as they were on the verge of mortal peril, the one who saved the day was Lockhart. Really, Lockhart!

Chapter 41 – Unravelling this year's mysteries.

The next time Neville opened his eyes he saw curtains all around him. He recognised from the ceiling that he was in the Hospital Wing though and after a few seconds of gathering his Occlumency shields, he was as alert as he would be if he was stranded in the Forbidden Forest – Occlumency was almost like a way of entering manual commands into your brain. In return for focusing his psyche, he felt the physical drain that limited him from doing this for waking up every morning.

Remembering his situation and what happened before, he sat up on his bed slowly, feeling for his wand in his Armband. _At least I've still got it this year. I have to find out how long I've slept. Dumbledore probably found out everything about the diary from Harry, but there's still no telling what the old fox would do to me. Then there's stupid Fudge with that Veritaserum… I know how to conceal my past life's memories now, but if I say things…_

Neville figured the best bet was to leave Hogwarts immediately. He had to seek help from his great-uncle, or even rally some social pressure – or worst, flee the country. _If my past life's memories come out, then even this identity now… as Neville Longbottom…_ He thought no more and tried to float up into the air, since walking sounds would alert anyone near by. However, the moment he was an inch off his bed, he felt a massive headache and stumbled onto the floor with a crashing bang.

" Mr Longbottom! What were you trying to do?" Madam Pomfrey entered his crooked vision with a swipe of the curtains. She gasped at the sight, " What're you doing with that wand in your hand? What you need is rest! Both mental and physical! You suffer from exhaustion in both respects and I prohibit you from doing any magic until I say so – and that includes your Occlumency nonsense. I mean seriously, I heard you keep that thing up almost constantly! That's just like sending out a never-ending stream of spells –"

" If I need rest Madam Pomfrey, maybe it is better if I leave Hogwarts and rest back in my own house." Neville momentarily stopped his Occlumency shields as he climbed to his feet, but at the sight of a wisp of silver hair, he quickly resumed it despite his headache.

" Now now Neville, term isn't over yet." Dumbledore's crafty smile meant it was time for a private discussion. Madam Pomfrey nodded and retreated, closing the curtains once again after she left. In the small enclosed bed space, Neville was supporting his standing position by placing a hand on one side of the bed, also using it as a separation from the old fox. Of course his wand was still raised to a height where it was borderline hostile. Even for a tiger without claws, Neville could still destroy a small kitten.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, kept a relaxed smile on his face. Dumbledore's eyes did that annoying twinkling thing and he said, " Neville, now let's be more civil towards each other. You are a patient and I promise you I will not use my Legilimency on you while you are resting, so please refrain from straining yourself any longer by keeping up your shields."

Neville understood the double-meaning in his words and stopped using Occlumency. After all, as long as he did not think about it at that instant, even Dumbledore could not read his past life's memories. Neville scanned behind the old fox and did not see any other shadows behind the curtains, " Where's Fudge?"

" Mostly, for a child, actually for any person, who just woke up from unconsciousness, won't it be better to ask how long you've passed out?" Dumbledore chuckled a little but provided the answer. " You have been asleep for about a day or two, and the Minister had long since returned to his post at the Ministry. By you mentioning him, I am guessing you are still worried about being administered Veritaserum. Well I can assure you the Ministry had revoked the necessity of that."

Neville knew it was really Dumbledore's call and had nothing to do with the Ministry. " Why is that?"

" Well your friends, though mostly Professor Lockhart, have revealed the case regarding Tom Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets this year. For the main thing, you are innocent of the attacks."

" And what about my _record_? All those mysteries about me that you simply had to know?" Neville bit back.

" Ah right. Well I have come to solve a few of them by now." Dumbledore's bemused smile shook Neville from the inside and he tightened his grip on his wand, narrowing his eyes. " Let's see… Yes, the first thing was about Norbert the dragon. I think we can both realise from the incident at the Chamber that having a resident dragon does come in handy at times. Plus, Hagrid could make history if he were to tame a dragon."

" You sent Fawkes into the Chamber right? And you told him to apparate Norbert in as well?" Neville never believed Harry's 'loyalties' really called the phoenix even when he read the books. It was as much manipulation as anything without any proof.

" Yes I did, since I knew if you were dealing with a Basilisk, although a phoenix would protect you, a dragon would very much put you at an advantage." Dumbledore continued, " I am sure you knew it was a Basilisk behind these attacks a long time ago – ever since those goggles actually. In fact, I am sure you'll have three very big thank you presents from the victims of the triple attack."

" Aren't you going to go all suspicious about me not telling you about it?" Neville gloated.

" Well yes, I did." Dumbledore admitted. " Of course, with my attitude towards you so far, expecting you to trust me even with a pin cushion was unrealistic. I must again apologise to you for that. However, I think it is fine time for you to realise this school has a curfew and your blatant disregard of it since your admittance to Hogwarts must be changed. I advise you should rethink your evening plans or borrow your friend's cloak."

_What a low-levelled carrot and stick trick. _Neville ignored Dumbledore's bare attempt to pull him into favour and just harrumphed. This seemed to signal for the old fox to hit him with a new surprise again.

" Then again, I also found out the reason behind your nightly outings. Not to mention the reason behind your research and extracurricular magic training." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with fervour and revealed, " You are researching into Arcane Magic. The branch of Elementals, am I correct?"

" As you seem to know, that is not the Dark Arts." Neville could not help but notice Dumbledore's contained excitement and asked, " What is it to you?"

" Well I must say, it is a branch of magic I had also taken an interest in." Dumbledore pointed at Neville's pillow and it quickly froze to ice. " Arcane Magic is very very old, and Modern Magic had only been internationalised when the English Ministry… Well, yes, I guess you may learn of it in NEWT History of Magic classes. Arcane Magic is indeed very much different isn't it? Instead of incantations and wand movement as guides, your intention and focus are the driving instructions for the spells. Hard to master, but once you are competent, you could have much better control and freedom over the elementals. Almost like the difference between getting somewhere on foot and riding on a broomstick!"

" Right…" Neville was reminded of the time Dumbledore fought to get out of the Seaside Cave in the sixth book. _The flames that drove away the Inferi…_ " How did you know about me?"

Like a boy talking about the next issue of Batman comics, Dumbledore continued, " Ah! That would be from what you did to the door in your little escape earlier. You froze the door to the frame and I happened to notice the Gubraithian Ice left on the floor after I shattered it! To think, my surprise when I see one of my students being able to conjure them at this age!"

" What Gubraithian Ice?" Neville asked.

" Everlasting Ice – never melts. Like the Gubraithian Fire, which never burns out. There are other ways of conjuring them of course, but the Elementals were the most feasible explanation in this case. Of course, your ice disappeared after a while because I presume you have still to obtain mastery of the art. Very ironically, when I first discovered this rare topic of research, the only element I could use was fire. Not many people know of Arcane Magic, much less study it, but my theory is that each person would have an element they excelled at and only after a period of study can the spell-caster conjure other elements they inherently do not specialise." Dumbledore saw that Neville's eyes were straying and knew he should stop diverging. " Well, either way, do continue with whatever magic branch it is to your fancy if it does not interfere with your compulsory studies. If you have any questions regarding this topic however, please feel free to come by my office any time."

Neville was surprised at the old fox's generosity and his enthusiasm for this branch of magic. _Trust Dumbledore to find anything rare and strange so fun and interesting. _Then again, an unnecessary visit to his office would not be worth it.

Once again batting his goodwill away, Neville simply replied, " Thanks. Now that you know about my aims and everything, hopefully you'll stop monitoring my actions about the school and I can take my showers with peace of mind."

" In the prefects' bathroom no less. It is a very lavish suite." Dumbledore butted back with a pointedly stare, as if to say once again, he would overlook Neville's rule-breaking benevolently. _This old fox really knows where I shower? Ew! _" I have possibly gather all the pieces of Puzzle Neville, but there is just one last thing I do not know."

" What is that?" Neville asked on reflex but tried to make a save immediately, " Not that I am under any obligation to help you with the answer."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and asked anyway, " Harry had mentioned to me about your knowledge of the diary ever since the start of summer. How did you gain knowledge of it?"

" He should have told you what I told him. I saw Lucius Malfoy putting it in Ginny Weasley's textbook at the bookstore." Neville presented his alibi.

" Not your knowledge of its presence – but the knowledge of its dangers." Dumbledore struck home. " Each time after an attack, I was told you strengthened your pressure on poor Miss Weasley about the possession of the diary. Why would that be?"

Neville winced as if he had received a left hook to the side, but he recovered as best as he could and took a page from Dumbledore's book. " As you said headmaster. The truth favours the simplest explanation. I just suspected the diary had something to do with this whole attack thing. It is from Lucius Malfoy after all."

" Oh? I thought young Malfoy is your friend and you even entrust the Student Council to him as your vice."

" The father is the father, the son is the son. Draco added no contribution to fouling the Malfoy name."

" Very good, very good." Dumbledore's eyes annoyingly twinkled again as if he could see all of Neville's tricks. " Diverting my attention, using my own words against me, and dodging the metaphorical hole with expertise. I suspect any more questions would be fruitless since I'm guessing your next line of attack would go along the lines of you having a lucky hunch or deducting information from someone else and getting the answer."

Neville was very tempted to open his Occlumency shields again with Dumbledore listing off the ways he could make excuses for what he knew from the original books.

" I guess I can only find out the source of your foreknowledge, like how you suddenly realise the location of the Chamber, by piecing the puzzles that come up with time. Being honest with you, this does provide a constant source of intellectual amusement – if I am assured your intentions are harmless." Dumbledore took a deep breath and said, staring right into Neville's eyes – and not for Legilimency. " I am being very honest with you now, and not treating you like any other twelve year old… You are a bright student and I do not want you to take the wrong path."

Neville could see a sparkle instead of twinkle at the edge of the old wizard's eyes and told himself Dumbledore was just putting on a show and manipulating feelings. " I will not promise anything, though I am sure if you respect my privacy a lot more you would get a much happier and helpful Neville Longbottom."

That seemed to be the best Dumbledore could get from Neville and he knew it. Dumbledore smiled and nodded, " Very well. I never thought a quick visit to inform you of your Special Awards for Service to the School would turn so long. This really reminds me of the conversation we had last year, right here again in the Hospital Wing, after your defeat of the mountain troll. I guess change really is harder to process than we thought."

At this, Neville sobered up and Dumbledore spotted it. Instead of asking, the old wizard gave Neville all the time he needed to come to a decision. Neville thought back to his mistakes and what he had done this year, and finally took a deep breath with resolve. He considered Dumbledore was a nosy man, but the old fox really was the flagship in the fight against Voldemort. He had to do something right for all the wrongs he had already done by being here.

" Dumbledore," Neville said, looking straight into the old wizard's eyes. " Do you still have the diary?"

A thread of worry flickered over Dumbledore's face but he replied with a calm smile, " Yes. After Harry freed the Malfoy house elf, he did return the diary to me."

" Please inspect it thoroughly. I suspect for the diary to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes."

" Horcruxes, that's it… The reason why Voldemort is still alive after the spell rebounded…" The expression of a completely surprised Dumbledore was not something one saw very often. Dumbledore was whispering to himself, almost as if Neville was not there, but suddenly gasped, " Harry's Parseltongue abilities! The prophecy…"

As much as Neville knew the truth and pseudo future, Dumbledore was probably exponentially smarter than he was, already working out the whole story mentally. From the books, Dumbledore was suspicious of the diary being a Horcrux after this point in time anyway, and Neville thought this information should not be of that much help. Neville figured he could nudge Dumbledore in a truer direction though, since he himself was still a little muddled about the whereabouts of some Horcruxes or how to obtain them.

" I suspect Voldemort has more Horcruxes. Harry… could be one." Neville woke Dumbledore up again and the old wizard widened his eyes at the boy. Dumbledore studied the expression on Neville's face at that moment and the famous wizard felt he was looking at one of his equal colleagues like Flamel instead of just this young second year Hogwarts student.

" Do you even know how a Horcrux is made?" Dumbledore asked as if Neville having this knowledge would be crazy.

" Do you think Voldemort could count the amount of people he killed only with his own fingers and toes?" Neville decided he would have reached a limit after his following suggestion, " The question is what and where these Horcruxes are. I don't know much about Voldemort really but we may get some clues if we dive into his psyche, history and characterisation."

Dumbledore took a deep breath at the new path opened up to him by the little boy, who finally latched his wand back onto his Armband. " Neville… how did you come up with all this? And… you even… suspect Harry to be a Horcrux? A human Horcrux?"

" It's just my guess. Different people think differently. Of course, my hypothesis could be wrong." Neville had a bad feeling that he had set Dumbledore's trust for him back to square one. Harry _was_ Dumbledore's key to defeating Voldemort and with Neville apparently having this knowledge, and was even the one who opened up this path to Dumbledore, Neville would not be surprised if Dumbledore were to kill him right now to keep the secret.

"You're really not an ordinary twelve year old are you?" Dumbledore repeated from last year.

" No. I am not." Neville sighed.

0

0

0

" Hey Neville, why are you not the referee for the students-teachers match?" Draco asked as he came to the Gryffindor table. He brought Crabbe and Goyle since Ron had not been tolerable after finding out Lucius Malfoy was the person who slipped Hermione the diary, which was initially meant for Ginny. Neville was working on making Ron see that Draco was a separate entity from his dad, but it might take a while.

" I'm still not feeling that up to it after… you know?" Neville replied quietly next to Ron.

" Let's go," Harry was a lot more contained than Ron, but still could not refrain a glare. " We need a Keeper for the match, even if I don't like who it is."

" You should be glad you held onto that Seeker spot Potter." Draco harrumphed and gave Lavender a wink over the table. Lavender, quickly looked away, having lost the excuse to avoid Draco after the school was out of its high security status. She was trying to drag Parvati away, who was still finishing breakfast and looked as if she wanted to see a show anyway.

" Harry's a hundred times a better Seeker than you," Ron burst out and roughly shrugged off Harry's grip.

" Guys?" Neville rubbed his head and sighed, " I'm tired. Please stop this."

Harry and Ron looked sympathetically at Neville and made a ceasefire with Draco by retreating out of the Hall. Draco sat down and patted his shoulder, " What's wrong? You don't look so good. Maybe they released you from the Hospital Wing too soon."

Madam Pomfrey never released anybody too soon. Neville was completely flattered by Draco actually asking how he was though, since for him to do that to _anybody_ was a feat in itself. " I just haven't slept very well lately."

Harry and Ron knew as well, and probably the reason why they listened to Neville's previous plead. Lavender had finally persuaded Parvati to leave her cereal and stood up, getting ready to cheer for the upcoming game.

Draco saw this and immediately latched on, " Lavender! I've actually been wanting to talk to you as well while I'm here."

" Oh? W-what is it?" Lavender shot Parvati beside her a glare, who knew the new gossip for the remainder of the school year was about to happen.

" You remember Valentine's Day?" Draco asked without reservations.

" Um… Yeah… that…" Lavender looked left and right at the few nosy Gryffindors who had caught the topic of conversation.

" I know the school has been going a bit crazy through the months, but I think you can give me your reply now. I don't even mind if it's at the Gryffindor table." Draco smirked, completely confident that he knew the answer. Neville just shook his head and drank another gulp of coffee. _This kid has to learn how to take a hint._

Lavender cleared her throat and took a few steps back as if to escape, " Well… Draco… Why don't we talk about this after the game?"

" No, no, right now is great. I mean, I've even got fireworks and everything prepared for after we win." Draco revealed why he wanted the answer right now, " I even made it to spell, 'I dedicated this victory to my girlfriend Lavender'! Just thought it won't make as much sense if we're not official about this."

Lavender looked incredulously back at him and Parvati finally could not help but laugh into her hands. Neville tried his best to make Draco stop right now and gave a tug on his robes sleeve. " Draco –"

" Oh, I know you and everyone knows already, but I just want everyone else in the school to know." Draco turned back to Lavender and said, " Now Lavender, the match isn't going to wait for us forever, let's hear you say it! If you like, I'll even ask again. Would you be my girlfriend?"

Lavender buried her face completely in her hands and looked as if she just wanted to kneel down onto the floor. Draco elbowed Neville's sides as if saying, 'Look how touched she is?'. Neville knew they were past the point of no return and gathered a few napkins from the table. _You'll never know, it's the boy's first rejection. It happens and… even for Draco, this subject's gonna be pretty sensitive._

" I really didn't want to do this in front of anybody…" Lavender took a deep breath and used her best weapon – tears. She half sobbed out, " I'm really sorry Draco. I really really am!"

" W-what do you mean? What are you sorry about?" Draco let out a nervous laugh, glancing back at his two goons behind him. Of course, all he got in return were blank faces. _Okay, I guess this really is my fault… Even if Draco is so full of himself that he really thinks no girls can resist him, I should've really just told him about Lavender when his two other so-called buddies really can't be of much help… _

" What I'm trying… trying to say is… I don't want to be your girlfriend…" Lavender used her final female-exclusive weapon and took Draco's hands with her own. Of course, Neville doubted Draco could feel anything apart from his fall into a metaphorical hole at that moment. " I still want to be friends, I mean… I just don't… like you that way… I mean, you're a _really_ nice guy."

" Oh… okay…" Completely overwhelmed by the most stereotypical rejection from a girl ever, Draco just turned and walked away. " Well… I guess I'm going to go win a game now…"

" Dra –" Neville's consolation was cut at its first syllable.

" Hey isn't that one of those whatever Snorkacks things that Luna girl was talking about?" Draco pointed at a random spot outside the Great Hall and went to chase after it.

Lavender took a deep sigh of relief. She must have expected much worst than that. Neville had thought Draco would not let something as silly as this get to him, especially when Neville had never considered Draco genuinely liking Lavender. With the completely out-of-it reaction though, Neville was having second thoughts. This would put Draco's pride down a notch, which was good, but Neville just hoped he would not do anything drastic like chopping Lavender's head off with a Severing Charm.

" So, coming to the game Neville?" He was snapped out of his ruminations by Cho's voice behind him. He turned back to find the Chinese girl smiling back at him, wearing a cute beanie that she must have designed herself. The fashion club had been very vibrant and it had rapidly gained members and interests despite the period of high security.

Neville's tutoring lessons slash helping out at the fashion club had come to an unofficial end following his leave from the Hospital Wing though. The school exams were called off this year, making his Charms exemption null, and as much as he liked the fashion club, he wanted to make some time alone for himself.

A few boys beside him were glancing with envy their way, but Neville shrugged it off. " I'm sorry Cho, but I don't plan to watch the game."

" Then for the cheerleaders? Our club helped with their new uniforms," Cho smiled good-naturedly. _This girl really was a cool person to be with – no wonder so many guys fall for her. Now if only she'd stop approaching me so often I'll be more likable to the guys as well instead of getting jealous glares… like now. _

" Sorry, but there's something I've been putting off and I figured I'd better go and do it now." Neville got up from the table, " And you should hurry to the pitch too. The game's about to start."

Cho regarded Neville for a few seconds that sent him a very strange feeling down his back before she shrugged. " Okay. I'll see you later Neville."

" Goodbye Cho. Enjoy the game." Neville could still feel her eyes staring after him as he left the Hall. It was not as if her gaze was anything negative like hate, malice or anger. Instead it was completely contrary: it was a feel of… unusual interest – but not in a good way. Neville felt like he was some strange cute exotic animal from a zoo up for display.

Neville actually did have something he planned to do, and it was something he really had been holding off ever since he regained consciousness. He was heading to the Hospital Wing to see Hermione. Hermione was a famous bookworm, and was physically a lot weaker than Ginny the tomboy would be. She had asked if she could rest at the Hospital Wing until the end of term, much to the awed satisfaction of Madam Pomfrey, and was permitted to, seeing as there were no exams. This most uncharacteristic behaviour of course worried her friends, but she stood by the statement that she was feeling too weak.

Madam Pomfrey was playing as Beater again at the match this year, and the paralysed students were all released after the Mandrakes matured. Neville walked into the quiet ward, the only sound being from the birds and the far-away stadium outside. It was a very sunny day and as he turned to face the row of beds, a full summer glow lit up the room. Hermione was sitting upright on one of the beds, staring out the bright window towards the Quidditch pitch.

" Hermione," Neville called out and she immediately gave a start. She was wearing a large white T-shirt and coupled with the mop of hair that was even more unruly than usual, she had obviously not been expecting visitors.

" What're you doing here Neville? Shouldn't you be at the game? I mean you are… you are… the President?" Hermione just sighed and rubbed her cheeks with her hands for a moment before greeting him with a big smile. " I'm sorry, you just startled me. That's all."

" Well I guess you didn't like the candy I told Ron to bring up to you?" Neville said while pulling up a chair beside her bed.

" No, I got them, thanks."

" Sorry I couldn't come earlier. Had a few things to catch up with."

" I understand, Harry said he hasn't seen you in the common room for more than a few minutes."

" Yeah… Hey, did you hear? We can keep Norbert."

" Yeah, Hagrid told me when he visited. I don't know how Dumbledore managed to cover it up at the Ministry though."

" The Ministry is Dumbledore's if he wanted. I met that Fudge guy and he's just a wimp."

" I'm just happy for Hagrid. He would've been devastated if they took away Norbert."

" Yeah we're keeping Norbert inside the Chamber of Secrets… now…" Neville rapidly quietened down as they finally stumbled upon the sensitive subject. Neville turned towards the window. Hermione lowered her head.

After a few minutes of silence, a sob brought Neville's gaze back from the very contrasting mood of the sunny day outside. Hermione quickly wiped her eyes and mumbled, " You must hate me."

Neville opened his mouth in shock, " Me? Hate you? Why?"

" For not telling you I had the diary this whole time!" Hermione screamed and started crying out in full.

Neville summoned a nearby box of tissues and gave it to her, waiting patiently for her to settle down. A few minutes later, Neville asked, " Is it okay if you told me everything that's happened this year? From when you got the diary?"

Hermione nodded and started her story, interlaced with sobs and hiccups. " When I got home from our shopping trip, I found the diary in with my school books. I have no idea where I got it from and it looked harmless enough, so I kept it to be used as draft paper."

_Her books? …Lucius threw Ginny's book back in the cauldron… where Hermione's books were as well! It must've fell out or got mixed up when they split the books!_

" When I wrote a question down in it one day, it answered me! I'd really thought it was just some sort of magical encyclopaedia at the time. That's why I didn't think anything when I heard you and Ginny carrying on about a diary on the Hogwarts Express… Plus, I was too preoccupied about meeting Lockhart and Ron and Harry going missing. When they came with the car that night, and after my fight with Ron, I wrote in the diary again… asking it what I should do about Ron just randomly… And then, I don't know what happened – I thought I just fell asleep. I really did! It's just that when I woke up the next morning, there were all these feathers… I just thought something happened to my bed at the time…"

_Hermione was a muggle-born after all, and along with that down-to-earth personality, an enchanted diary housing a part of someone's soul that could possess her… Well, it wasn't something even close to the Hogwarts curriculum she had been studying…_

" Then it came to my birthday… I was so mad at Ron, I didn't know what to do. I was at the Quidditch match for a while and when I saw how Ron just stared at the cheerleaders, I ran back to the Dragon Room and wrote to Tom about it… well, Voldemort now, and then – the next thing I realised, I was in the middle of a corridor. I came out from one of the passageways and followed the crowd that had been heading my way at the time, not really sure what had happened…"

_No wonder I see Hermione with Norbert all the time! She was hiding the diary at the Dragon Room all this time? As for her appearing at the scene of crime with Mrs Norris, it really was just a fluke that she managed to piece together an alibi…_

" And being the idiot that I was, I didn't see it! I just didn't see the link between the attacks before it was too late. Before Colin Creevy got attacked, I wrote in the diary about Ron being obsessed with the cheerleaders again. Then before Justin's attack, I wrote in the diary about me not being able to help you at all!"

Neville winced. This was one of the reasons he had been avoiding this conversation. _I am part of the reason for the attacks… Or rather, making Hermione unhappy… And I didn't even notice it…_

" Finally when Hagrid's new batch of roosters died again during the Christmas holidays, I knew it must have something to do with me. It was the third time I woke up with feathers and blood on my robes for god's sake! I was almost caught by Ginny when I was cleaning it up that morning, and I was reminded of what you said about a black diary. The only thing I could do then was to tell myself to stop writing in it ever again."

_Yes, Hermione stayed for Christmas… And she was stuck in the Hospital Wing after the Polyjuice Potion incident too. That was why the attacks stopped during that time…_

" I was okay when I was in the Hospital Wing, and all the way until… You told me you practiced spells in the Dragon Room. I'd thought that was the safest place in the school since nobody else knew about it! Then I imagined what it would be like if you'd just came up on the diary, and found out I was behind the attacks and, and… I panicked! Early on Valentine's Day morning, I went to the Dragon Room right away and threw the diary down Myrtle's toilet… But on our way to breakfast, that idiot Ron just had to drag me in there to see what was wrong. It was just Filch moping some puddles! It could've just been Myrtle crying like usual again! It could've – could've…"

_The original plot… fate… It really is a bitch._

Hermione finally calmed down enough to continued, " Ron recognised it was a diary right away and said we had to show it to you to see if it was what you had been looking for. I told him he should go get you and Harry, and I knew you would be suspicious if it just disappeared so… so… I lied… I hid the diary inside my robes, banged the back of my head against a cubicle, then pretended to have fainted on the ground. When you came in and with how worried you were about me even if I was lying to you – and you… I… I couldn't help it. The diary was right there and then it was almost like a voice inside my head told me to write… And that fake Valentines as well…"

Hermione blew her nose on a tissue and Neville had every notion to put out the lights from the window even if it meant taking out the sun with it. As warm and lively as the view outside was, sometimes visited by a round of cheering from the Quidditch pitch, Neville's spirits went down another level. _Another mistake I'd made…_

" Then after the triple attack, I thought I'd lost my mind. I heard Voldemort's voice in my head all the time, telling me to write in the diary. Everyday, Harry and Ron was getting closer to solving the mystery about the diary. You weren't telling us what you've deducted, but I knew you've at least guessed that it was a Basilisk from the goggles you made people wear. One time, you even caught me just before writing in the diary!"

_In the Dragon Room… She had just learnt of Harry and Ron's trip into the Forbidden Forest… Why didn't I see it then? Why?_

" Then finally – when I found out Ron really didn't like me I just… broke down and… I got all of you hurt coming after me! I should've just died down at the Chamber!"

" Are you an idiot?" Hermione immediately stopped sobbing from the shock of Neville smashing a fist onto her bedside table.

Hermione's face contorted and she buried her face in her sheets, " I know! I'm stupid! I understand if you never want to speak to me again!"

Neville roughly grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away to stare into her soppy eyes. " You're an idiot for thinking you should've just died down there! We didn't save you just to hear you say something like that!"

" What?" Hermione hiccupped, looking as if she was about to start another storm of crying again.

" No one is angry at you Hermione. You were under Voldemort's spell. That diary is evil. It's a Dark magical item. If someone's at fault, it would be me. I didn't do anything to help you when you needed it. I was so caught up with my own things I didn't listen to you at all –"

" But you did listen Neville! All those times in the Dragon Room, and with Ron and… I knew it must've been you who wanted to cheer me up with that Valentines. You might be a pureblood, but I know you know more muggle things than Harry. And you're the only one who knew I was expecting a Valentines at all… Don't you see what I meant? For example, if you compared me to Hannah, she could help you with the Council, and even backed you up during the Welcoming Feast and cheered you up. Looking back at me, all I could do at that time was… was… pass you a plate of fish!"

" Hermione, you just being with me is enough to cheer me up," Neville ruffled the snivelling girl. " Then that Astronomy homework? I knew you finished it for me when I fell asleep and you never finish homework off for anybody! Don't look so surprised – you do remember who gave you that Merlin's Magical Encyclopaedias Collection you quoted from right?"

" Neville you're just trying to make me feel better about myself…" Hermione was about to lower her head again but Neville resolved to stop her. He pressed his palms to either sides of her cheeks and raised her face up near his. Maybe it was because her hair was a lot wilder than usual, but it was like staring at a cute furball with two shinning eyes.

" You _should_ feel better about yourself." Neville gazed right back into those big brown eyes. The two of them stayed that way until a loud cheer erupted outside, probably signalling the end of the Quidditch match, and Neville asked, " Do you remember when we became friends? You told me how we had to take small steps to make big changes – all that about reading a word, then a line, then a sentence… Well anyway. I think, I'm going to stop reading for now."

Hermione blinked and asked idly, " Huh?"

" Never mind." Neville let go of his hands and Hermione almost fell out of her bed with it. Spotting that and quickly grabbing her by her arms, Neville suddenly realised how thin and small Hermione really was.

_It's not like I've made that many changes in this world since I got here – and most of which wasn't even good changes. There were a lot of things I really wanted to turn out different, but just look at what happened this year? It really may be a better idea to just stop and watch where I tread before trying to alter fate again. As much as these thoughts shouldn't be the worries of a twelve years old, as Elena said last Christmas, I know mentally that I am not. And I need, and now want to, take the responsibility of protecting Hermione… and Harry, Ron, Draco… Everyone. _

0

0

0

A/N: I'm actually not sure about the whereabouts of the diary after its destruction. And as you can tell now, this chapter had very little action and is more unravelling what had happened and adjust Neville's direction a little. Possibly boring? I see it as character development, plot revelation and the typical down-time after a plot climax. This chapter turned out this large because I couldn't find a good stopping again…


	43. Book 2 Chapter 21

Synopsis: After leaving the Chamber of Secrets, Neville has another 'talk' with Dumbledore and even gave out some free hints about Horcruxes and Voldemort. Draco gets blatantly shot down by Lavender, finally. Then Neville at last went and talked to Hermione, seeing things he had not noticed at all. And now, with a new direction, Neville embraces summer with plans…

Chapter 42 – It's time to make plans for the summer.

" Neville, it's time to go," Harry called out to Neville, who was reading a particularly tattered book in the common room couch.

" You guys leave before me," Neville waved without looking up, " I'll see you on the train. I've got another paragraph."

" What is that book you're reading?" Hermione asked, scrutinising the cover. It would not do her much good though since Neville had charmed it to look like a boring Charms textbook.

" Well, see you there mate," Ron said. " Don't be late or the train will leave without you."

The portrait hole closed behind the Trio and Neville clamped shut the book. It was a book on Dark Arts that he had taken from the library's restricted section. After all, with Lockhart's confession of him modifying the memories of dozens of people in his Eton Ear, a signed note for life-time permission of free access to the restricted section was the least Lockhart could do before resigning as a teacher. Actually, there was pretty much nothing Lockhart would not do on Neville's single command unless the man wanted his career completely ruined after the little boost he got from truthfully destroying the diary by his own power this time. Forget pushing out a new shampoo brand, Lockhart's previous crimes were serious enough to land him a short sentence in Azkaban.

Making sure he would not run into anyone on the way with the Map, Neville had one last task to carry out before leaving for summer. Strolling to the dancing trolls' tapestry, Neville walked past it three times thinking of a place to hide something that no one would find. Expectedly a door opened and Neville walked in. Not for the first time, he was greeted by rolls and rolls of shelves that towered over him. He had wanted to find Ravenclaw's Diadem of course, now that Norbert had freed this room, but without a protagonist's luck like Harry, he had completely wasted a whole day before in here. Finding any one particular object in this dump would take years. _Though_ _I did take a few selected magical artefacts that now laid with the pile of confiscated items in the Shrieking Shack._

Neville knew the Horcruxes were the bane of Voldemort's existence and as long as the seven were destroyed, then that was the best way to protect everyone. It must be noted that it had been over half a decade since he had actually last read the books at this stage, and as much as he had a general gust of everything, he was not a fanatical fan enough to remember all the details.

The first Horcrux was destroyed now and Riddle's Diary was kept safely with Dumbledore. The second and one of the more accessible ones were also moments away from destruction.

Even mathematicians did not remember every formula they had ever used. They would go to a textbook with the necessary formula, and just apply it to a problem to solve for the answer. That was practically the case with Neville's magical abilities and spell casting at this point.

Opening to the page he bookmarked earlier, Neville performed the necessary wand movements and incantation before looking up. From the tip of his wand emerged nothing but black smoke at first, then a spark, then as Neville focused, a jet of flames swirled out ten metres in front of him. It began to twist and gather upon itself, spreading wider and wider in the shape of a giant tornado. Slashing his wand away to disconnect the flames coming out of his wand, the last tail of blaze joined the tornado and the fire once again changed shape. First it grew four limbs, then a head exploded like a volcano at the top, finally a huge pair of horns emerged as the spell took its sentient form.

" Fiendfyre in the shape of a devil. Interesting." Neville commented as it proceeded to thrash its arms and legs on the shelves on either sides of him. " Better go before it gets me."

Neville might not be able to control Fiendfyre, or even find the Diadem, but he could give his little devil the whole summer to do his dirty work. _Two down, five to go. Sorry Trelawney, you'll have to start your sherry bottles collection from zero._

0

0

0

" I still can't believe it! A nice guy! Me! Seriously, I am a _nice_ guy? What do I have to do? Murder a house elf to be considered an _un_-nice guy?" Hannah yawned again and looked ready to fall asleep on Su's head. Su was already using Hannah's shoulder as a pillow. Draco continued to rant, as he did from the start of the journey and ever since his first rejection, " I know what a 'nice guy' is! It's just some stupid title for someone that gets rejected! Well you know what Neville? You know what? I'm going to go _de_-nice myself through summer! And guess what that's going to do to little Miss Brown when I come back with women hanging off my arms? It's going to make her _mad_ that's what! She's just going to _yearn_ for me the next time we're back at Hogwarts. And you know what else? Even if she grovels on the ground I won't take her. No, never. She'll never ever have me as a boyfriend in her lifetime. _Never_!"

" Very nice Draco. Glad you recovered just as we thought you would." Neville looked out of the window and was immeasurably glad that they had finally arrived at King's Cross. " I'm going to go get my trunk now, I can practically hear my Gran… Dumbledore just had to tell her about the Basilisk."

" The headmaster told her about your Award for Special Services to the School," Hannah corrected while she shook Su awake. _Why does everyone have to be on the old fox's side? _" I hope you have a great summer Neville."

" You too Hannah, enjoy your holiday in the US. " Neville moved to get his trunk as he heard the rowdy students jumping off the Hogwarts Express to their families from outside their compartment.

" I'm happy for you Hannah," Su rubbed her eyes as she stretched her arms. " But too bad we can't meet up during summer since you'll be over the pond for most of it. If only Dumbledore would set up another summer camp like last year."

" You liked being picked on for being a Muggle-born?" Draco snorted. " Well I won't be away much this summer, but don't you think we've seen each other enough throughout this year?"

" We talked to each other everyday," Neville shook his head. " It was either the play, the different club budgets, classes or just general meetings."

" Yeah! And that's why it'd be weird not seeing you guys for ages…" Su was probably just being more sentimental than usual in her semi-awake state. " Well, I'll definitely owl all of you a lot. Even you Hannah!"

" Well I'd better go before my Gran runs on the train for my head. All of you take care." Neville was just about to walk out their compartment before turning back, " Oh and Draco? Don't feel too down about the rejection – it happens."

Even from down at the platform, he could hear Draco scream from the other side of the window, " It wasn't a rejection! She just made a wrong judgement that she'll regret for the rest of her life!"

Ignoring Draco's face pressed up against the window, Neville hurriedly pulled his trunk towards the exit. Before he got there though, his pessimistic predictions came true. With one look at the thin-lipped Gran waiting with Molly Weasley, also searching for her own target, Neville steeled himself and stepped forward to take the hit.

" Neville Longbottom! What were you thinking? As if a troll wasn't enough last year you had to pick a fight with a basilisk!" Gran shot towards him on sight and let him have it without mercy under the watchful eyes of many students. He knew he deserved it for worrying a person that cared for him so, and decided there would be a better time to correct her Gran that Neville had not actually faced a basilisk – just the memory of the greatest dark wizard of all time. " …What would you have done? You are the sole heir to the Longbottom line and if anything were to happen to you, what would your grandfather think of me when I go see him? Then the direst disappointment of all young man! You just ambled along up to me like this now without introducing me to a new girl? First time it was Hermione, then Penelope last summer. That cute girl Hannah when we went shopping, Su and Cho at Christmas and then now, just you on your lonesome! What is wrong with you this semester Neville?"

" Gran, I've really learnt my lesson this time! Really!" Neville latched onto the old woman's arm as if she was a float in the ocean and was trying very much to ignore the giggles and jeers around him. " I promise I'll be good. Anything. Please just stop talking!"

Gran gave a short – _cruel_ – laugh of triumph and looked down at her grandson, " Ha. Well _now_ I see some sincerity in your apology."

" See you next year President!" Luna skipped past at that moment and left with, " I hope we can go to the next Halloween Ball together again. I'll even dress up as a walking Liger that we talked about!"

" Um. Yeah. Great. Bye," Neville managed to shout back at her before she skipped out of earshot._ She was there for preparing the play and the fashion club! The topic just cropped up! A Liger really is an animal! It's a cross-breed between a Tiger and a Lion! Why are people laughing?_

Neville turned back to Gran, who grinned and nodded in approval, " Now that's better! A little weird this one, but her hair seems very nice. With a good brush you can go places better than the Halloween Ball with her I'm sure."

Neville just shook his head and they joined the Trio and the Weasleys on their way out into the Muggle world. Hermione was busy reminding Ron he should not leave his summer homework until the last day of the holidays while the twins were busy making jokes about Percy's girlfriend. This left Ginny nervously twitching, internally struggling whether she should say something before Harry left her for a few months.

" Just go say 'goodbye and take care'," Neville crept up to the little girl and advised.

Of course, this seemed to have startled her so much she almost jumped out of her skin. Once she turned back and saw it was Neville, her face went fully flushed in a mix between anger and embarrassment. Now that Neville thought about it, they had not said anything to each other since the play. _Uh ho… I was too busy thinking about Hermione and what I should do this summer that…_

At the worst timing, the twins made a particular amusing comparison between Percy's trumpet playing and kissing skills that Percy, spotting his unsuspecting victims, pointed at Neville and jumped up and down. " Well you know what mother? Neville and Ginny kissed!"

The only other people who had seen the kiss here were the twins, who smirked evilly at the two now in limelight. The others all had a mixture of expressions. Mrs Weasley just waved it off giggling, while Gran looked as if she would grill Neville for a good hour about this. Ron wondered if he should be angry and Harry just looked surprised, even if he was supposed to be the one who got kissed. Hermione just stood there and blinked as if she was trying to deduce how that happened.

" It's a misunderstanding! I thought it was supposed to be –" Ginny's panic only made her blush harder and she threw half a glare at Neville before fleeing towards a bunch of her first years friends with a frustrated groan.

Conversation resumed and Neville pulled Harry back as to have them last to cross the barrier back to the muggle world. " Hey Harry, if the Dursleys treat you badly during the summer, then you can contact me. You know I told you about my family's new business in Diagon –"

" Neville, they're the Dursleys. When do they ever treat me well? I'm lucky if they don't 'treat' me at all." Harry very casually said something very tragic and Neville wondered if Harry had lessons from Luna. Due to Neville's neglect last year, he had allowed Harry to return foolishly to the Dursleys, and was only reminded of Harry's summer arrangements after Ron told him about how Harry was practically imprisoned. _Harry did not say there were any beatings, and definitely no sick sexual assaults as some fanfictions loved, but imprisoning him was illegal. Bars on the windows? That crosses my line._

" Well I dare say you'll be in for a surprise this year at Privet Drive." Neville smiled back at Harry's dubious expression. " I can't get you out of that place this year, but I'll be sure to make it tolerable."

" Does this have something to do with how you asked for Privet Drive's full address last week?" Harry looked as if someone had just force fed him something really bitter. There was nothing Harry could do though as they walked into the muggle King's Cross station lobby.

" There you are! We don't have all day!" Neville did not actually meet Vernon Dursley last year and the guy really was huge. He was the type that should pay for _three_ seats on an aeroplane.

" Mr Dursley? Hello, my name is Neville Longbottom." Neville did not even offer a hand because he knew Dursley would not shake it. Neville turned back to Harry, who looked back in alarm. " Say goodbye to Ron and Hermione Harry, we'll wait for you here."

" W-why you –" Dursley was silenced when he was shown a clear glimpse of Neville's wand under his sleeve. Harry went over to their group to say goodbyes, but not after a few glances back, and Dursley acted up again. " You're just a brat! I know brats can't use magic outside your freaky school."

" I must remind you, you do not fully understand the ways of… well, 'our kind'." Neville had to look up to stare at the large man, but he could still grabbed hold of the collar of Dursley's shirt. Dursley looked livid when Neville did. Neville explained, " I am a pureblood, which is almost like an aristocrat in the old days. You remember Hagrid right? Well he's quite tamed in just giving your son a tail, but I can kill you like a bug if you make me frown just one bit."

Of course there were some lies in that, but Dursley did not need to know. " A-are you th-threatening me? You c-can't just… just kill someone in the middle of a train station! There are… are policemen here!"

Ignoring the stupid man's whimpering, Neville carried on with what he knew. " I assume you've recently had a visitor at your door? An old friend of your wife's actually. Mr Severus Snape?"

The blood drained out of Dursley's face even more if Neville's previous death threat had not done enough. " T-that, that, that hooked-nose –"

" I am sure he was very… persuasive about how you should treat Harry. Probably along the same lines as what I've just said – unless he talked about force feeding you poison. That guy is amazing at those. Just one drop of something from him and you can squirm for days in pain without dying."

Neville had made a dungeon visit some time last week, and Snape was in a good enough mood to grant him audience. After using Neville as the excuse to banish a pouting Sinistra, Snape was subjected to the horror that was Harry's life before Hogwarts. There might have been some exaggerations here and there, but judging from Snape's glare at the parchment with Privet Drive's address on it when Neville left, he was actually surprised Dursley made it here in one piece. _Dursley_ _probably had Dumbledore to thank for that. Now just a little more incentive…_

" Come back down to Earth Dursley. Now you know the consequences, I hope to hear no problems from my friend Harry throughout the time he spends with you. To sweeten up the deal for you." Neville pulled out a leather pouch and shoved it into Dursley's hands. He could literally see a light of gold shine out to Dursley's shocked face when he opened it. " Notice I have never referred to Harry as your nephew throughout our conversation. Take this bag of gold, melt it, sell it, whatever. This will count as payment for renting your house for a month or two. I want you to treat Harry as a customer of your lodge and he deserves full respect, free roam of your premises, sufficient meals, and answers to absolutely no one during his stay."

" Right, of course." Dursley actually cracked a smile while his eyes stayed mesmerised by the gold in the pouch. " He'll be treated as a guest of the house."

_The stick, the carrot… now for the stick again._

" I don't want him to be a guest," Neville snapped. " He paid for his lodge. You let him go about however he wishes in the area he bought. I know about how you imprisoned him last year in your house, and I know it's against even your 'normal' laws. I doubt I will call 'your kind' into services though, if ever you break our little deal here. Just remember Dursley – we know where you live."

" Em… Neville? My uncle and I should probably go now." Neville turned back with a smile for Harry, who had just came back from the Weasleys huddle. Harry would never have imagined the expression Neville had turned away from that gave Dursley that white-faced gape.

" Have a good summer – and owl me at least once a week." Harry looked nervously at Dursley since he really doubted Hedwig would even be allowed out of her cage. " I simply don't know _what_ I'll do if I don't hear from you. I hope you have a pleasant stay Harry. Goodbye."

" Goodbye?" Harry looked between his friend and his shivering uncle in confusion as they walked out of the station.

Rejoining the large group, Gran, Mrs Weasley and Mrs Granger were all talking about their children. It was quite clear to Neville that Mrs Granger had no idea how close she was to have lost a daughter, probably from Hermione's own requests. After all, for a normal muggle to send their child to a school where they risked their lives on a regular basis was inconceivable.

" I guess I'll see you next year," Hermione gave Neville a hug. " I'm going to France with my parents, but be sure to owl."

" Yeah, I will. Don't get mad if I don't write too much though. I'll be busy." Neville apologised pre-emptively.

" What're your plans for the summer?" Ron asked and Gran chose that exact moment to say they should be going.

Neville's plans began the moment the Weasleys and Grangers were out of sight. He turned to his Gran and asked, " Gran, please don't take this the wrong way, but I want to move out of the manor."

0

0

0

Harry was having the best summer he thought was ever possible at Privet Drive. Granted, the Dursleys treated him as if he could be walked through like Nearly-Headless Nick, but they had allowed him complete free loot of the fridge. Hedwig was allowed to fly as much as she liked, and his uncle even urged him to send Hedwig to deliver a letter to Neville every so often. Dudley was of course trying his best to change things back to the way it was, but eventually gave up after he was admitted to hospital – he tried to eat all the food in the fridge as not to leave any for Harry to raid.

As unbelievable as the notion was, and having zero evidence, Harry suspected this special treatment had something to do with Snape. On the first day Harry came back from the station, his aunt had actually asked him a question about Harry himself. Stranger still, it was a question about Hogwarts.

Aunt Petunia had looked as if she had been waiting in the parlour and asked the moment Harry came in, " Answer me boy! Do you have a Professor Severus Snape as your teacher at that place you go to?"

" Um… yes?" Harry's answered seemed to be the wrong one though.

" Thirteen years and still he can't let her go! A person like him chose to be a teacher? The only reason he took the job is probably to watch over – Oh why'd he even _choose_ her – _Urgh_!" Back then, Harry of course had no idea why his Aunt Petunia ran up the stairs in a huff, nor why his uncle worn a sour expression on his face for the rest of the week.

Despite his confusion, something good did come out of it. Actually, something very good, and cleared up the whole puzzle for Harry. Harry saw Aunt Petunia throw out a very huge crate of rubbish the next day after what he had told her, and with absolute freedom and curiosity on his side, he took a peek.

Harry found to his utter joy, as if someone up above had blessed him with this pile of garbage, that inside the crate were Lily Evans' old things. There were clothes, old muggle photos, and even some school notes. Harry had of course discretely recovered the crate back to his room and spent many hours marvelling at the photos of a young Lily, Petunia, and sometimes – to his shock – Snape. Harry did not know photography; all those things about capturing a person's instantaneous feelings and essence. Then again, when in more than one photo it showed Petunia's eyes on Snape, while Snape's eyes were on Lily, Harry soon put the pieces together himself. It even explained how his muggle aunt hated the magic she did not possess while her sister did. Green hate that explained why she did not treat Harry as any usual hate would.

Hate that was green to a shade where she had kept Lily's old Hogwarts stuffs from Harry, only to throw it out in a crate along with her memories of Snape after this last blow all these years later.

As one said, a person's greed could never be satisfied and despite Harry's treatment having been exponentially better this summer, he risked it. Harry confronted his aunt and demanded any possessions Lily might have left at Privet Drive. As if hitting a sore spot, Aunt Petunia's face glowed purple and his uncle had to physically restrain her from strangling Harry. This of course confirmed Harry's suspicion that his aunt had hidden something from him. Using a few psychological taunts he picked up watching Neville, his aunt finally cracked after about a week.

The breaking point was when Harry had casually commented on how Dudley was 'stealing' the bread on his plate, because it was taking without asking, and it had sent his aunt storming up to her bedroom. After a few minutes and loud bangs, his aunt returned and flung a necklace at Harry.

" Here take it! Your mother just left it here before she evaporated from the face of the earth! She probably stole it since her good-for-nothing husband probably can't even afford matchsticks without a job."

The kitchen would have turned bloody if Harry's uncle did not assume the very uncharacteristic role of mediator and dragged his wife out the front door. Petunia had not spoken a word to Harry since.

Harry did not mind that very much and had been wearing the necklace ever since – even if it had seemed a bit womanly. Hanging on an interlaced metal chain was an elliptical gemstone fixed inside a mesh design. The gemstone was a brilliant white, but neither opaque nor translucent, nor did it reflect or emit light. Somehow it was just – white. Harry knew it must be magical and he would just have to wait until he got back to Hogwarts before the gemstone could be identified.

The rest of his holidays were spent doing his own summer homework and going through his mother's old things. Only some of them were relevant to the current new Hogwarts curriculum but with Lily's clear and immaculate notes, Harry was able to get much further in his studies. The most interesting thing Harry found though was the extracurricular project Lily had taken up during her years at school, and later contributed in by James as well. There were a lot of advanced magical theory and charm work, but it had something to do with transfiguring immaterial entities such as sound, darkness and even thoughts. As ambitious as the research goal was, there were numerous kinks and problems left to overcome.

Normal laws of transfiguration of course did not work on immaterial objects and theoretically, the simplest thing to do was to assign immaterial objects a 'material status' as to allow normal transfiguration to work. Lily had experimented with many alternatives. She had tried to use potions to create this material status, she had tried to merge material objects in with immaterial object to transfigure, but all her experiments failed in one way or other.

Maybe because it was his parents' research, but Harry did not feel the usual drowsiness while studying and had instead tried his best to understand a lot of their research notes. That was until Aunt Marge's visit.

It was in Harry's nature to be a polite boy, and his uncle having, albeit sweating profusely as if he was about to walk over burning coal at the time, promised to sign his Hogsmeade permission slip if Harry went along with the tall tale they had made up to appease Aunt Marge. His uncle even threw in some money for him, which was saying an awful lot about his sincerity to Harry. His uncle had asked him not to mention their little deal to Neville, which Harry of course wrote down anyway in their regular correspondence by owl.

On the last night of Aunt Marge's stay, just as in the books, she had too much to drink and let her mouth run off about Harry's parents. After thinking he was expelled for blowing up the drunk, Harry followed fate's well-laid steps with his trunk dragging behind him, closing in on where 'the Grim' was at Magnolia Crescent.

Fate was surprised at this point though by a loud screech. A letter fell from the sky and landed in Harry's hands. By the time he looked up again, he could only see the shadow of a Blakiston's Fish-owl speeding off into the night. Harry could feel a hard object inside the letter and after opening the paper envelope, all he could see in it was a bronze Knut.

The instant he touched the coin inside the envelope, Harry hurtled through miles and miles within seconds and did his best to withstand the unexpected suffering that was wizarding travel. The next time he felt he could see straight again, despite his crooked glasses, he was inside an unfamiliar toilet stall. Harry stayed perfectly still, but all he could hear was the faint music in the background.

Having no idea what just happened, and still thinking he was on the run from the Ministry, Harry jumped a foot into the air when the person at the adjacent store flushed. After calming down, Harry figured how ridiculously pitiful his situation was. One moment ago he was eating spaghetti at Privet Drive's kitchen, and then within minutes he was in a strange toilet where all he possessed were Dudley's old baggy clothes and the wand in his pocket.

After another few moments of contemplation, he figured things were not going to get any better by sitting on a toilet seat. Though puzzled by how he could suddenly appear inside a cubicle locked from the inside, Harry just unlocked it normally and stepped out into a lavishly decorated men's room. A person was hired to give out towels for drying hands, but he was asleep with his red hat covered over his face at that moment. Spotting the door, Harry exited the bathroom and found himself facing what was clearly an up-market bar that typical lawyers and doctors went to for happy hours.

Having never been in this sort of place before did not help him fix that lost expression on his face. Almost every person who walked past him gave the child a strange look since no matter how much taller Harry had grown, he did not look anything near eighteen. Harry instinctively blushed under the others' scrutiny and frantically looked around for the exit.

On one side of the room, the wall was nothing but floor-to-ceiling glass-paned windows and a view of other skyscrapers' roofs. Most of the other side was very dimly lit, with purple and red artificial lights making the booths and couches barely visible. What loomed in front of him and captivated his view though was the enormous circular bar. It had crystal-like glasses hanging on metal racks from the top, and tall shelves filled with a variety of alcohol as the backdrop. The bartenders were all smartly dressed in white shirts and black bowties, with some of them throwing the cocktail shaker expertly.

Harry followed one performance as the bartender deftly poured a cocktail into a martini glass in front of one customer. Harry could only see the side-profile of the customer at that moment but the man was radiating an aura of a successful CEO. The man wore a long black outer jacket that was definitely a 'dry-clean only' item. He also wore a pair of scrupulously-ironed trousers and well-polished shoes that looked to be Italian. His navy shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and was a style in which the collar and cuffs were accented.

As if knowing he was being watched, the blonde man turned and stared straight into Harry as he raised his Martini glass. His blue eyes showed surprise for a moment before he showered Harry with a grin.

" I never should've trusted the towel guy to call on me."

0

0

0

A/N: I don't want to have a first part set synopsis anymore. Thought they would be like the starting commentary of animes and stuffs, but they didn't fit right after a few chapters. So just short synopsises as recap of the last chapter from now on.

Now finally, sort of a Harry-centric chapter! I know it's kind of a rough cut, and I guess that makes it even more fitting to class this as the last chapter of the second book. Or the last episode of season 2 for a TV series. Or something like that. Sorry if you guys were expecting third year this chapter.

I guess I'll put a warning instead of a teaser for next year. Neville's going to start out pretty odd, possibly even OOC from what readers had in mind of him. But if you think about the impact this accident with Hermione and the diary had on him, in addition to whatever problems thrust upon him next year, it would make sense how he ended up where he was by the end of third year. At least it does according to me. What I can promise is that there will be less happy innocent kids playing house in the next book – the characters are all growing older after all.


	44. Book 3 Chapter 1

Synopsis: Before Neville left Hogwarts, he destroyed Ravenclaw's Diadem and just as he left the others at the train station, he told his Gran he wanted to move out on his own at twelve years old?

The story switches to Harry, who was having a great summer so far and even got a crate of his mother's old stuffs. The story did not change though and Harry, left to roam outside after blowing up his aunt, suddenly found himself Portkey-ed to a bar's toilet?

Chapter 43 – The chapter that actual tells how Neville really spent his summer, so far.

Cornelius Fudge rubbed his tired eyes as he stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron in his failed search. First there was the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban, and now Black's prime target, Harry Potter, went and ran away from his house. Fudge personally thought Harry Potter was just a stubborn rebellious kid that would be nothing but trouble the first moment he saw the scrawny boy a few months ago. If he was the headmaster of Hogwarts he would never have believed those little boys took out a Basilisk even if his own life depended on it, and that it was supposedly behind those attacks. The only reason Fudge stepped aside and let the whole thing drop was because of Dumbledore of course – though he still occasionally had nightmares about the press questioning him about resumed attacks at Hogwarts after summer.

Whatever Fudge's own impression on Harry Potter was, he was still The-Boy-Who-Lived in the public eyes and if anything were to happen to him, the press would have a great time antagonising the Minister for not even be capable of protecting a small child. Fudge vowed to take over that pesky Daily Prophet one of these days – and actually had plans that were slowly but surely in motion.

Just as Fudge wondered if he could rally more support from within the Ministry to add pressure to the major newspaper company, he spotted a suspicious pair approaching him from the darkened city streets. It was a man donning an elaborate black cloak even in this humid summer night and tagging along beside him, stumbling left and right, was no other than Harry Potter. Fudge's mouth curled up in distaste as he recognised the man bringing in the wizarding world's idol, but of course fixed it into a small smile as they greeted in meeting.

" Why, Minister! Strange to see you hanging about in the middle of the street at this time of night." The blonde man commented in a tone that Fudge heard as a spike. Fudge's smile tightened slightly, as he had taken up to do whenever he met this man for the past several weeks.

" Where did you pick up Mr Potter and why did you not inform the Ministry?" Fudge then turned to Harry and showered him with a grandfather-type smile. Though Harry Potter had caused Fudge troubles, at least the kid's troubles were a lot more fitting for his actual age and status. " Harry oh Harry. We've been looking all over for you. You mustn't just run away from home like that."

" A-are you going to expel me Minister with the funny Bowler Hat?" Harry said with a red face and lazy eyes.

" Oh of course not Harry. It was just… an accident wasn't it? We don't expel people from Hogwarts just for blowing up their aunts! Plus, we are in… emergency circumstances and I think we can overlook unpermitted magic use with that in mind." Fudge forced out a laugh as Harry just giggled and almost fell over his own feet. Taking a whiff of Harry's breath, Fudge sharply turned back to the man, once again having to put on a tight smile. " Once again I urge you not to enter any more Muggle bars. Though there is this slight loophole in the wizarding underage drinking law, be assured I will look into amending it the moment my schedule frees up."

The blonde man, who looked nothing younger than twenty years old, inclined his head to the side and casually asked, " What makes you think I have been in a Muggle bar Minister? I am sure every other Hogwarts students on their summer holidays right now would like to give it a go if they knew how easy it is to trick those Muggle barmen – but surely I don't have clue."

Fudge's face glowed red as if he had been holding his breath – ever since he first saw this irksome scoundrel at the start of the Hogwarts summer holidays. Unlike Harry, if Neville Longbottom were to cause trouble for Fudge, that trouble would be in the rank of telling every underage wizard that they could be served as much alcohol as they wanted by fooling Muggles with an Ageing Potion. Fudge really needed that law rectified first thing after recapturing Black – classing Ageing Potions at the same restricted class as Polyjuice would be nice. At least then Fudge would not have to stare up at that infuriating smile while Neville's real height should be levelled with a dwarf.

If Fudge had just put a stop to Neville from the beginning, those high-classed and influential figures would never have even initiated a greeting with some snort-nosed boy. Before Fudge knew it, even his wife was talking about 'the charming young man at The Hoglake Shop'. That old crack Algie Longbottom had opened up The Hoglake Shop at Diagon Alley in Spring, and starting from his retired circle of friends, the game had started to replace chess as one of the games pureblood played to look smart. As Neville and his summer PR campaign milked, 'Quidditch for the Brawns. Hoglake for the Brains'.

Fudge, and many of the common folks, was not that familiar with the new game of Hoglake until Neville's takeover of the shop's operation. Parents with children started streaming into The Hoglake Shop after the summer holidays begin and the students told them all about it. Thanked to Algie's establishment of Hoglake being a new fashion icon for the sophisticated, even the high prices for a single mask were made to seem reasonable, almost like buying a broomstick.

As if that was not enough for the greedy bugger, Fudge could no longer go anywhere without seeing a poster of Gilderoy Lockhart in his official Hoglake robes. Fresh from his new wave of popularity for allegedly defeating the monster that was causing attacks at Hogwarts, Lockhart somehow became the new face for The Hoglake Shop and promoting a new line of clothes that were supposedly made for playing Hoglake. Of course, the housewives and children lapped that marketing scam up as well and were practically throwing galleons at the boy under the notion of stupid consumerism and group mentality. Fudge's nephew Rufus was a prime example: having bought seven different sets of those Hoglake robes for each day of the week.

Having connections in high places, ancient pureblood status, ever-increasing wealth and fabricated respect for inventing the game that was currently gripping the wizarding community, Fudge had to treat Neville Longbottom as he treated Lucius Malfoy. Both men were best dealt with one eye closed despite Fudge's dislike of both – but disliking the brat Longbottom even more since he had still to learn the political technicality of sending bribes. Fudge told himself to just bear Longbottom until Hogwarts started again and changed the subject, "Where did you find Harry, Longbottom?"

" You see, Harry writes to me weekly and once I know of how insufferable it was for him, I used my owl to deliver him a Portkey to join me for a bit. It just happens the parcel was delivered at a chanced timing." Of course the Portkey delivery was orchestrated beforehand, but no one else in this world would know that apart from Neville himself.

" Are you confessing to illegally creating a Portkey Longbottom?" Fudge asked almost hopefully. He had been trying to convict Longbottom of performing underage magic, knowing that was the easiest way of teaching the boy his place. Unfortunately, mixing ingredients and brewing Potions was just as criminal a charge as cooking chicken soup. Now supposedly having used underage magic and performing an unauthorised Portus spell, Fudge showed his genuine smile for the first time in front of Neville.

Unluckily for Fudge, his smile was short lived as Neville laughed, " Of course not Minister! For a businessman, I am one of the most upstanding citizens in our wizarding community! The Portkey was cleared and sent to me from the head of the Department of Magical Transportation. I had asked Gamp about it at the shop, if you need witnesses. Plus Minister, we are, as you say, in emergency circumstances here with Black's escape."

" _You_ know about Black wanting to – well no matter!" Fudge stopped himself in time and very roughly steered the topic away again, " Why didn't you just Apparate Harry to the Ministry immediately once you've found him?"

Neville gave Fudge a slap right back, metaphorically. " Apparate Minister? I am underage as you are well aware of when you tried to accuse me of Apparating last week. Unless you are planning to revoke the law for Underage Apparition, then I would earn a licence right away and Apparate Harry right to your doorsteps the next time he disappears."

Fudge visibly shook and had reached his boiling point for today. Then as he did every time that happened, which was almost every time he met Neville, he made an excuse, " Harry. Now let's get you inside the Leaky Cauldron. We do have a little to talk about and you need a good night's rest."

" I hope I leave my friend in good, safe, and competent hands Minster." Neville could see Fudge almost walking into the wall in blind rage as he led Harry inside the inn. As if dealing a finishing blow, Neville added as if Fudge was a common babysitter, " And do remember to pick up Harry's luggage left near his house. The Ministry should be capable of finding those at least, they're right in the middle of the road."

After Fudge slammed the inn's front door shut, Neville Apparated with a swish of Dracula's Cloak.

0

0

0

Neville woke up to the sounds of bustling downstairs at the shop. He yawned and mechanically dragged his feet towards the large desk right in front of the window, facing the morning of Diagon Alley. On his way across the room, Neville had already performed the charms to save him the Muggle morning routines and was prepared to tackle the flock of owls already gathered on either sides of the large desk. Grunting out the incantation to make Espresso from the machine sitting on his Mini-bar right next to the desk, he began answering his costumers, manufacturers, and the few rare letters that were not work-related.

Today he had one from Elena, who he had taken up regular correspondence with since he wrote back enquiring about the purpose of that useless letter on Valentine's Day. This letter from her had consisted of her bragging about a trip to Peru and how Dracula had finally opened up a branch of The Hoglake Shop in Bulgaria after the profit he earned as shareholder in Britain.

After Neville finished his letters and coffee, he put on a set of Hoglake robes, which his advertising had promoted as a smart-casual type of attire now in the wizarding society. It was styled similar to a tuxedo vest: V-necked, joined in the middle, and a coat tail flowing behind where he walked using an Elegance Charm or two. Adjusting his accented sleeve cuffs, Neville made a mental note to send Lockhart a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey as personal thanks for the success of the Hoglake clothing campaign.

_Let's face it, unlike the Quidditch uniforms Cho designed, Hoglake isn't an activity that needed to be waterproofed or wind-resistant. Hanging around the Fashion Club did make me learn a thing or two about making clothes look good at least. If only there were professional Hoglake teams, we can sell these like Manchester United stripes. _

Neville did not even need to use the Eton Ear as a threat to get Lockhart to accept his business proposal – looking good for the media with minimal words coming out of Lockhart's mouth. There were benefits for both parties after all: Lockhart could gain further exposure and even a salary; Neville could get housewives and common households into Hoglake and vastly spread the game to different social levels. _I'm really not sure why Lockhart didn't do modelling earlier – after all, this one isn't a fabricated talent._

Neville drew Dracula's Cloak around him and climbed down the stairs to The Hoglake Shop. After much persuasion, Gran had allowed him to live above the shop if Neville would come back to the Manor at least once a week. Neville was greeted by the sight of his employees going about their morning routine restocking and cleaning before the shop opened. The guys were all toned in tank tops while the girls were young and prancing about in mini-robes. _Shallow and semi-revealing uniforms on attractive staffs didn't just draw in customers, but also a great sight for mornings._

Making sure they knew what they were doing, Neville left for Gringotts Bank as he did every morning. The usual things Muggle business did, like getting change in coins for the day or cashing cheques, could all be accomplished by magic at the store of course – but Neville took to the routine. The reason was not because Goblins were the cheeriest morning people of course. Neville would spend his time waiting in the queue studying the routine of the Goblins and the bank – scouting out the surroundings just as Oceans Eleven would do it. Unfortunately for Neville, he was a lot less talented than Danny Ocean and had still to come up with the prefect heist for the Horcrux well-guarded miles underneath his feet.

" Next!" The goblin at the high desk today, Whackbock, glanced up at Neville over his chained spectacles. " The usual Mr Longbottom?"

Impressing a goblin was a lot more than being polite and speaking Gobbledegook, a language which Neville was finding just as plausibly impossible to learn as the next wizard. After weeks of coming here, he had yet to catch a glimpse of the legendary bank manager, a character who everyone should be able to commonly call upon in the first or second chapter of fanfictions. Then again, a goblin remembering a wizard's banking routines was a feat in itself, and that was because Neville had by chance explained to Whackbock how Muggle credit cards worked before when a Muggle tried to exchange money this way.

" Good morning Whackbock, and yes the usual. I would also like to visit my family's high security vault again." Neville actually had to pry the permission from Old Al using the excuse that there were possibly books that would help his magical research in the Longbottom vault. For Old Al to try and deny him anything these days was a wonder in itself, but his suspicions quickly went away after the time they visited Neville's own new personal vault nearer to the surface. Neville might not be as rich as Harry, but he would no longer need to ration his Temporarily Invisibility Potions anymore.

Whackbock gave Neville a look as if he was a teacher hearing one of his students needing a toilet break again and commented, " I have never seen a wizard that visits his family vault so often Master Longbottom. The curious thing is, you never seem to bring anything in or out of the vault either."

" There's this book in there I have use of on a regular basis… My great uncle said it is too valuable to bring out of your care." Neville fabricated an excuse. Of course he only suffered those underground cart rides to observe the security down there and have a look at the Lestrange vault that was so close to the Longbottom's.

This was probably the twentieth time Neville went down there and for the twentieth time, he was empty-handed as he staggered out of the Gringotts building. _Well that's a Horcrux I won't get any time soon. Not to mention the luck of the protagonists, but even if I'd done exactly as Harry did in the last book, I'll never be able to live afterwards. It's not like I had any basis to get off for robbery as Harry did using the excuse: 'defeating a dark wizard to liberate the whole wizarding world'._

Wondering if he could get Norbert down there to have a fight against that half-blind Hungarian Horntail, Neville headed back to The Hoglake Shop. Once he stepped in, he was most unpleasantly greeted by a thirty-something woman with an excess of makeup and contaminated his shop with a dreadful density of perfume. " Ms Rosier. A pleasure to meet you again."

" Neville! Neville! Oh how are you today darling?" Ms Rosier flittered over to him after prying her eyes from the ass of a now-relieved male staff.

" Just my daily trip to Gringotts." Neville restrained a frown at his increasing lack of oxygen as she approached. " Can I interest you in any of our merchandises today?"

" I've always been interested in your merchandise Neville," Ms Rosier winked and almost made Neville puke out the take-out croissant he ate on his way to Gringotts.

" Am I to understand you are flirting with me Ms Rosier?" Neville tried not to flinch as the woman twirled her finger on his chest, her manicured nails sharp as a tigress's. _God,_ _I just hate to admit how Mrs Robinson re-enactments are so regular in my shop… _

" Oh I'm not trying to Neville. Do you want me to?" Ms Rosier giggled and covered her mouth. _As if you have any sense of decency to begin with._ " You know about my terrible divorce not long ago. What's a little fun with my favourite Hoglake inventor?"

" Am I to take that as a request to pick out another set of Hoglake robes for you?" Neville faked a laugh and swiftly moved towards the clothing section. _The best way to deal with this sort of customer were to get them up to the cashier with something, anything, and leave as soon as possible so I can throw an air-cleansing spell after them._

Ms Rosier followed of course. They always followed. " Oh why can't you act more like your age and stop trying to steal money out of my purse like the other naughty young boys."

" Then you should know I am thirteen Ms Rosier." Neville tried not to let it get to him that Ms Rosier was one of his costumers that knew he was using an Ageing Potion.

Neville always used his real name when he initiated conversations with a costumer to expand his social network, and with his appearance of being a twenty-something well-groomed pureblood, no one would suspect anything less. By the time their topic of conversation involved something that forced Neville to verify his real age, they no longer cared that what they saw was not what was underneath. Phileas Gamp for example, head of Department of Magical Transportation, was mortified that he had been talking to a child still at Hogwarts but was so impressed with the Charms theory Neville was discussing that they just kept on talking. Some costumers though, Ms Rosier for instance, took 'not minding' to a new level.

" Well you're the only thirteen year-old who owns his own business, talks as if his mouth was rinsed with honey, and looks good enough to eat." Ms Rosier added in a husky tone that was supposed to be erotic, but reminded Neville of a chain-smoker. " And I'm into younger men anyway."

" The way I see it, you just enjoy the thrill of walking near the edge of law." Neville never thought in his life he would be under the protection of underage laws. " Actually, our product development team has been designing a new style of Hoglake pieces that looks more… provocative… Oh you didn't think Hoglake players would look like giant chess pieces forever, did you? Did you forget the Magical Creatures edition we released last month? Not to mention we always take orders for custom-made masks."

After almost the whole morning of listening to… actually Neville forgot what the conversation was about and half shoved Ms Rosier with her bags out his shop. Neville took a deep breath of magically-induced fresh air again and leaned against the table displaying Board Hoglake sets, the tiny Hoglake pieces playing against each other magically as demonstration. There was a backroom where real matches could be played on site – and it was getting expanded to put up for rent like indoor basketball courts.

_Yeah… business is good._

" Neville?" A young voice asked from behind him.

He reflexively slapped on a smile and turned around, preparing to put his hands on his knees and bend down to the kid's eye-level to look more endearing but froze when he saw that it was Harry. Neville closed his gapping mouth and sighed at the awkward expression on Harry's face. " Been here long?"

" A bit," Harry answered nonchalantly. " Just walking about Diagon Alley, you know. Thought I'd drop by to have a look at your new store. I heard it's really popular these days."

" Yeah, business is good." Both of them glanced at the front door that Ms Rosier exited from a moment ago. Neville cleared his throat and got a grip on himself with a swish of Dracula's Cloak behind him. " Well let's go Harry. It's not often you get to spend your days in freedom."

Harry cracked a smile, " You make it sound like I'm just out from prison."

" Well practically. Hey Jude! Take care of the shop! I'm going away for a bit." With that, Neville and Harry stepped out into the crowded streets. It was a weekend and therefore was busier than usual. " Had a good stay at the Leaky Cauldron Harry?"

" Oh yeah, I've never stayed at an inn before." Harry added darkly, " And never woke up with a hangover."

" Haha, there's a spell for that. It's a bit complex but nothing Hermione can't do." At the mention of that, Neville just silently whipped out his wand and performed the spell by tapping Harry's forehead.

Harry jumped as if he had just received an electrical shock, " Neville! You just did underage magic! You'll be expelled!"

" You've been very much misguided about the Trace." Neville went on to explain to Harry about the flawed magic monitoring system.

" I – I can't believe it works like this! I mean, I can even use magic right now?" Harry asked and looked up at Neville with an excited gaze.

" Yes you may." This was when Neville noticed how Harry had grown taller through summer and pointed at Madam Malkin's. " You've grown quite a bit taller Harry, we should get you some new robes."

" Okay." Harry shuffled his feet into the shop after Neville opened the door for him. During his fitting, Neville talked more about the establishment of his business's clothing branch after Harry asked him about the Hoglake robes on display. They only talked a little last night at the bar, most of the time Neville gave Harry a crash course about bar-etiquette and Muggle alcohol. He wondered how much Harry remembered after trying the Gin Fizz, Manhattan, and then the Tequila Slammer.

By the time they came out of the Madam Malkin's, it was Harry's turn to talk more about the discovery of Lily's old things. Neville had been thrilled after hearing about it in one of Harry's letters. _I can't believe there really are the 'parents' relics' in his world. I mean, it isn't a super powerful wand, Potter family crests, or Harry being a part-super-human race, but from that look on his face, the boy's inherited a real treasure. _

" I'm just glad you found your mother's things Harry. But I'm sure I can guess what the most important find was," Neville could not keep a smile off his face as he said this. " Just imagine the fun times we would have if the pictures of young Snape were ever to fall into Sinistra's hands."

Harry burst out laughing as he did whenever the twins came up with a good prank, " You're sure right about that!"

" Hey I'm getting hungry, how about getting some lunch?" Neville asked as he spotted his usual restaurant up ahead.

" Sure," Harry answered and was led up the stairs between two shops.

" This restaurant is simply marvellous. It's quiet and has the most excellent wine list." Neville continued in his drabble of reminisce, " I suggest the Rognons de Veau – I know the ingredients may throw you off, but it's really a treat. The Moules de Roches here gets you drunk on the smell alone, but I'm personally not a seafood fan. Some other things like the Pâté and Vichysoisse they do nicely too."

" Yeah, sure." Harry got to the top of the stairs and raised an eyebrow at the dimly-lit restaurant. Harry took one look at the well-dressed waiter, then his own jeans and T-shirt and whispered to Neville, " I don't think we can get in without a tie."

" Wizards don't usually wear ties," Neville pointed out and turned back to the young waiter who spotted him. " Neumann, good afternoon. My usual table. For two."

" Certainly Mr Longbottom. Please, right this way." They followed the waiter and sat down at one of the booths with a little roof on top, a Bluebell Flame floating below it a bit above their heads.

Neville flicked his napkin to the side and placed it on his lap. Turning back to Harry, who was quickly doing the same, Neville asked, " Have you got your school things yet? We can go to Flourish and Blotts after this to get your books."

" Ah, no it's fine. Don't you need to go back to your shop? You sound pretty busy these days." Harry reminded as he scanned the rooms with his green eyes.

" Yeah, it's the weekend. Kids on weekends." Neville involuntarily made a frown. " One time, some random nine year-old set off a Dungbomb in the middle of the shop. Seriously, do parents have to keep them on a leash?"

Neville talked to Harry a bit about professional Quidditch, a field of knowledge he was forced to learn a little for his social networking, and then went on a bit about Gringotts. As much as he wanted Harry to come up with a great idea about how to rob it, it turned into a financial lesson for Harry about his trust fund. After all, wizards invested as well, some even in the Muggle stock markets. _The kid really needs to know these things. As much as being an Aurora pays, why start making money later when he can do so now?_

As the two Gryffindors walked back to the Hoglake Shop after lunch, Neville talking about the line of work owls at his window every morning, having been led from Harry's topic about letters from abroad, they saw a familiar Slytherin exiting The Hoglake Shop.

" Potter? What are _you_ of all people doing here?" Draco spotted them and asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Why can't I be here Malfoy?" Harry immediately returned a glare.

" With Black out and about, I thought you'd be cowering under your bed!" Malfoy smirked back.

" Cower? I haven't seen you face Voldemort twice, or even once in your life." Harry's mention of the name made Draco shudder, " You can't even say his name."

" As much as I enjoy watching this little tennis game of boyish taunts being exchanged, Wimbledon is always on TV this month." Neville stepped in and turned to Draco, " How are you Draco? Came to share another one of your 'thrilling' quests?"

A good few students from Hogwarts had dropped by Neville's shop during the holidays, but nearly all of them could not recognise Neville's disguise. Draco wandered in one day with his father though and screamed right away, pointing at Neville as if he was a ghost. After much talk about what Neville was doing with his business, to the unappreciated approval of Lucius Malfoy who tried to get in on the pie – blatantly rejected by the way – Draco finally got the whole picture. More than the whole picture in fact since Neville's idea with the Ageing Potions was practically the solution to Draco's 'Nice Guy complex'. Still to fully recover and in absolute denial about Lavender rejecting him, Draco had spent most of the summer mingling around the Muggle bars picking up women – or so he unbelievably retold to Neville on a regular basis. Neville tried to be a good friend and endured Draco's tall tales about girls 'accidentally' dropping an olive down their cleavage or a pair of sisters fighting over his attention.

_Overlooking the fact that he said he got pick-up tips from FHM, Maxim and Wizard Weekly, and his abysmal record in seducing Lavender, the thought of Draco going into the Muggle world on his own like me is quite impossible._

" Actually no," Draco cleared his throat. " Last night I went to a Muggle bar, struck up a conversation with some random blonde, and then I realised it."

" That you were dreaming?" Harry rolled his eyes. " You can't just wander into a Muggle bar and pick up girls. How old do you think you are?"

" As old as an Ageing Potion makes me you idiot," Draco snorted.

" Oh…" Harry lost this one fair and square, remembering the shocking meeting with disguised Neville again last night. " I guess…"

" It's possible, but you know as well as I do Draco will never do such a thing. Wandering around in the Muggle world on his own? Yeah right." Neville whispered to Harry.

" Anyway, as I was saying," Draco rolled his eyes condescendingly and turned back to Neville. " So she was saying all this rubbish about those Muggle machines called cars and I thought – who would care about such large heaps of metal when there were broomsticks? A Firebolt can out-fly any BMW any day – not to mention cars can't fly."

" The point is?" Neville tried not to let this friend down but urged him on whatever message he was trying to get across this time.

Draco took a deep breath and said, " I think I'm ready to go down Rose Lane, Neville."

Harry of course just stood there like a brick but Neville was close to his knees. Neville growled, " Oh no you're not. That's not some place you can go on your own young man."

" Young man?" Harry's incredulous gasp was quickly drowned out by Draco's protest.

" Rose Lane is the exact place young men go! Neville, I can't stand Muggle girls anymore! I need to see how well I've gotten in this 'game' with a witch." Draco added before Neville could argue about his discriminating attitude, " And I won't be going alone – cause you're coming with me."

" Nice shot, but no. I don't go down that way." Neville stated as he swept back Dracula's Cloak as if that was finality. " And you won't either, or else I'm calling your father."

" Come off it Neville, you're my friend – not my friend's parents!" Draco sighed exasperatedly.

" Where is this Rose Lane place?" Harry chose that moment to ask and from Draco's twitch of his lips, Neville knew there was impending trouble.

" Ah yes… Potter, you've never been down that side before, have you?" Draco took a step closer to him and continued to say in a smooth voice, " But you must know about Knockturn Alley right? At the very end of it, just a small turn down the right, that would be Rose Lane."

" This is about the Dark Arts isn't it?" Harry gave Neville a reproachful glance.

" Not really. If you must describe it with a colour, I would say pink more than dark." Draco actually threw his arm over Harry's shoulder to Harry's apprehension and Neville's dismay. " Don't tell me you're scared of the place just because you have to walk past Knockturn Alley to get there."

" Yeah right Malfoy!" Harry shoved his arm off and was already two steps down that direction, " Let's go to this place you were talking about."

" Harry. They won't let you in." Neville was shut out by Draco though as the blonde boy sneakily threw Neville a backward glance, strutting up to Harry as if he was a new best friend.

" Listen Potter, you need to at least _look_ the part to get in that place. I have a few spare Ageing Potions…" Draco's shifty smile finally woke Harry from his rash Gryffindor temper though, thanked to Neville's silent gestures of negativity behind Draco's back.

" Actually Malfoy… I won't fall into your trap. This must be a trap, isn't it?" Harry asked dubiously.

" Trap? God no! Scared Potter?" Draco tried the same trick again, but it would not work twice.

" I won't fall for it Malfoy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some books to get for school…" Even as Harry was saying those words, he felt incredibly childish just hearing himself. Neville thought so too, but of course kept silent.

" Don't forget to go the bank and talk about your investments," Neville tried to encourage his innocent friend to do the right thing.

" Hey, I'll go with you Potter!" Neville cursed his big mouth as Draco immediately jumped to volunteer. Also, at Neville's words, Harry's face surfaced a doubtful expression as if considering whether listening to either of these two was a good idea. Draco waved his hand and shooed, " Don't you have to go back into your shop Neville? They said you've been gone for a long time. I'll take care of Potter, no worries!"

" You? Who can't even stand being in the same castle as him?" Neville frowned and asked Harry, " Harry, why don't you do your shopping and business tomorrow? I think I can free up some time but we do have a month before school starts again."

" Thanks Neville, but I think I can handle this on my own." Harry's sentence finally woke Neville up to what he had unknowingly done again. _I had subtly made this into a challenge haven't I? I made what Draco suggested, with Rose_ _Lane and everything, sound like an adventure while what I suggested was a safe, childish, and wimp-ish way out! It's as good as daring a boy to do something!_

" I must say Potter, I have quite some experience observing my father with his investments and I'm sure I can give you some advice," Draco could not help but laugh as Harry fell for his bait with Neville's unconscious help. Draco also knew his wingman for the evening was not solely going to be Harry and shouted back as he led the somehow disgruntled Harry towards Gringotts, " Oh and Neville. If you plan to join us this evening, we'll be meeting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour at nine."

" Nine?" Harry asked, the good boy that he was. " Tomorrow?"

" No. Nine – P – M, Potter!"

" Oh… Right…"

As much as Neville was astounded by Draco's intentions of spending almost the whole day with Harry on his own accord, and the two of them looked to be able to interact without throwing curses at each other, Neville really had a slight hope that one of them would be knocked out before nine o'clock arrived.

0

0

0

A/N: I'm releasing this early cause my updates have been late for the past weeks and I'm anxious to get some response about the direction this year will go.

Once again, I think I've stopped at an awkward place. This year will seem to progress slower because a lot of things will be going on with many different characters. I'm also going to be stepping away from the main storyline and that would take words to explain and etc. You'll see, I hope.


	45. Book 3 Chapter 2

Synopsis: What Neville's 'plan' was for the summer went quite well and he's settled into a life very much suited to his mental age, much to his wishes. Of course, disturbances of course come along in the form of people of his physical age. Draco was about to drag Harry and Neville both down the infamous Rose Lane.

Chapter 44 – Age.

Rose Lane, just off the end of Knockturn Alley, was a prime spot for crazy night outs. Young wizards went there for their stag nights, and witches for their hen nights. It was a place where hags, vampires and, sometimes even veelas, could be found loitering about in drunken laughter. For the life of debauchery and jadedness, this would be the place to go to inhale some of the mortal smoke that sins the wisest of men. It was not a red-light district as such, but it was the place to be depended upon for some play time.

That night, the front door of Club Innuendo burst open and from the blonde man's foot still in the air, it was kicked opened, rapaciously. The man looked the typical bad boy material, with his slick-back hair and silver long coat fanning around him as he swaggered in with a smirk on his face. He oozed confidence as if no one in the room would deny him anything, winking at the first pretty girl he laid his eyes on, heedless of the two friends following behind him.

On the right was the cute one, wearing a green bandana low on his forehead that accented his eyes. This one was not dressed as smart, donning a fully-buttoned shirt underneath a set of loose blue robes, but it brought out the sweetness in him as he ran a hand through his wind-swept black hair self-consciously.

The last of the trio was going to be a challenge just from the way he wrinkled his nose within his first breath of entering the establishment. He was also blonde, but his fringe was carelessly draped down one side, just letting hints of azure shine through from his hidden eye. He wore an alluring cloak in such a black that provided the answer to why black holes drew in anything close to it. The speed of his stride brushed aside the front of his cloak, revealing a set of navy Hoglake robes that were so popular these days, reinforcing the notion that he knew how to carry himself.

Like bee to honey, girls did not even wait until they reached the bar before flocking towards the trio, flitting their false eyelashes. As suspected from the girls with a keen eye, the one posing a challenging threw anyone who approached his friends and him a set of glares that froze all the girls in their tracks. After the initial wave of girls fruitlessly retreated, the trio got to the bar, where a flirtatious barmaid leaned right over and picked on the easier target.

" Three Torch-quilas babe." Draco smirked, satisfied, and quickly turned back to Neville laughing, " Did you see that? That barmaid was almost drooling on the counter!"

" You came, you saw, you conquered. Let's go." Neville did not have much patience for places like these, in his past life or this. He only came along because he had no idea what sort of troubles Draco would get Harry into if the two came alone – and Draco knew it as well.

" Are you kidding me? I might've conquered something if you hadn't scared the girls off the moment we came in!" Draco spotted the barmaid coming back and took the barmaid's hand while handing her a few coins for the drinks. " Thanks honey. Be nice and come back to check up on us often okay? I get lonely easily."

Neville and Harry both raised their eyebrows as they watched the barmaid giggle uncontrollably as she sauntered away. Neville could feel a suffocating unease creeping its way up his chest. _Draco couldn't possibly have been… No… We're talking about the kid who sent Lavender a stone bust of himself last Christmas for crying out loud!_

Draco did not reinforce Neville's wavering self-hypothesis by chugging down his Torch-quila without a wince. " You two, will get to know tonight, just exactly how the Malfoy charm works."

Neville took one of the glasses of yellow oily liquid, knowing he would definitely need more than one tonight.

Harry just rolled his eyes, " Not that it worked on Lavender."

" I repeat. Repeat. Lavender Brown did not reject me. She merely made a very bad decision." Draco said, knocking on the bar counter with his knuckles at the last sentence for emphasis. This brought the giggly barmaid back and Draco once again ordered a few more drinks.

Neville gave Harry a glance, who was coughing after he took the Torch-quila like the other two. " Harry, wizarding alcohol is a lot stronger than Muggle ones. I don't think it's a good idea –"

" Can't hold your drink Potter? Should've known." Draco was completely no help.

" Bring it on Malfoy!" After ruining Neville's plans with just a simple taunt, Neville had a feeling with the sum of Draco's obnoxiousness, Harry's stubbornness and his own feelings of frustration, they would really get head-over-heels plastered if they did not leave immediately.

" Guys, seriously, I can't be here. People recognise me from The Hoglake Shop and if someone underage was found here –" Neville's poor excuse was cut short by the Slytherin.

" You never let the media publish your age or the fact that you used Ageing Potions. For those who made the connection by themselves or know about the fact that the most talked-about young entrepreneur these days is the Neville Longbottom still at Hogwarts, they won't care." Draco said so offhandedly it was as if he was swatting away a fly.

Neville growled, and seeing their drinks were here again, ignored the barmaid's wink and paid for this round without any skin contact with the woman. Now although Neville was no longer modest with his money because of the Hoglake business, he was nowhere near the infamous wealth that was the Malfoy name or the size of Harry Potter's trust fund. Nonetheless, that did not mean he would let himself bought drinks by others throughout the night.

Harry thought the same thing as he took another shot of Torch-quila. " Next round's mines."

" That's the spirit Potter!" Draco actually raised his glass to his arch-nemesis before turning back to Neville. " And what if it got out you used Ageing Potions to look old? I'm sure you've suspected it would come out the moment you're back at Hogwarts with that Skeeter woman in business. People would just get more astounded by how young you are and how much money you made – my dad never stops talking about you for that."

" I expected me to get found out eventually – but not while at Rose Lane, or charged for underage drinking!" Now even Neville felt like he was a dork for saying that.

" What's Fudge gonna do? Really," Draco chortled and ordered the third round of drinks already. " Throw _you_ in Azkaban? He won't dare."

Slightly disturbed at how even a young boy like Draco could have so little reverence for the Minister, and wondering how Fudge really even got to that position, Neville shook his head. " Draco, seriously, what do you find fun about this place?"

" Fun? It's not a matter of fun Neville." Draco laughed, and for the first time, Neville felt he was the one being overseen by the younger boy. " It's the feeling of conquering a woman. Make them hang onto your every word, looking with starry eyes up at you like you're their sky and kiss you like their life depended on it like air. That's how we men work."

_And within the first day of meeting Harry Potter again, I find out I've mucked someone else's life up once more. Draco's turned into a thorough womanizer and misogynist because of me… Oh God, don't tell me… _Neville took a deep breath as he realised something terrible and almost brought him to tears. He put his hands on Draco's shoulder and asked in all seriousness, " Draco. I no longer care if those little adventurers you told me all through summer with Muggles women were true or not… But just one thing… Have you already… you know?"

" Already what?" Draco took the new round that arrived but only sipped half of his bourbon this time. _Who ordered that last round? When did we start mixing drinks?_

" Okay, to put it lightly. Did you go home with any of the Muggle women you claimed to have had your adventures with?"

" Oh, no. Funny how some of them kept asking me if I wanted to go back to their place though." Draco smirked as he checked out the girl with a very tight red dress over at the other side of the bar. " As if I would go sleep in a Muggle bed. Why would any wizard ever want to do that?"

Glad that at least the bottom-line for innocence was still intact but also feeling foolish for Draco, Neville just said as he took a sip from his Martini, " Fine. Great. I don't see why either."

" For sex of course!" Neville of course chocked and sprayed his drink all over Draco at Harry's outburst. Never had never faced such a shock, even while facing Riddle's diary last year, and he was just about to ask Harry how did he know when Harry elaborated, " Well you know my cousin. Dudley – that pig. He got stashes of porn mags and stuffs this summer. He even showed it off as if it was something to be proud of before my Aunt gave him a good talking to."

Neville crashed down onto a stool, supporting his body on the bar counter. " I… I – I don't know what to say anymore."

" As if that matters! Potter, why've you got lipstick on your cheek?" Draco pointed out after he turned his attention back from the red-dress girl and wiping his face dry. Once again Neville snapped his neck to stare at Harry.

Harry's face blushed feverously, but not red enough to blend in the smudged lipstick mark. " Well the barmaid came back with the drinks and she just gave me a peck on the cheek when I handed over the coins."

" I accept your challenge Potter! We're going to see who gets more lipstick on their cheek by the end of the night!" Draco banged his fist on the counter and almost jumped over it to call on the barmaid as if his drink was only half filled compared to Harry's.

_Ginny's gonna kill me if she finds this out…_ Neville downed the rest of his drink and was about to order another one when someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

Neville turned round to find a random girl with short hair wearing a halter top. She winked and asked, " So what's your problem Mr Cranky?"

" Excuse me?" Neville wondered if this was the wizarding way of picking a bar fight.

" Well you were the one who glared at those girls on your way in," She drawled.

" I was brushing dust off my friends and my coat. That was a metaphor by the way, in case you don't know." Neville was about to ignore the bimbo and try to convince Draco again but the boy was gone, talking to the previous girl he was checking out across the bar. Neville searched right and Harry was pretty much being swamped by the barmaid that served them and two of her other co-workers. _Damn the pureblood's pretty genes to hell._

" As you can see, your friends are having fun. Now what about you Mr Cranky?" The girl leaned in and whispered in his ear.

Even without Occlumency shields, it was easy for Neville to mask his expressions after taking over the business – that had been one of his summer plan's core objectives. That was why it was easy for him to turn to the girl with a stony expression and utter with a monotone, " I'm more interested in the typical long haired, feminine type of girl so you can stop wasting your time."

" Oh, alright then." The girl took a step away and just as Neville was about to rescue Harry, the girl took out her wand. Neville armed himself immediately of course, but all the girl did was point the wand at her head and her brown hair flowed out as if she was just releasing it from a bun.

" Better?" The girl raised an eyebrow.

Neville was of course unimpressed, contrary to what the girl probably thought was a sure thing. Ever since he was determined to change his attitude, and carry out his summer plans, he was in every way prepared for any psychological disturbances such as these. Once upon a time, he would have been magnetised towards that long flowing hair, but he had recovered the mind frame where his mental age knew hair was just an artificial tool women used to distract men. _It's only nature I guess_._ Plants have to look good by growing pretty appealing flowers or else bees will never land on them and help them spread. A strange, and perhaps bitter, path of thought._

" No actually. I appreciate your efforts but I suggest you find another target if you want your night to be even a bit worthwhile young lady." Neville even supplied the complimentary glare she mentioned as an opening.

" Man! You're beyond cranky! You're just a stupid jerk!" The girl stomped away and just as Neville turned back, he was confronted by a very red-faced Harry. _If he's still such a lightweight by the time we defeat Voldemort, he won't even last a minute at the celebration party afterwards._

" What?" Neville asked, glancing at Harry's frowning face. _Granted, it could just be the typical drunken confusion he has._

" Young – hic – lady?" Harry repeated Neville's words, though interrupted by the comical hiccup. " Seriously, how old do you _think_ you are now?"

" Harry, you're drunk and –" Neville was very rudely cut off.

" Oh shut up!" Harry flapped his arms in front of Neville's face for emphasis, even if it made him stumble sideways.

_Oh god, how did he just suddenly transform into the moody shouting Harry? It originally took five books before that happened! _

" I wasn't going to mention this, but you've been acting like some, some… old fogy!" Harry screamed. " I mean, that girl who just left was years older than you actually are! Then, don't you remember calling even Draco by 'young man' this afternoon? I mean, ever since I met up with you again at that bar last night, you acted like a completely different person. I mean, even for lunch you went to some fancy restaurant and ordered these strange food! The worst thing was seeing you when you were at the shop! I mean, come on! You looked so fake!"

" That is what they call growing up Harry." Neville sighed, figuring he was simply wasting his breath on the young drunk. " I've been trying to do that since the start of summer. Getting back the feeling – I mean, shifting my mind frame into how grown men should feel and behave. I can't afford to just run around anymore and muck up any more things than I already did. You'll understand in a few years –"

" This is what you call growing up? Talking about investments and only finding snobby-looking things interesting?" Harry's words would have more impact if he was not trying to keep himself upright with his hands desperately clawing on the bar counter. To make it worst, the barmaid brought him another shot and he automatically downed it, gesturing for another one without looking. Neville was about to reprimand him but Harry swung his arm over Neville's shoulder and pointed at where Draco was, " You know how I see it? You're acting just like Malfoy! And you _never_ want to be like Malfoy!"

" I'm not someone who can't get over myself." Neville flatly stated and shrugged off Harry's arm.

" I'm saying, Malfoy is trying to avoid facing Lavender's rejection by flirting and kissing and… what the heck is he even doing to that woman's ear?" Harry trailed off as Draco made the adventures that he told Neville through summer all the more believable.

" Just… don't matter Harry." Neville turned Harry round with their backs to Draco now – not to mention that moaning girl in a skimpy dress as well.

" Now where was I?" Harry shook his head, trying to clear some of his alcohol-induced dizziness futilely. " Oh yeah! You! I mean, just like Malfoy, who's trying to act like a ladies man, you're trying to act like such a 'grown-up' after what happened to Hermione last year!"

Neville never thought the drunken Harry, all his politeness subtracted, could ram into people like this. _Damn him for being the charismatic hero! And I can't just walk away from him either – he'd get eaten up here if left him alone!_ " I don't know what you're talking about."

" Oh come on! You haven't even tried to mention Hermione since I met you! You're definitely blaming yourself for not finding the diary before she was taken down to the Chamber!" _At least Harry thought that was the whole of it…_ " Well you know what? Hermione won't care about that! You don't have to blame yourself for it! Even Dumbledore didn't know anything about it and he's probably the wisest man ever!"

" That old fox?" Neville was warned with a glare from Harry and he allowed the protagonist to go on with his rant. _Harry telling me not to blame myself for something gone wrong? If only he knew how he felt after book five now!_

" As I was saying, Hermione – no, everyone that knows you – won't want you to change into – into – into a prick of a businessman just so you can make the 'safe' and 'best' decisions for us! We make our own bloody decisions and won't let you do it for us!"

Completely overwhelmed at Harry's foul language and the fact that he threw another Galleon onto the bar for more drinks, Neville could not even stop him from inhaling the glasses of burning liquid. By now though, the drunk probably would not be able to distinguish alcohol from lighter fluid.

" Who knows if you'll really grow up to be whatever it is that you were today, with all your classy restaurants or smarmy social politics, but don't force yourself to do it right now just because you think it's the best for someone else. Plus, who says grown ups make better decision? Just look at my uncle! People make their own decisions because of who they _really_ are and what they _really_ think deep inside! I don't need you to change, Hermione don't need it, and Ron don't need it. We've always liked you the way you are!" Harry banged his fist on the bar counter and ordered the barmaid to hurry with his next round. " Ron and I actually had a talk last year – after the Chamber of Secrets thing while you were still in the Hospital Wing. We all think you're already _far_ too ahead of us already. We don't just want to learn Stupefy or Impedimenta or something like that from you – we want to get good enough to fight _beside_ you. You don't know how it felt for us to be the ones lying there at the bottom of Chamber of Secrets, tied up by Voldemort, and not being able to do anything for you! If you don't slow down, we'll have to start dragging you back!"

" You Harry Potter… you…" Neville was at a loss for words, trying to blink his eyes clear before any embarrassing light reflected off them. Neville settled with, " You are a bad drunk Harry Potter."

" I know!" Harry took two shots of Torch-quila and handed one out for Neville. " Here, what's this called again? Tortilla?"

" Torch-quila. Wizard Tequila," Neville corrected.

" Whatever," Harry raised his glass to Neville. " And this is for growing up and not growing up, in our own time!"

" You probably won't have a clue how mucked up my time is – but whatever. If you ever have to battle a dragon for her golden egg in the future – don't blame me for it then." Neville clinked his glass and they both downed the shot.

" Hey Potter! I got ten full-on snogs already! What about you?" Draco chose that moment to return, his lips and cheeks in several different shades of red.

" Shut your trap!" Harry drawled, ignoring Draco and shouting at the bar, " Bring me the whole bottle of Tortilla!"

" Oh? Lost this one and think you can best me at something else huh? You! Bring me a full bottle of Fire-whiskey!" Draco hammered on the bar counter beside Harry.

Neville sighed, knowing there was no way they could escape the disaster that would be tonight. '_Growing up' in my own time huh? After all, like Harry said, who says that acting my mental age would make the best decisions? As long as I do the right thing at the right time… that's fine right?_

" Hey bar keep! Count me in for a bottle of Flame-vodka!" Neville shouted, clamping his arm over the shoulders of his two friends.

0

0

0

" So yes, a Grim is some sort of mythical imagery gimmick those hocus pocus fortune tellers made up. Not even as real as a mirage." Neville summarised for Harry as the two of them were having a late lunch at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. It had been their favourite hangout spot through the holidays when Neville stole away from work, and Harry could mostly be found there doing his summer homework.

" You know, from the way you went on all summer, I really regret taking Divination now…" Harry mumbled. " Between the teacher being an alcoholic and real prophecies only happens once in a blue moon..."

" You'll know the deal once you start that class." Neville sneakily added as a final note, " You're a wizard and know magic now. You know better than to believe in baseless superstitions. If you believe in everything a so-called Seer says, you might as well say seeing a black cat is unlucky. McGonagall, for one, won't be very pleased with you I'm sure."

Neville had been, some might even say very cruelly, brainwashing Harry into thinking there was no such thing as 'a sign of death'. As far as Neville remembered, for the whole of the third book, Harry had been bothered by the Grim, who was actually just Sirius Black. The closest danger this year was not even Black, but the Dementors – not to mention this year was the safest year, relatively, for him in the series.

_That's one stress factor down for Harry – all I have to do is continue to point out the suspicious and sloppy legal process that took place to put Black in Azkaban. It had been great to discuss the case objectively so far this holiday, as Harry had still to know Black as anything more than an old Death Eater. I'll let him find out for himself that he was supposedly Black's target and Black's relations to the Potters. I guess it's best this way…_

" With all the magical theory you taught me this summer, I don't think I can even look at a mouse the same way again," Harry groaned. Harry had generously allowed Neville to look at Lilly's old research notes together and they had been working on understanding it through the holidays.

From where Lily's experiments left off, they deducted that the easiest immaterial entity to transfigure were shadows. Of course, this point stumped Neville quite badly since from his past life, he had the concept that shadows were just a lack of light from physics classes. Harry was younger and a lot more open and flexible to arbitrary ways of thinking and probably created a much better concept of his mother's theories, as long as he was supplied with Neville's constant source of technical expertise. They were nearing a bottleneck though since they determined they would need a source of great magic capacity fused with a shadow in order to have a chance of a successful transfiguration. It would take a lot more work to figure how to fuse a unicorn horn, for example, into the shadow and then transfiguring them into something useful.

" How did you like your food Harry, Neville?" Florean Fortescue asked, sparing a few moments coming up to the children at their table. The nice old man really was very knowledgeable in medieval history and had helped Neville with the ammo to impress Professor Binns when they returned to Hogwarts. _Not to mention the man makes the best ice-cream ever._

" Great as always Mr Fortescue," Neville was just about to ask him about the battle they talked about last time when a familiar voice called out to Fortescue.

" Fortescue! This is actually the first time I've visited this ice-cream stand of yours!" Neville's mouth gapped opened when he saw the source of the voice.

" John Richmond! I can't believe you really took a step off of Mull!" Before Fortescue could greet who was supposedly his old friend, Neville jumped up from his seat and almost hit his head on the sun umbrella.

" Jennifer!" Neville bumped old man Richmond aside and bounded up to the pretty home nurse he had not seen since last summer. " How've you been? You're still as pretty as ever I see!"

" It's nice to meet you here as well Neville! How've you been?" Jennifer replied back with a grin and Neville rewarded her with one of his George Clooney smiles. _If only I'd taken my Ageing Potion today!_

" Ahem!" Richmond cleared his throat at the side. " I see you haven't changed one bit you little brat."

" Richmond, nice to see you here. Listened to my advice and came out to find a second wife?" Neville's question made Fortescue howl with laughter and Richmond tremble with a flush.

" For you information, I just thought I'd drop by to give Hannah a visit before she went back to Hogwarts," Richmond growled. " How is that Hoglake business of yours? I assume it is you taking care of it since I can't think of another possible Longbottom while reading about it in the Prophet."

" Of course! The galleons are just rushing in. Come by so you can leave me some galleons too, my shop's just down the road," Neville laughed.

" Is he your friend Mr Fortescue?" Harry asked quietly, a little out of the loop.

" Oh yes, sorry about that Harry. It seems Neville somehow got to know Mr Richmond from before." Fortescue introduced the two, " John, this is Harry Potter. Harry, this is John Richmond, an old friend of mines back in the day."

" Nice to meet you Mr Potter," Neville picked up the well-disguised profound glance at Harry's scar as Richmond shook hands with the Boy-Who-Lived. _Harry was the only person to survive the Killing Curse after all... Richmond still hasn't given up on reviving his granddaughter huh?_

" I guess we'll leave you oldies to catch up," Neville said. " Come to my shop later and I might even give you a discount. Have you even played Hoglake before old man?"

" No but I'm quite sure I can beat a little brat like you even at your own game." From Richmond's reply though, Neville was quite sure the manor on Mull was probably looking a lot better now compared to when the Council stayed there last summer. _Keeping correspondence with Hannah must have been some help as well… That girl does have a soothing effect outside Herbology class._

Neville did not know Hannah had come back from America and the two kids went to the Leaky Cauldron to say hi, but they surprisingly found her along with two other familiar faces in the dinning area.

" Harry! Neville!" Ron jumped from his chair and opened his arms for his two friends. _Why can't this guy be shorter, huh? Why?_ " I've missed you guys! I heard from dad you've been staying here Harry – and everyone's been hearing about you Neville!"

" Harry!" Hermione followed Ron and gave Harry a hug, " How was your summer? I hope you two didn't get into any trouble being practically on your own all summer!"

Harry lowered his face in a blush as he was probably remembering how him, Draco and Neville had woken up in the same dumpster the next morning after Rose Lane.

At this point, Neville would have picked up on how Hermione had no intentions of giving him a hug, and went on a rant about how Ron was her love interest, Harry was her little brother, and he was only her friend, but this was the moment of truth to determine the result of his summer's plans.

Neville scrutinized Hermione from head to toe: a nest of brown hair, a murky sort of tan, galaxies of new freckles from the holiday sun, the still ever-bulging front teeth, and the baggy mismatched Muggle clothes that definitely was not her colour. Most importantly, not sure if regular intake of Ageing Potion had really helped with his height, he was looking down at a girl he could truly feel to be a thirteen years old nerd.

Harsh as that was, Neville realised then his summer plans were fulfilled. Being around all those high-classed purebloods, being in contact with the likes of Ms Rosier, and living a life that was suitable for his own mental age – though Harry had hammer a slight dent in it – Neville could behave every bit as calmly as ever in front of a thirteen year-old Hermione again. _This achievement sounded better in my head…_

" It is nice to see you again Hermione." Neville ruffled the shorter girl's hair.

" Once again, you don't owl me often enough through the holidays!" Hermione smiled at that moment, and Neville withdrew his hand, and shrugged. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, " I guess you're really that busy with your business then?"

" Yeah, ask Harry. This is the last day of summer though so I'm practically off the hook now, or else I should be in the shop at this time." Neville turned towards the other girl, who was standing a step behind the other two. " So busy in fact I didn't know Hannah's back.

" Hannah, how was America? I only knew you came back because I ran into Richmond." Neville greeted the pig-tailed girl, who returned a timid smile.

" It was really fun. We looked at all these native American ruin sites and they showed us a lot of different magic from the ones taught at Hogwarts." Hannah said, " I've got a souvenir for you but it's up in my room."

" I bet it's food," Hermione interjected and from Hannah trying to keep from laughing, she guessed right. " I got him some sweets as well. That's probably the best gift for Neville on any occasion."

" Don't speak as if I'm not here," Neville complained.

" Isn't your family with you too?" Harry asked Ron.

" Yeah, they just finished their lunch before us and are already in Diagon Alley. We met Hannah and stayed a while." Ron went on to tell Harry that they were staying at the Leaky Cauldron like in the book while something caught Neville's attention. On the table they were sitting in before laid pieces of yellow coloured puzzles that reminded him of little jigsaw Legos. _These pieces somehow look strangely familiar._

Neville picked up an L-shaped puzzle block and asked as he rolled if over between his hands. " Ron? Did you get this from Egypt?"

" Oh yeah! I did!" Ron lifted up a partially finished section with a few puzzle blocks joined together in three dimensions. He said with a frown, " I picked it up at some strange second-hand vendor by the street. It just came in a dusty pouch and I wonder if it's missing a piece cause I can never complete it right. You're welcome to give it a try sometime Neville."

Neville's eyes quadrupled in size at the section Ron had completed. One of the blocks was a golden Egyptian eye… and from that suggestion of a pyramidal shape… _The Millennium Puzzle! Don't tell me it's Yugi's Millennium Puzzle!_

" What is it supposed to join into anyway?" Harry picked up two pieces and clipped them onto each other easily. They were probably the wrong pieces to fit together though.

" I don't know," Ron sat back down on his chair as he scratched his head, turning his partially-made model in his hand over and over. " It didn't come with an instruction booklet, picture, or anything. It was real cheap…"

" Whatever you do! Don't complete the last piece without me!" Neville screamed, earning him a few strange looks from the surrounding crowd. _I don't want an old Egyptian King taking over part of Ron and besting everyone one at every game possible!_

" Right… Anyway! We've still to go shopping for our school stuffs! Let's go!" Hermione said and then turned to Hannah, " Come with us too Hannah, you've still to get your school stuffs right?"

" Ah… yes, okay," Hannah joined the Gryffindors out of the Leaky Cauldron and was pulled into a discussion of foreign magic with the Modern Magic taught at Hogwarts by Hermione. The boys were leading up the rear as Ron basically repeated what Harry had said at Club Innuendo that night, after Harry told Ron about their work on immaterial transfiguration.

" There's no way I can ask mum to teach me any magic I can use in a fight," Ron moaned. " My dad though, picked up one of the strangest Muggle things one day and I've been training to it. I think they called it a VCR?"

" VCR? Don't they have LDs or VCDs yet by this time?" Neville asked out loud and the two boys just looked blankly back at him. " Never mind…"

" How do you know so much about Muggle things anyway? Aren't you from a pureblood wizard family?" Harry asked. " You never seem to have a problem understanding the Muggle things I say either."

" You know Neville, he probably reads almost as much as Hermione." Ron stopped and shook his head, " No, no one can possibly read as much as her. Anyway, I've been learning how to box from this VCR thing!"

" Boxing?" Neville did not personally have a liking for that sport really. Unlike Thai-boxing and the other variants, proper boxing looked pretty 'sporty'. A little like wizard duelling now and the fencing in his past life – all the rules and regulations had taken away an edge to proper boxing. Of course, a professional boxer could still probably knock anyone out with a simple jab and it is a respectable sport.

" Yeah! I've even seen the Rocky compilation a million times over!" Ron did a quick left jab at the air before him, then as if remembering something, his ears reddened " I've still got a lot to learn though – and I haven't really been practicing after my trip to Egypt. Got a little sidetracked."

_You're learning from Rocky movies? Good as they are, you should've just continued with the Jujitsu…_

" Sidetracked by what?" Harry asked, looking interested. He had obviously heard about boxing from his Muggle background, and of course Rocky, and would have probably taken up a martial arts too through summer if he had not been at the Dursleys and been information poor.

Ron recounted from his Egyptian vacation. " Well, Bill's got a colleague that's also a Curse Breaker and we got into talking about him playing underground Quidditch for a while. He taught me some stuffs…"

" Underground Quidditch? What?" Neville heard about underground boxing before but not Quidditch. _Maybe Ron got the two mixed up?_

" You know, no rules Quidditch." Ron glanced at the two clueless boys beside him and explained patiently, " For the legal type of betting, the Ministry has a strict rule on them from The Department of Magical Games and Sports. Underground Quidditch is no-bars betting while the organisers sometimes cover the Bludgers with spikes and – well you get the idea. My mum didn't like Bill's co-worker very much."

Neville grimly listened as Harry asked a bit more of about underground Quidditch. _If there's one thing about the wizarding world I've learnt this summer, it is that there are a lot more dirt behind it than the rose-tainted words printed in the books. I'm sure the people I networked with probably knew about underground Quidditch as well – it just wasn't something discussed up above the table… Underground Quidditch, Underground Duelling, Underground Owl-fighting – I'm pretty sure anything can be bet upon much like in the basements of the Muggle world._

" Did you see the pyramids in Egypt?" Neville interposed, subtly stirring the subject away back into the light-side.

" Oh of course! Bill took us all into one of the pyramids and you should've seen the face on my mum when Fred and George tried to smuggle out one of those tomb beetles!" Ron and Harry were nice and jumpy again at the mention of the twin's misbehaviour and Neville took a deep breath internally.

He wondered if he had hurried the books' characters along their times a little too quickly…

0

0

0

A/N: Not sure about how to spell fire-whiskey. Is it one word? Heck, just for spellchecker and my own memory, I'm gonna keep these names hyphenated.

Florean Fortescue, to me, is an old man, not that sure if he was even described in the books.

Man, this was a mega chapter – and it's been a while since I've had an insertion thing since Sudowood and Alan Harper…

Either way, just because there was some sort of 'revelation' moment with Harry at the bar, I hope you've spotted from comparing between that first and second section of the chapter that Neville is still to come in terms with last year and the future. There is a so-called 'turning point' in literature, I know, but this is a story and I believe personalities and outlooks should be changed gradually. At least in this case. Neville's inner personality will get unravelled more through this year, I feel.

Tell me what you think about this year so far – or take my new poll – or both!


	46. Book 3 Chapter 3

Synopsis: Neville, Harry, and Draco had their little night out in Rose Lane and the drunken Harry pointed out how Neville really wasn't as mature as he had acted to be the whole summer. Momentarily breaking out of his own mental dead end, and sensing a hint of the original characters' growth, Neville prepares for the Hogwarts Express into his third year of Hogwarts.

Chapter 45 – Defeated by a Dementor.

Neville packed the last of his books in his Seven-lock trunk just as Old Al came into his bedroom. The room did not change much since Christmas, except Neville was rich enough to get himself a cello to fill up the apparent space Elena said was there in the middle. _Money is also great for getting a large Moleskin pouch to keep them in, a trunk full of candy, and Demiguise hair –_ _the main ingredient in Temporarily Invisibility Potions… even if I did waste quite a lot before getting the brew right. _

" Dinner's ready Neville," Old Al sighed at the sight of Neville's trunk. " So back to Hogwarts already eh?"

" First thing tomorrow," Neville clicked his fingers and led the way back to the manor's dinning room. The Trio and the Weasleys were all going to stay at the Leaky Cauldron, but Neville of course spent time with the Longbottoms before separating from them for months. Neville actually never understood why the Grangers allowed their only daughter to spend so much of her limited holidays with her school friends while they were the parents who had not seen her for most of the year.

" I mean, do you really have to go? I've seen some of the research notes you do during the holidays and even I have no clue about them!" Old Al complained. Though not as much as he liked, Neville had spent some of his summer down at the Underground Cavern to practice and carry on the research on Arcane magic. He did develop a few more tricks, but still quite far away from doing tornadoes of fire like Dumbledore.

" Let's face it Old Al, you just want me to look over the business while you slack off and play Hoglake with your pals whenever you please. I've already settled things at the shop, there shouldn't be any major problems." Neville joked, " Summer vacation's over for everyone, so get back to work."

" I guess someone's got to," Old Al patted Neville on the head to his annoyance as they opened the door to dinner. Gran, great-aunt Enid and family friend Griselda Marchbanks were waiting for them.

" Oh, no Ageing Potion today I see," Madam Marchbanks observed.

" Yes, and I hate being short," Neville complained.

" What nonsense are you talking about Neville? Enid and I were worried we had to call Potions Anonymous!" Gran frowned as Neville shrugged so offhandedly. " I never liked the idea that you had to pretend to look even one day older than you should be just for some business."

" Now now, Augusta. Neville knows what he's doing when it comes to business – every wizard and witch knows that by now." Griselda Marchbanks had specially made the trip for Neville's farewell dinner despite her important position as an Elder of the Wizengamot. The ancient woman might not have liked the original Neville much, and was still as uptight and strict as if she was Professor McGonagall's idol in those respects, but she had recognised the abilities of the boy who appeared in the cover of TERM magazine. _TERM was the wizarding equivalent of TIME magazine. _" But I must remind you Neville, you are beginning your OWL studies this year and don't let all this get to your head. If you can't even pass these ordinary exams, you absolutely fail as a wizard."

" Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." _Direct and straight. Candidness is a must-have quality for an exam invigilator eh?_

" I'll just be glad if he survives this year without fighting a troll or a basilisk," Gran gave Neville a warning stare, which he of course avoided. _Well it's been almost half a decade since I've read the books, but I'm sure I'll either be confronted by an escaped convict, or a werewolf, or worst… a large bunch of Dementors._

" Speaking of dangers," Old Al asked, fumbling his kitchenware. " Griselda, I heard a nasty rumour about… them Dementors out of Azkaban and… Fudge actually wants them at Hogwarts."

" Oh don't even get me started Algie! I still don't see why we can't get anyone else as Minister! Just wait till the next election I tell ya!" Madam Marchbanks might have frowned, but it really did not show from the amount of wrinkles on her face. " Public opinion he says! Dementors so close to the children! Mark my words Algie, something will go bad with those monsters there!"

" I don't think you're settling him very much Griselda," Enid patted Old Al on the hand, who was looking at Neville as if this would be their last dinner together.

Old Al turned to ask Neville, who was busy cutting up a fat leg of lamb, " I know you know a lot of spells but… How are you on the Patronus Charm?"

" Dementors are not the most magically-resistant beings on the planet," Neville answered without worries. " If they don't go down with one Blasting Curse, I'll throw them ten."

" You have no idea what they are capable of Neville," Madam Marchbanks, who was probably frowning deeply this time with the lines on her forehead tripling. " A Patronus Charm is a bit complex for a child – even you. In addition, don't you dare take that attitude with Dementors. If anything happens, you must talk to Dumbledore. He had mentioned you to me actually and I see no reason for you to distrust him. Albus Dumbledore is one of the wisest and most powerful wizards of our time and I just don't see how a smart boy like you could be on bad terms with that incredible man."

" This I haven't heard of!" Gran immediately turned to Neville as if he had stolen some cookies from a jar.

" Our personalities clash a little, that's all." Neville had only mentioned things remotely related to Voldemort and Harry in a need-to-know basis. He did not want to needlessly worry, or cumber the minds of the other Longbottoms. _I'm sure that old fox foresaw how Madam Marchbanks will this topic up now. This year isn't going to be smooth either with Dumbledore is it? With how I told him about the Horcruxes and Harry last year… Damn that old fox!_

0

0

0

" Usually you're so on time Neville!" Gran hurried Neville, practically pushing him and his trolley across King's Cross station.

" It doesn't matter even if I miss the train anyway," Neville marched on with his new steel toe-capped boots. " I can always just Apparate."

" Have you forgotten the amount of splinching you've done to yourself during your practices? We almost had to notify the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad!" Gran shook her head trying to escape Neville's misleading pace and scolded, " You're not even supposed to Apparate in the first place! Now you hurry on past those barriers!"

" Yes Gran," Neville sped up to a run and whammed past the immaterial barrier onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. The scarlet engine blew its steam and had actually just started pulling away. By the time Gran came onto the platform, Neville had already pulled out his wand and shot his trunk onto the opened train door at the first carriage while flying after it.

" You get on that train Neville! And don't forget to write! Remember to stay out of trouble!" Gran shouted as Neville reached for the handle by the door of the train and swung himself in just as the train rounded the corner. " Oh but I guess I'm just asking too much aren't I?"

Neville was just catching his breath back when a pompous shadow fell over him. Percy, newly equipped with his shiny Head Boy badge cleared his throat loudly, " What are you doing here Neville? This is the Prefects' carriage."

" I just jumped onto a moving train Percy! And it's nice to see you too!" Neville growled while he did a non-verbal spell to lighten his trunk.

" You just did a spell didn't you?" Percy gasped. " No magic in the train corridors Neville! Within the first minute of meeting you and you're already breaking the rules! I'll have to report you to –"

" Neville! How was your summer!" Percy's girlfriend, Prefect Penelope poked her head out of their compartment at the commotion.

" Penelope!" Neville ran with opened arms towards the stylish girl wearing a mini-robe and gave her a snug hug. " Percy started picking on me the moment he saw me! And I was almost late and couldn't catch this train!"

Completely smitten by the younger boy's act, the girl frowned at her helpless boyfriend while patting Neville's back." Percy! Shame on you!"

" Neville! You must be looking for Ginny! Here, here! She went to the end of the train! Off you go now!"

After Percy practically thrown him out of the first carriage, Neville tried to squeeze past the rowdy corridors with his big trunk, greeting people and keeping an eye out for an empty seat in the compartments. Dean and Seamus greeted him simultaneously, glued together once again for the rest of the school year. Colin Creevey was nice and animated again, snapping pictures here and there excitedly with his younger brother, Denis. Of course, Neville specifically asked to review some of his photos on the more revealing modified robes. _I even saw a few people with Hoglake robes! Glad we got that little go-ahead from Dumbledore last year – Fashion is fabulous indeed!_

He was stuck in the corridor for quite a bit when a few guys from the Hoglake Club cornered him about new products from his shop, which he could only escape after the Weasley twins set off a spinning fanged turtle for him. A few people he knew from the play last year asked if anything like that was going to happen again, Alan Harper being the most anxious one with a full script of Romeo and Juliet already written.

Speaking of Alan's proposed Juliet, Neville saw Ginny on the way too. He had only seen Ginny briefly yesterday when he met the Weasleys before Flooing back, he being too busy crowded around by the twins and she was hanging back behind Molly Weasley. Ginny was currently having as much trouble as Neville in travelling up the crowded train corridor in the opposite direction as him.

" Ginny! You've grown taller… but ironically, you got a lot shorter than me!" Neville's heart burst into a flutter of song birds – metaphorically. He could not stop himself from patting the now significantly shorter girl on the head, laughing all the way, " I always knew I'd grow, but finally being rightfully a head taller is always nice! I heard from Ron but how was Egypt for you? Hey, I'm talking to you…"

Ginny just stood there, with her head bowed down and blushing. _She's still wearing the hairclip I gave her last Christmas, so she's not mad at me or anything. As far as I know, there's no way she'd mistake me for Harry so…_

" Are you feeling alright Ginny? Oh! Don't tell me!" Neville went for a guess, " You don't have to get embarrassed for getting lost on the train and can't find Harry again."

" No you idiot!" Ginny screamed and shook her head vigorously, her red hair dancing about her red face.

" What's your problem?"

" _You_ are my problem!" Ginny pulled Neville down to her height by pulling on the collar of his Dracula's Cloak. " You can't just come up to me after summer and speak to me as if nothing's happened!"

_Oh yeah… this is really the first time we've properly talked after the play. I guess for a little girl, who had looked forward to kissing her dream-boy for the whole year, to have it ruined like that… _

" Listen Ginny." Still feeling jolly that he had grown taller, Neville exaggeratedly put his hands on his bent knees and leaned down to her eyelevel. " You're a big girl now so don't go throwing tantrums on little things like that, okay?"

It was like someone had plugged a pump to her back, and the red balloon that was her face got overinflated – and burst. " The reason why I even acted the part was because of _that_ _scene_ and you came along and ruined _everything_! And what 'little thing'? That was my first kiss! My first kiss! Give me back my first kiss damn it!"

" It wasn't like it was my second either!" Neville wiped the spit splashed across his face from her screaming. " Come on, now that's disgusting. Plus, compared to a kiss, wasn't seeing you butt-naked a lot worst?"

" I can't believe you're bring that up again!" Ginny gasped and pulled at Neville's hair on the sides of his head. " I hate you! I hate you! I hate –"

Two excited seconds years halted – very abruptly – Ginny's shrieks of aguish and Neville's yells of pain. The two running boys did not even notice Ginny and Neville stood there though, much less about interrupting their little argument. They were just horsing around, chasing each other down the train corridor – and bumped into the back of Ginny. In turn, with her and his face so close to each other, the inevitable happened. Neville looked back into Ginny's wide brown eyes for a few seconds before the girl realised what just happened and pushed him back to the other side of the corridor with a screech.

" I can't believe it! I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" Ginny was definitely hyperventilating.

" It was an accident Ginny. Just like the play. Just like Romania. An accident… well – accidents." Neville tried to rationalise the situation for the little girl but was cut off further by Ginny's screams.

" I was wrong! I was so wrong! Bad things _do_ happen when I'm around you! Very very bad things! Ah! Now I'll never get married!" Ginny fled, covering her face and bumping into quite a few people along the way, as if forwarding what those two second years did to her was the best way to vent.

Neville sighed to the back of the young girl then continued his way down the hectic corridor. _As much hurt and trauma as the original Chamber of Secrets event had on Ginny, it had definitely made her a more mature person in the long run with the experience. Without that now, though not saying she'll change into a completely different personality, it was safe to assume with her conviction of never getting married over a kiss, it'll still take a while before she really grows up. Plus, that bond with Harry, all that being possessed by the same person thing, or saving her life thing, are gone now... I'm really not helping Harry's love life am I?_

" Hey Neville! Finally found you!" Draco patted him on the shoulder, apparently coming out from the bathroom. He led the way and said, " The Council's got a compartment just down there. You saw Hannah already though right?"

" Yeah, yesterday," Neville answered. " We went shopping with the Trio."

" Oh, those three. If it wasn't for Potter I would've had at least five girls by my side instead of just three that night." Draco lit up again after the rant and asked, " You looking forward to Hogsmeade this year? It's not Rose Lane, but I heard that Madam Rosmerta in the Three Broomsticks is a real looker!"

" I thought we were to act like we've never been at Rose Lane, Draco. Unless you want people to know you woke up in a dumpster, covered in lipstick prints, and a pocket full of Floo addresses." Neville was just glad they were all fully clothed that morning with the way the girls were touching Draco that night.

" Fine, fine. Oh, by the way, have you seen Lavender?" Draco asked, looking up and down the corridor.

" No… Are you going to try going after her again?" Neville was quite convinced now that 'this Draco' was not 'the Draco just before the summer' after the way he drove those women giggling like hyenas at Club Innuendo that night. _If everything he said he's done in the Muggle world was true… Malfoys really have a talent for being rich playboys…_

" Hell no! This ship has _sailed_!" Draco smirked and brushed a hand through his eternally smooth hair. " I just want to know if she'd heard I snogged Pansy Parkinson in the bathroom earlier."

" Pansy Pug-face?" Neville exclaimed. _Draco and Pansy? Wasn't that whole Lavender business to distract him from this?_ " And aren't you two a little too young for that."

" It was just her nose that made her look that way, and you can't even see it after what the cosmetic spells and potions treatment through summer – unlike some Gryffindors." Draco stated matter-of-factly, " And hello? I'm a teenager guy Neville, kissing is the soft option. Weren't you the one who spent summer playing a game of business monopoly and what my father calls 'social charades'."

Neville could only inhale a breath and admit Draco had a point. _This is bad – I'm losing arguments against this kid. Can't they grow slower? _

" Neville! How you been?" Su spotted the boys from inside their compartment and came to greet him. _Well here's someone that never change – still chopping that hair off like summer grass I see._

" Not bad Su – and what happened to all those letters you said you were going to send through summer?" Neville returned the light punch Su gave him on the arm.

" I got busy playing football and meeting up with old friends." Su laughed it off, scratching her head.

" Hi Neville. We thought you were sitting somewhere else cause we didn't see you earlier," Hannah piped up from where she sat inside the compartment. She gave Neville a weak smile as he levitated his trunk into place beside hers.

" I was just a bit late getting on the train." Neville and Draco joined them in and closed the compartment door. " Did you tell them about the haunted native American burial ground you visited?"

" They weren't haunted!" Hannah exclaimed.

" Yeah, wizards are all quite different around the world huh? Just from the fact that most of our incantation is Latin, Modern Magic was really created by the Westerners." Su supplied the little slips of information, " The native Americans, Chinese or the likes of old African magic and probably many more has probably been lost along the way. I mean, some other people around the world might know them, but the UK is really dominated by Modern Magic now."

" Damn Ravenclaws… Actually, one might come in handy for History of Magic this year." Draco's eyes flashed, " Any hot friends in your house Su?"

" What's gotten into this guy through summer? Really?" Su shuddered and pushed away Draco's eager face. " Oh! Neville! Draco told me it really was you in the Prophet! I know you told us about your family starting a business last year, but that was really you?"

The Council members caught up with each other about what happened during their holidays, with Draco retelling what Neville was still afraid to admit were true 'adventures' at Muggle bars, and the hours flew by. They got to discussing future events the Council could run this year when Neville left to go to the bathroom.

Afterwards when Neville stepped out into the train corridors again though, he knew something was about to go wrong as the train decelerated. Another few moments and the train had come to a complete halt, many students completely confused about why they had stopped even if they had not arrived at the their destination. Neville cursed when he felt the hairs on his skin stand on end. _Dementors! Man! I remember the least about what happened in the third book! I really should've just missed this train!_

Neville had vowed to act accordingly in moments of dangers like this. Immediately armed with his wand, Neville rushed towards the back of the train. Having learnt his lessons from last year, even if he knew the supposed future, he knew fate could change without notifying him first with a neatly printed letter.

" You!" Neville jumped back and snapped his wand around, pointing at the person who approached behind him. It was just Ginny. " Don't point that wand at me! Do you know what's happening? Why did the train stop?"

Before Ginny could go into her usual bout of yelling reserved for him, who was not in the mood, he just pulled her along towards the last compartment. " Follow me. We have to find Harry and the others. Dementors are coming onboard and it's probably better to stay in a large group."

" D-dementors?" Ginny choked, " But why are they coming on the train?"

The lamps chose that moment to go out and chaos broke out all around them from the riotous students. Neville's frown deepened as he shivered involuntarily despite wearing Dracula's Cloak. He and Ginny made their way down the train in complete darkness and finally got to the last compartment. He could even hear a familiar voice from inside the compartment.

" I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on." The door to the compartment slid open.

" It's Dementors, Hermione." Neville could not see her, or anything in fact, but he knew she was startled from her shriek and had probably backed into Ron, who fell with an 'oomph' somewhere.

" Neville! Where've you been? We thought Dobby locked you out of the barrier like he did us last year!" Harry's voice came up somewhere in the darkness.

" Quiet!" The unfamiliar voice revealed itself as Bluebell flames lit up the room. At first glance, Remus Lupin looked like an overworked salary-man in the book business, but there was a yellow hue deep within his eyes, accented in this sort of sensitive situation, which made Neville feel he would have a strong ally in the werewolf in times of need.

" Come in quick Neville," Hermione pulled on the sleeve of his robes, " and Ginny too."

" Stay quiet. Stay where you are I'm going to –" Lupin was just about to reach for the door when it opened again on its own.

There it was – a Dementor. Neville was armed, and even had his wand raised, but the musty cloak and whatever hid behind the shadows of the hood made Neville remember what Madam Marchbanks said last night at dinner. Gritting his teeth, he was just going to throw it a Blasting Curse – before the Dementor took its first breath in front of him. Yes, it just breathed in the same room and suddenly, Neville felt as if he had lost all his senses. Forget conjuring a spell; the meaning of incantations and wand movements all escaped from his head. His partially raised Occlumency shields kept him on his feet for a second or two before completely collapsing.

Neville fell onto the floor on his knees.

Something bright shone on top of him and Neville jolted awake as if he had just woken up from a comma from which he had his eyes opened. The Dementor was gone, probably from a Patronus Lupin conjured, who at the moment was busy looking inside his trunk for something. Harry was in a fit on the floor, still inside his own nightmare, with Ginny hovering over him close to tears. Hermione had wrapped her arms around her body as if it she was soaked in cold water and Ron had awkwardly put his arms around her. Neville turned back to Harry, who was first priority in line to be woken to his senses, and was about to levitate him onto a seat when he realised something.

Neville had dropped his wand.

" Neville?" The next moment he looked up again, Ginny held out a piece of chocolate to him. " Are you okay? You look spaced out."

Harry had snapped out of it, though having sweated through his T-shirt, and was sitting on a seat again. Ron and Hermione were sitting on either sides of him, also not looking very well but they were all staring at the silent Neville with concern.

" I – I… I'm fine!" Neville snapped and grabbed back his wand, Ginny emitting a yelp of surprise at his sudden reanimation. The bit of chocolate she was holding fell to the floor. " I'm going after Lupin."

Neville escaped the compartment before any of them could react. Gripping his wand so tight his knuckles made a cracking sound, he ran down the train corridor, past the mayhem the Dementors left behind in the other compartments. The Hogwarts Express was moving again, and by the time he got to the Prefects carriage at the front, he did not see another Dementor. They had all left the train before the train restarted its journey.

Neville smashed his fist on the train door as he glared at the rainy marsh outside the window.

" What are you doing here?" Neville's wand was gripped in the hands of Lupin during the middle of this turn. Neville really had to work on his reactions to approaches from his back. "Did you eat the chocolate?"

" Teach me the Patronus Charm." Neville demanded, taking a step towards who he knew had taught Harry. " All I've been getting right now are wisps of smoke – and I couldn't even hold onto my wand back there! I need to know!"

" Calm down!" Lupin forced his hands onto Neville's shoulders and whispered in his husky voice, " Calm down boy. It is okay. The Dementors are away now."

" I'm not some weak –!" Neville breathed heavily, staring into Lupin's gruff wary face. Neville realised at that moment when he started his outburst that he had let emotions take the best of him – the worst thing an Occlumens could do. Neville took a step back, rebuilding his mental shields and calming himself back down. Whether Lupin knew Neville practiced Occlumency or not, he patiently waited for Neville to say, " I – I am sorry for my outburst Professor Lupin. It was rude of me."

" It is okay, here." Lupin offered him a Chocolate Frog from his robes and asked, " What is your name?"

" Neville Longbottom." Though not really in the mood for the squirming wizard candy, Neville swallowed it down since he knew it would make him feel better. _In truth, this is my first time meeting Remus Lupin, isn't it? Now my Defence Against Dark Arts teacher really will think I'm a wimp from this abysmal first impression – I don't have Harry's reason of seeing his parents get brutally murdered…_

Lupin just nodded gently and said, " You did well Neville. You realised there were Dementors present on the train, and you resisted to their presence. From the looks of it, you even tried to retaliate with your wand. For your age, that is a great achievement and there's nothing to feel ashamed about –"

" I fell to my knees and dropped my wand Professor." Neville gritted out each word as if he was admitting to a crime. _The very first day back. The very first danger. And I screwed up. Completely. _" If you weren't there…"

" Neville. I don't know why you are doing this to yourself," Lupin laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. Just as any senior would to a little boy. " You're a student – a young one at that. It is the job of teachers to protect students."

" I'm sorry. I… I may need some time alone." Neville walked away from Lupin, back down the train corridor with his head bowed. He tried to calm himself and analyse the situation.

_Madam Marchbanks was right… Those Dementors don't need to be magic resistant – not when we can't send out a single spell in their presence. I've been trying for years but somehow, I'm just not getting any further with that stupid Patronus! It can't be because of my magic reserves, or the wrong wand movements, or anything I can think of! I'd thought any combat spell would do but after this time… How am I going to save Harry by the end of this year? I can't believe I screwed up so much! So simply!_

Not really sure where he was going, but sure that he did not want to face anyone at the moment after his utter defeat at the first attack of the year, Neville went into an empty compartment and locked the door.

0

0

0

A/N: I am sorry about the misleading Yu-Gi-Oh reference. Never thought it'd have so much feedback. It doesn't mean anything significant and this story will not turn into a cross-over. It's really just a little self-indulgent Easter egg like Sudowood before. It'll crop back up because I have uses for it, but there will be no Yugi, Battle Kingdom or Blue Eyes White Dragon blasting Voldemort into pieces. Don't think too much on it.

On an unrelated note, the HR personnel I emailed a CV to has Longbottom as surname, really. I found that amusing.


	47. Book 3 Chapter 4

Synopsis: Neville said his last goodbyes to the Longbottoms and boards the Hogwarts Express for his third year of Hogwarts. After a bit of catching up with the Council members and friends, Neville suffered his first real defeat under the hands of a Dementor.

Chapter 46 – The third welcoming feast went on longer than expected.

Neville was one of the last ones to leave the train, wanting to avoid everyone. His mind was still as much of a mess as a farm field after a tornado and seeing those morbid-looking Thestrals again would not help. _Not buying a broomstick was a mistake – and I can't Apparate into Hogwarts. Walking is completely out of the question since I won't be able to get past the guarding Dementors without withering helplessly to the ground like a pathetic –_

" Mr President! Fancy meeting you here." Neville was greeted by Luna, who looked completely unfazed as if she had never noticed the earlier Dementor raid. Luna probably observed Neville's whitened face like the other students and proved otherwise, " The Dementors huh? A boy in my compartment wet his pants."

" I did not wet my pants," Neville had wanted to shout that in an angry tone, but all that came out was a hiss. He sighed and muttered, " I need more chocolates."

" Here President," Luna fished inside her robes and pulled out a bar of chocolate, offering it to Neville. She was surprisingly wearing the old standard black Hogwarts robes, but Neville was sure she would paint it a radish colour soon if she continued with the Fashion Club this year.

" Thank you." They were about to enter the last carriage when both of them turned back to a noise coming from the train platform – a red and black blur shot towards them at the speed of a missile.

Neville immediately stepped in front of Luna, but by the time his wand was raised, it was uselessly too late. The blur had already screeched to a halt an inch in front of Neville's feet. _Second time today! Second time today I was useless! _

This time it was no form of danger though. It was, much to Neville bafflement at the boy's newfound ability, Ron. " There you are Neville! The others went ahead but we were worried about you so I stayed to search for you on the train. After all, I can run up to the castle in minutes now. Are you okay Neville?"

" Wow! Did you attach a Fastisarus on your foot?" Luna clapped her hands together and asked him.

" This is… Luna by the way." Neville introduced as the three of them went into the last carriage together. " Ron, how did you –"

Luna explained wrongly, as plain as ever, not even a bit fazed at Ron's new abnormal ability. " Oh, Ron and I already knew each other last year while doing the play. Ron is Ginny's funny brother."

Ron apparently took Luna's words as praise and his ear reddened a little. " Well most people give that title to Fred or George."

" So back to this thing attached to your shoes?" Neville was sure if Ron had entered the Olympics, he would win every track medal there were.

" Didn't I tell you about this yesterday? The thing about Bill's co-worker playing underground Quidditch?" Ron tried to give Luna a polite smile as he talked to Neville, her earlier Fastisarus theory being wrong and all. " They're even allowed to use spells while on their brooms and having faster reflexes could save your life – those Bludgers having spikes and all. Apart from spells to increase someone's speed, he also taught me some other physically enhancing spells too."

" I see…" Neville mentally compared the speed of himself using Floating Magic and how fast Ron just ran. _Ron was never in the Chamber of Secrets in the originals, but now having actually fought alongside Harry, did his mind frame change a bit? _

" Bill's co-worker is Italian so I don't understand his English very well… We agreed to write though, so I'll probably have to ask him a lot more during the year with the school owls." Ron put a hand on Neville's shoulder and said, " Harry and I are serious. If something happens again, we don't want to be the one tied up on the ground again."

Luna of course did not mind the boys talking amongst themselves, with her not knowing what happened in the Chamber, but she was off-puttingly staring at Ron with those wide eyes. Neville thought there could be a later time to ask Ron more about this foreign branch of magic and they were about to include the girl in a new topic of conversation. Just then, a wave of frostiness washed over the carriage.

Neville watched as Ron and Luna both shuddered and when he looked out the window of their carriage, he could see they had just past the Dementors guarding Hogwart's front gates. Turning back to his friends, Luna had already recovered enough to fish into her robes for another chocolate bar, but Ron still looked like he drank a whole can of ice-cold soda in one gulp.

Glancing between Neville and Luna, Ron asked, " Neville's probably got that Occlumency thing going, but how come you recovered so quick Luna? We just past the guarding Dementors right? My dad warned me about them…"

_I recovered quickly? So when I was on the train, I just lost my perception of time? Sure, I didn't get a horrible flashback, or felt anything apart from cold this time, but I definitely blanked out enough to drop my wand on the train… How…_

" Oh?" Luna had taken a moment before answering Ron's question, sounding pleasantly surprised to be talked to. " I do feel them. Back on the train, when one came into our compartment, I couldn't move and a memory of my mother came back to me. It wasn't one of the happier ones. My dad told me about Dementors before and I realised the flashback was just my own memories and the Dementor was just making me see them again to purposely make me feel sad. Then I just stop being sad and be happy again. Plus, I get to see my mother again for a bit, so it's not all bad."

" Ah… Right…" Ron answered dubiously. When the carriage stopped in front of the castle entrance and they left Luna to follow the line of students in their house, Ron told Neville, " Do you know they call her Loony Lovegood? I never thought being Loony had its uses against Dementors."

" Luna's just a bit…" Neville tried to find his best choice of words, but not really having much success since his mood was still to improve even after the chocolates. " Unique in her way of thinking. Frankly though, I think that's pretty strong of her, mentally. I'm sure she'll grow on you."

" I hope you didn't mean that literally… I'm sure she knows a magical creature that can make her cling to people. Last year, Harry and I had the strangest conversation with her during one of the play rehearsals… Then again, I do agree that she does stand her ground unusually tough for a weak girl – especially when it came to the existence of made-up creatures."

Ron and Neville stepped inside the Great Hall for the annual Welcoming Feast and Neville spotted Hannah running towards him. She panted at the door and slapped Neville on the arm, " Where've you been? We thought a Dementor got you!"

" No… Remember I said I was going to the bathroom?" Neville laughed it off, " I just had to stay there a bit longer than expected."

" You're disgusting Neville! And to think I was scared you were frozen somewhere on the train!" Hannah gave Neville a shove and ran back to the Hufflepuff table, " I can't believe you're the same guy they printed out on the Prophet!"

_Trust Hannah to care though… I should really get her something good this Christmas._

" Seriously though, where did you go to after that Dementor?" Ron asked as the boys headed towards the Gryffindor table.

" Just wandering about. Luna does call me the President for a reason – I get sidetracked by other things." Neville shrugged.

" Yeah right," Ron shook his head. " You were totally fazed out by the Dementor on the train. Harry went into a fit, Hermione started weeping and you just kind of… froze."

" My mind was just absent for a bit," Neville tried to put a bend to the boy's thoughts. They sat down randomly and greeted Lavender and Parvati across the table, saving seats for Hermione and Harry who were nowhere in sight.

" Come on Neville! You rejected chocolates!" Ron's argument was so valid Neville was left without a retort. " You looked almost normal when we passed the Dementors at the gates though. Are you sure you're okay?"

" I'm fine!" In risk of sounding like original Harry this year, Neville sighed and tried to close this topic of conversation, " I'll get this figured out… sooner or later."

" Just don't worry Hermione about it." Neville did a double take at Ron, who had been watching the Sorting with a bored expression.

" Ron? What did you say?" _Wait… Ron knows about Hermione liking him now right? What is the deal with those two then? I mean, after the summer, the first time I saw them was in the Leaky Cauldron together, and then on the train…_

Ron eventually seemed to realise what he had said and his ear reddened a little. Still pretending he was looking at the Sorting he said, " Well, she likes me right? I think we should just leave it as it is since mentioning it is just embarrassing but… I think I shouldn't argue with her so much anymore – even if I don't know why she'd gotten that dumb cat! You saw how it tried to kill Scabbers!"

At the mention of the rat, Neville used Occlumency to push aside all the less important matters and asked, " Where is Scabbers now?"

" Right here," Ron said, pointing at a lump inside his robes. " He didn't feel better even after taking the rat tonic."

" I see." Neville held a stoic expression but he kept his eyes on the lump. _Should I just kill him now? If it isn't for Pettigrew, Voldemort might not even be revived. But then I'd practically change everything. Would that just make it worst? And isn't it because Pettigrew received a life-debt from Harry and that saved Harry sometime somewhere? And this leads onto Black – what should I do about that guy? Harry won't think of him as Godfather, quite the opposite in fact, unless Pettigrew is revealed first and… Is it best to just follow the plot this year?_

" Neville? Why're you even asking about Scabbers? I thought you never liked him since first year?" Ron asked suspiciously, turning back to him now that the Sorting was over.

" I don't," Neville admitted but was saved from providing an answer to Ron's question by Hermione's entrance.

" Neville! Thank god you're okay!" Hermione sat down beside Neville and Harry beside Ron. " We were really worried about you when you ran out like that."

" Just a bathroom call," Neville provided a quick answer and Ron just silently shook his head.

Ron asked Hermione, " How come you two got here later than us? Did you take Harry to the Hospital Wing?"

" I'm _fine_!" Neville felt that would be Harry's catchphrase for a while. Harry tried his best to ignore the murmurings that were going on around him about his fainting spell from a Dementor and said, " McGonagall wanted to though. We were away because of that and she wanted to talk to Hermione about her classes."

" I still can't believe you took all the new elective classes," Ron muttered incredulously.

" Well I think you should do more classes too Ron. Especially Muggle Studies with how you can't even use the telephone properly to phone Harry." Hermione pointed out.

" Hey! I know full well how to use a felephone now!" Ron argued back. _Didn't this guy just say he shouldn't argue as much with her? It's just instincts huh?_

The reunion of the Gryffindors was cut short as Dumbledore stood up to speak. As expected, he went on about the Dementors and the new teachers, Lupin and Hagrid. At the mention of Lupin, Neville's gaze strayed to Snape. The expected glare from Snape to Lupin was distracted though by Sinistra sitting beside him, trying to scoot closer to the scowling Potions Master on her chair. _Don't give up Sinistra! I'm rooting for you!_

Dumbledore waited patiently for Hagrid to finish blowing his nose on the tablecloth and continued his speech. " If you all remember last year, this should be the time for our Junior Student Council President to give us his opening speech for the first years and the rest of the student body."

Most people turned to look at a dismayed Neville, who had really been looking forward to tucking into some food by now.

" Yes, Mr Longbottom has done a wonderful job of leading his team into changing Hogwarts into a more sociable environment for our young students. How could the staffs forget our double defeat at Quidditch, or the new clubs and societies that were encouraged to further the hobbies of our students. Just looking at the modified school robes on a number of the students around the Hall, decorating the school with each student's own dash of individuality, it is no doubt that the Student Council has exerted a very large influence since its establishment at the hearts of both our junior and seniors students. I must thank Mr Longbottom and his team thus far for their hard work in changing the school. But." Dumbledore got Neville on full alert and he raised his head with a frown. Dumbledore was about to stump him again.

_What is it this time? Just because I told him I knew about the Horcruxes last year? I suspect Harry was one, and is close to him? Or does the old fox think it was my fault Black escaped? _

" From all the Hoglake robes I see in the crowd, I am sure a good few of you should know about Mr Longbottom's activeness in his family's business over the summer." _Thank you for revealing my summer identity in front of the whole school! I hope the Dementors come in and give you a full snog right now!_ Neville tried his best to ignore the gasps and gossip that started around him at that moment and just concentrated on a scowl for the old fox. Dumbledore's eyes were of course twinkling as he continued, " I am sure Mr Longbottom will be very busy with running the Hoglake business and his normal schoolwork, which means it would be a bit unfair of the school to thrust the duties of the Student Council, now being responsible for three years of students, onto his shoulders like previous years. Coupled with the fact that the Council's ideals were to establish an organisation that is represented by the student body, and the position of President had never actually been approved by the majority of the students, the school has came up with a simple solution."

Dumbledore finally turned his head towards Neville, and their gaze met as if two curses were colliding against each other.

" Though the first years' introductory tour implemented last year will be regretfully cancelled, they and the second and third year students, may take part in the election for the position of President in The Junior Student Council. Before then, the Council is to be temporarily disbanded and the positions of the other Council members will be decided by the newly elected President in the future. The date of the election will be decided as the end of September, and may any students interested to stand as candidate please enter your name and two nominees with your Head of House by next week. Now I think I've given you all plenty to talk about for the feast ahead – so let's dug in!"

The Hall buzzed with excitement, being fed such an extraordinary source of gossip on the first day back that would last for the whole month. Neville took a deep breath, and in that time had analysed the situation, then conceded to the smell of food. He could feel the Trio was looking at him intently and looked up quizzically at Harry for an explanation. " What? It's not the first time you guys see me eat – I'm a messy eater."

" Neville! Don't you have anything to say? You have to run an election campaign if you want to be Council President again!" Harry exclaimed.

" Dumbledore practically fired you for no reason!" Ron's words were accusations to Harry's ears though.

" No he didn't! He said it already, we didn't actually elect Neville." Harry quickly added, " But we will though. Won't we Ron, Hermione?"

" Well actually, I don't know if I'll even bother running for the job." Neville's revelation almost made Hermione knock over her goblet.

" What? But you can't! Who else would lead the Council?" Hermione worriedly tugged at Neville's robes next to him.

Neville shrugged, " It doesn't really matter. Any one of the Council members right now can do it. They all understand what the Council really means by now anyway, and know what we're all aiming for. Plus I am doing an extra OWL compared to normal, and getting more free time is always good."

" You mean you're even going to let Malfoy take the job if he gets it?" Ron groaned. " I might as well stand for it if that's the case."

The feast went by quickly, with Neville being the last to finish as always, and Dumbledore dismissed them without further business. The Trio and Neville went to congratulate Hagrid on getting the job, and were shooed away by McGonagall as the big softie sobbed uncontrollably. Before they could head back to their dorm though, another teacher surprisingly caught up to them.

" A word, if you will." Snape's monotone was recognisable anywhere. Neville was just glad he did not have to hear that through this summer and dejectedly turned to see what the big bat wanted. " Not you Longbottom! Potter!"

" Yes Professor Snape?" Harry asked with a smile, probably dazzling the big bat with the beam but Snape kept his expression neutral, probably through Occlumency.

" A nice summer I hope?" Snape quickly added, " Of course, not that I really care." _Oh just drop the act already. I need cheering up tonight to think I've at least done some good deeds for Harry since I landed in this world._

" Yes, it was, thank you very much." Harry went on and braved a question, " I was wondering… Did you know my aunt?"

" Yes, when we were young. We met again some time last month actually." Snape's expression considerably darkened at the mention of Petunia. _Last month? Ah… he probably went back to Privet Drive after Harry ran away huh? Oh boy… I wonder if Dudley now has a pig tail _and_ a snout…_

" You see Professor Snape… I found some old photographs of my mother in my aunt's house this summer…" Snape's ears could practically be seen standing on ends at the mention of Lily. Harry continued, " In some of the photos, there was also you in it…"

" Really?" Snape had caught back whatever he wanted to say by the skin of his front teeth but if his eyes widened any more, Neville was sure they would roll right off onto the floor.

" Yes… I was wondering if you'd like to look at them some time?" Harry asked hesitatingly, a little less experienced in reading Snape's expression.

" Of course! I – I mean… Well, there is nothing wrong with seeing some Muggle photographs. It is… yes, it is a learning experience. Muggle photography is something I never cared about, but one must study when the opportunity presents itself. This is a school after all." Snape fumbled out the feeble excuse and Neville just sighed at Snape's thin skin.

" Professor Snape? What are we talking about? Hello children," Sinistra strolled her way into the conversation from behind Snape. Snape seemed to have wrapped his black robes tighter about him at the voice.

" Nothing interesting Professor Sinistra. Now all of you get back to your dorms!" Snape made a shooing motion with his hands but added quietly to Harry, " We will arrange a meeting later Potter."

" What meeting?" Sinistra asked curiously with a tilt of her head.

" A discussion on Muggle photography. Apparently." Neville got a glare from Snape for supplying Sinistra with the information of course. _Hey, I need to vent. Plus, what _is_ the deal with you two?_

" Oh? How wonderful! I never thought Professor Snape would ever show an interest to Muggle technology! Please let me join in too." Sinistra clapped her hands together like a child waiting for a trip to the theme park.

Neville threw Snape, who looked as if he was stuck between a rock and Sinistra, a metaphorical bone. " Professor Snape, wasn't there a reason for you stopping us initially?"

This reminder seemed to have made Snape overlook Neville's little mischief and he quickly straightened himself up again. " Right, there is. Potter, I must… warn you. Well, I never speak ill of my colleagues but… be wary of Professor Lupin. Don't get too close to that _man_."

" What? Why Professor Snape? Professor Lupin saved us all on the train!" Harry protested in astonishment. " If it wasn't for him, the Dementor might've attacked us!"

Before Snape could say anything, Sinistra interjected as if she had now taken the role of being Snape's spokesperson. " Ah Professor Snape's just a little jealous of Professor Lupin for being offered the Defence job."

" I am not!" Professor Snape growled indigently. " I will never be jealous of him for _anything_!"

" I bet Sinistra's got it right on the spot," Ron whispered to the others. Snape could probably hear him but the man had set his curious gaze on Neville, who was the only one not withholding a laugh, in complete contrast to what Snape expected.

" Longbottom. You keep your eyes open." Snape ordered to the surprise of all present, Neville inclusive, as if Neville was his personal butler.

_The situation was quite clear really. Snape knows Lupin is a werewolf and suspects him of being in league with Black. Unlike the books however, Snape had taken an actual liking to Harry now and will do more than just bug Dumbledore about Lupin. That's what this whole little talk was about. Now why he thinks I'll do his bidding is another matter. I, for one, is one of the few people that's most likely to _help_ Black._

" Okay, okay. Don't influence the students with your own opinions, they can make up their own minds." Sinistra told the Trio and Neville to go away, much as Professor McGonagall did, and walked away cooing a frowning Snape. _No seriously, what really _is_ the deal with those two?_

Another detour presented itself as they left the Great Hall. Someone called out to Neville, " Hey! Long time no see!"

" Cho!" Funny enough, it was Harry who answered for Neville. From the way Ron was swooning, it was safe for Neville to conclude that Cho indeed did grow prettier through the summer. _Girls just grows up before you know it… Now I really sound like an old man…_

" Hello, Harry. Are you feeling okay? I heard about the train…" Cho might have just as well as kicked Harry between his legs with that question.

" I'm fine… Thanks, I guess…" Harry blushed beyond himself and fled, " We should go now. Goodbye Cho."

" Bye," Neville was about to follow the Trio when Cho cleared her throat behind him. Neville weakly laughed and went back to the girl who had her arms crossed, " Just kidding. How was your summer Cho?"

" You would know if you owled me more often," Cho pouted and put a hand on her waist. _If she posed in an S-shape she can probably go into modelling. If I'm not in my 'old man' frame of mind after summer, I guess I really might go gaga like Harry. _

" Sorry, I was busy with business – as you know now, with Dumbledore just announcing it to everyone there." Neville actually was speaking the truth, with his line of owls every morning – though guilty, since he did put Cho's mail priority pretty low. _After all, OWLs were official open exams after all and Flitwick can't exempt me just for tutoring her. I wonder if she knows she can bypass me by now and have as much of Harry as she'd like._

" I still can't believe you just up and got yourself famous with an Ageing Potion – Yeah, I can guess that much at least." Cho shook her head, " My mum goes on about you whenever you appeared in the Prophet."

" I thought you were Muggle-born?" Neville asked.

" Yeah, but I can still get newspaper delivered to me you know." Cho explained, " Plus, you've met my aunt last Christmas, and she's a witch too. That makes my mum pretty tuned in with the wizarding world. Whenever she hears your new business plan again, she says, 'If you bag this one Cho, you won't have to worry the rest of your life'… Well, and things like that, you get the idea."

" Reminds me of my Gran actually," Neville wondered if he could Apparate back to the Longbottom Manor once in a while this year. Nothing was really stopping him – well, apart from Gran's wrath. He came back down to Earth when he realised Cho was staring intently at his face again. " What?"

" Just a little strange to see you like this and comparing it to your older face on the papers." Cho's smile got a little slanted as she proceeded to state the real purpose she stopped him, " Now that you're not President of the Council anymore, you should have more time for my Fashion Club right?"

" The only reason I was there was because I needed to monitor the start of it, remember?" Neville asked. He did not feel as intimidated by Cho's strange behaviour towards him anymore, especially after the misunderstanding he made last Valentine. Though he would not mind helping out at the Fashion Club, considering about the girls half naked changing there, he still had to make time for training and other unexpected business.

" What about all those Hoglake robes I hear you've cooked up? I wonder whose idea you stole?" Cho asked in a sing-song voice.

Neville argued, " Nobody's. You designed Quidditch robes."

" Well, will the services of a Quidditch robes designer be needed in your business?" Cho asked and took a step back. Neville had actually been curious as to why Cho, the president of the Fashion Club, had wore a set of very simple black robes but his answer was supplied with a shock. The girl grabbed the collar of her outer robes and pulled it open without a word of warning.

" W-why're you stripping woman! Y-you… I hate you…" Neville covered his face in chagrin as Cho laughed until her stomach doubled up. They were practically alone now at the ground floor outside the Hall, and Cho was of course not naked underneath her black robes, but was wearing a set of Hoglake robes.

After Cho's laughter subsided, in addition to a long while of silence with Neville's eyes roaming up and down the girl, Cho finally reached her limit. She was popular in the books, but was also supposedly quite timid as well – and having a boy unblinkingly stare at her was definitely not something she could stand for long, even if it had began as her joke. Cho eventually screamed with a red face, " Stop staring at me like that and say something!"

" Well I do think that's a good robes design." Neville commented professionally. He had been the one in charge of the Hoglake robes design the whole summer, and frankly, that part of the business really still had growth potential. He did not have that much interest in it though, and despite Lockhart's constant nagging for him to expand the sector, he needed someone that was up for the task. Lockhart could never be that someone. " I really think Hoglake robes shouldn't be sleeveless though, since we're going for a sophisticated type of attire. What I like most about your design is the colour pattern up the side though – reminds me of those Olympic squad uniforms."

" So you were really just looking at the robes?" Cho asked and Neville was woken from his mind's draft letter to old Al on this topic later.

" Yeah," Neville replied. " Anyway, I'll drop by the Fashion Club and we can talk more about this later? I'll owl my great uncle to discuss this. Obviously you seem interested in the business and so are we. I know what you can do and I hate interviews… so how about this? We'll see if you can handle a new line of robes for the Winter season."

" Really?" Cho did not sound as enthusiastic as Neville would have thought at the opportunity.

" Really," he reassured the girl. " Be more confident in yourself. I think your design here is great and know you have an eye for fashion."

" Sometimes it's hard to stay confident in front of you." Cho confessed and Neville nodded.

" I guess so. People's been saying I give off a vibe when I start talking business all summer." Neville put a hand to his forehead, wondering if he should also frown less, as people had also been mentioning. _I can feel and act older, but actually looking older is pushing it. Sure George Clooney matures like fine wine but I'm not sure if I'd just become stale beer._

" You really are all business," Cho cross her arms. " Even back last year when you were supposed to be tutoring me. Why can't you loosen up a little around me?"

_Why? Didn't you just rip your clothes off right here just a minute ago? I'm sure that would've given me heart attack if I was a few decades older. Frankly speaking though, this business thing is loosening me up compared to tinkering with the fate of the wizarding world. _

Neville told her truthfully in a jest, " Well I actually feel quite relaxed right now. I've just had a good meal, a girl just yanked your robes opened in front of me, _and_ I might get a good employee to expand my business. You've practically took my minds off the Dementors – well, until I mentioned it right now myself."

" Really?" Cho's grin returned again. " I guess no one likes those Dementors huh?"

" You can say that again." Neville proceeded to add, " If I had it my way, I'll get rid of those things."

" Well you can say that for your election speech," Cho offered.

" Well, I don't know if I'll run for president." Neville repeated, " Run for president. Never thought I'd say that in my life."

Cho giggled, " Well if only I could, I would vote for you. You've really helped me set up the Fashion Club last year."

" Well I guess that's where I'll find you." Neville heard his own echo from the empty corridors around them. " Well I should go now before I get locked out of the Gryffindor common room. I'll see you later."

" Bye, later, Neville." Cho called out after his back as he dashed up the stairs. _Guess I should spend more time with characters far away from the main plotline – for one, that was the most they'll talk about Dementors. It really is quite a treat not having to worry about consequences caused by each and every word I speak. Now, why don't I go find old Colin Creevy and see what kind of photos he's taken of those seventh year cheerleaders, mwhehehe. _

By the time Neville got back to the tower, with an evil grin on his face, no one else was in sight outside the Fat Lady's Portrait. Just as he was wondering if he had to spend the first night of his third year in the now free Room of Requirements, the portrait hole slid open from the inside and a bushy brown head poked itself out.

" What took you so long Neville?" Hermione took a few steps back as Neville climbed into the common room, empty since everyone were tired from the long train journey on the Hogwarts Express. _Well, guess Colin's only available tomorrow then._

" Cho wondered if she could help me with some business stuffs." Neville tried to explain briefly. " Thanks for waiting up for me by the way."

" Business stuffs?" Hermione asked curiously as she did in any school subject. " I though you've got everything settled before you came back to Hogwarts."

" New Hoglake robes designs," Neville answered. " Even if I'm here, I'll probably still have plenty of owls to send around. Dumbledore is kind of right with how I am quite busy."

" Not too busy for me, Harry and Ron I hope," Hermione crossed her arms and asked, " I personally can't think of anyone else better for the job with the Council though. You've been doing it for almost two years since the start."

" You know Dumbledore, he doesn't like me." Neville quickly added, " And don't deny it. Let me have this one since Harry isn't here to defend the old fox."

" Oh you're terrible," Hermione shook her head good-naturedly. " Talking about Harry, I never thought he could talk to Snape like that back when we were in first year."

" That's true," Neville sighed contently. " And who would've thought Sinistra could semi-keep Snape on a leash. Well, we don't really know what's the deal with those two – kinda of ambiguous really…"

There were a few moments of awkward silence as Neville realised he had unwittingly established a parallel between Ron and Hermione's ambiguous relationship. Hermione lowered her head and mumbled, " Well sometimes it is best to just leave things as they are and see what happens."

" That's exactly what Ron thinks," Hermione gasped as Neville leaked this piece of information.

Quickly trying to act as if she had not reacted, she mumbled in quick succession, " Well let's talk about you! We haven't talked face-to-face in ages! Tell me more about summer! How did it feel living on your own?"

" Well… it just gives me a new feel of things." Neville sat down next to the small girl and ruffled her already messy hair.

" Oh here you go again." Hermione gave up trying to stop him and instead asked, " Doesn't it feel so different? Being back in school and everything? I imagine running a new business must be a lot different. It's not exactly something a normal thirteen year-old would do."

" Yeah. It does feel ages since I've seen this castle," Neville agreed.

" And us," Hermione reminded in a quick snap, but her gaze softened as she turned to face Neville fully. " Can you tell me… why you did all those things during summer? I mean truthfully."

_Girls do mentally mature quicker than boys – and compared to some cases, like Ron, much quicker._ Neville answered with a question, " Did Harry say some things to you?"

" I just want to know…" Hermione sighed in defeat and asked, " Did you try to act like an adult so quickly because… you're still feeling guilty about last year… with the diary and…"

" Hermione, no I'm not doing anything out of guilt." Neville shook his head, " I do enjoy running the Hoglake business – especially after Harry diverted Ms Rosier's attention for the last weeks of summer. Come on, I make money, I get social connections, I even get fame – even if I didn't want the last one. I build a business and train myself not because of you, you big-head girl!"

Hermione laughed at the little joke at the end but still did not drop the point entirely. " Back on the train… When the Dementor came into the carriage you –"

" I screwed up, I know." Neville's sighed, " I'll do something about that… somehow."

" T-that's not what I mean! I don't want you to do that!" Hermione caught onto Neville dubious look and continued, " Well what I mean is you don't have to. Everyone felt bad some way or other with those monsters! When the Dementor came into our compartment on the train, memories of Riddle just came back to me… It was horrible… waking up to rooster blood and feathers all over my bed… the basilisk coming out of the pipes… then being brought down to the Chamber…

" Worst of all, I had memories that I shouldn't have seen before – when you three were down there rescuing me and fighting Riddle. Harry and Ron were tied up with ropes and you… you were about to be killed… You were just a spell away from being killed and even if it's just a memory I got so scared and – and –"

Neville transfigured a stray parchment into a handkerchief and handed it to a now wailing Hermione and patted her back. He casted a Cheering Charms on her silently and said, " Don't think about it. It's bad enough the Dementors are just outside Hogwarts, so you can't let it get to you. The important thing is, we're all here and fine now."

" But you could've died down there!" Hermione said through her sobbing hiccup. _My Cheering Charms need working on a bit…_ " I would've never forgiven myself if…"

" The one that still seems to be hung up about last year is you," Neville comforted the little girl. " It wasn't your fault. It wasn't my fault. It was Riddle – that scoundrel!"

" Thanks Neville…" Neville transfigured another handkerchief since the last one was soaked already. _She really does cry a lot, I really didn't notice until now._

" I know it takes a while for you to recover, or possibly never fully recover, but just take some time over it. If there is something you want talked over, then just come to me – or Ron and Harry." Neville got up and stretched, " It's getting late. Go back to your dorm and get a good night's sleep, okay?"

" We haven't talked like this in ages," Hermione sighed, her tears finally kept at bay. " I'm really glad I got to know you Neville – to think I didn't like you at first. Anyway, goodnight Neville. First day of class tomorrow so we got to be prepared."

" Right…" Neville shook his head at the ever studious girl as they climbed up their respective staircase. " I wonder how much she'd cry if she ever finds out Ron never sent her those chocolates at first… Well, those two did say they'll not discuss the issue so hopefully that'll never get found out any time soon."

0

0

0

A/N: Cheering Charms are in the third years' Charms exam this year by the way. And though the Dementors thing is blatantly in the face, but I feel Neville's got quite a lot of weaknesses to date really…


	48. Book 3 Chapter 5

Synopsis: Neville boards the Hogwarts Express for his third year of Hogwarts. After a bit of catching up with his friends, Neville suffers his first real defeat under the hands of a Dementor. At the welcoming feast, Dumbledore denounces his position as the President of the Student Council and Neville is faced with the decision of whether he should run for the position at all.

Chapter 47 – The first day back shouldn't span a whole chapter.

Neville descended from the air and hovered with a 'whoosh' an inch off the ground as he landed in front of another pile of soot. This was a slightly different pile though because he could vaguely see the remains of Ravenclaw's Diadem.

It was the morning after the Welcoming Feast and after a quick nap, Neville came down to the Room of Requirements to check up on the 'stew' he had left to boil for the whole summer. Needless to say, Fiendfyre carried out its job nicely, rendering centauries of hidden students heirlooms regretfully into dust. Despite this, probably because it was Neville's first use of the spell, some of the more resilient magical artefacts still had some form of shape and were not entirely reduced to ashes. The Horcrux was one of them.

Neville picked up the black and disfigured headdress and kneeled down to pull out a dagger from his boot. It was not just any dagger of course. He had taken a trip down to the Chamber of Secrets again last year before Hagrid cleared up the place for Norbert and managed to harvest a few Basilisk fangs. Spending a bit of gold in Knockturn Alley had forged one fang into a poisonous, Horcrux-destroying, dagger. _Frankly, I doubt I can pull out Gryffindor's Sword from the Sorting Hat… that Hat still despises me for all I know._

With a quick slash and tear, the circle of the diadem was severed for Neville's peace of mind and its unquestionable destruction. He had thought Dumbledore, being in possession of the diary already, was the prime choice to safely keep the broken diadem – which was obviously not the case after last night. Leaving even your rubbish with your enemy might prove fatal in the future.

Neville put Ravenclaw's Diadem into his Mokeskin pouch and left the burnt-down room, heading down to breakfast before others found his disappearance odd. Unlike previous years, where it was revealed at the end, Neville understood where Dumbledore's suspicions of him came from this time around immediately. Neville's activities during the summer had not just gained him a bit of wealth, but also a few connections with some influential figures in the Ministry and other areas. Though not prominent in the books, there were definitely a lot of politics in the background, especially in the fifth book, which Dumbledore had tried to control. With an uncertainty such as Neville prancing around, Dumbledore needed to nip it at the bud. Being a representative of the students at Hogwarts, growing ever more popular by the year, was not the role he wanted Neville to lead after all that.

Giving Dumbledore a glare, who was sitting at the staff table having what looked to be a jolly conversation with McGonagall, Neville entered the Great Hall for the first breakfast of third year. No longer needing to care about Snape reprimanding him of inappropriate dress codes since most of the school was doing it, Dracula's Cloak billowed behind him as he walked past the students who turned their heads at his arrival. _I'm the only Longbottom left not old and wrinkled and none of you suspected I was _the_ Neville Longbottom running The Hoglake Shop? Hey wait – is that me on the Prophet? …Oh great! Dumbledore's probably wrote to Rita Skeetar with the 'secret' as well. I think I need to send a few letters to my associates to make sure everything is alright…_

Neville was in a foul mood when he got to where the Trio and the twins were sitting and heard the last sentence of their conversation. Harry was saying in a low voice, " You didn't pass out, though, did you?"

" Your parents were murdered in your presence Harry. That's why the Dementor's images hits you worst." Neville sat down and cleared up months of Harry's original angst in a few words. " If you let some other kid your age see their parents murdered in front of their eyes, I'm sure they'll faint as well."

" You're really not a morning person are you?" Fred, or George – Neville decided it to be Fred, commented.

" I need coffee." Neville grabbed the pot and drank straight from it. Spotting Harry, who still looked quite defeated, Neville continued on the same stem, " I screwed up too Harry. I didn't faint, but I couldn't do anything about them. We should ask Lupin about this."

" Neville's got a point, Dementors are Dark Creatures after all." Hermione said, " Not to mention Professor Lupin did drive away the Dementor from our carriage."

" Hermione, they've messed up your timetable!" Ron pointed at the parchment he was reading lying in front of her on the table. " How could you go to all of those classes? And some of them are even at the same time slot!"

" I picked an extra class too," Neville interjected before Hermione needed to make up a poor excuse or a feeble distraction. _At least I remember about the Time Turner this year. _" I picked Muggle Studies."

" I knew you were secretly like our dad with how you two went on about planes last summer," George sighed.

" It's an easy class." Neville was quite sure he could get an Outstanding in that class without any effort at all. Also instead of the useless Divination, Neville had picked Ancient Runes, which would probably help him quite a lot in deciphering the rest of the coded sections of the Arcane Magic research notes. " The pass can make up for me either failing Astronomy or Herbology."

" You're not going to fail Herbology," Hannah had appeared behind Neville at that moment and sat down next to him.

" Oh. How can I forget I have a partner in that class who rips my essay into pieces for spelling a word wrong." Neville muttered as he drank another gulp of coffee.

" You wrote an essay for a completely different plant Neville! Do you ever pay attention in that class?" Hannah noticed the other Gryffindors' stares on her and quickly lowered her head in a blush, getting back to what she was here to discuss. " Neville, what're you going to do about the Council?"

" That is a very good question." Neville sighed, " Probably nothing."

" You're really not going to stand for the president again Neville?" Harry asked, " We'll definitely vote for you if you do!"

" Yeah, you came up with Hoglake!" Ron said as if that was the deciding factor. _Even if I did get voted in again, it'll just be a battle against Dumbledore for the whole year. The reason I started the club is known by the others anyway, so as long as either Hannah, Su or Draco gets the position –_

Choosing that moment to come in with a bang, Draco slapped Neville on the back cheerfully, obviously having heard Neville's earlier notion of not running for president. Accompanying him like a sore thumb this morning though were his Slytherin friends. Not just Crabbe and Goyle, who Neville got used to ignoring, but Pansy Parkinson in her thick layer of make-up and air-poisoning perfume.

" Stepping down Neville? Good good! I was scared we'd have to go up against each other!" Draco of course added, " No hard feelings between us even if you lost of course, but you know how it could get. When I get elected though, I promise I'll make you Vice-President."

" You're not necessary going to win Malfoy," Harry took a jab at trying to burst Draco's ego like usual. However, Pansy found it suitable to step in between the banter between the two boys.

" Of course my Draco is going to win!" Pansy gripped, or clawed, Draco's arm into hers and stuck up her nose up at Harry. " At least he's not some weakling who faints at the sight of Dementors!"

" Pansy, let's go. I'll see you later in Care for Magical Creatures Neville." Draco probably read Neville's distaste at Pansy's mention of the Dementors and quickly slipped out of the Hall with his entourage.

" Can you believe how big headed Malfoy is?" Ron chewed on his cereal even noisier than usual in his fume. " As long as we get someone to stand up against him, no one in their right minds would vote for that prat right? I might as well be the one to –"

" Actually I think if Neville really doesn't stand for president, Draco would be the favourite to win the election." Su turned their heads as she and Luna joined their table, probably here for the same reason as Hannah. " Think about it. For one, ninety-nine percent of the Slytherins would vote for their own house – and I'm doubting any other Slytherin apart from Draco would stand. Then he was the Vice-President already, and had been there since the beginning of the Council. Not only that, but Hannah, Neville and I all know he's actually been doing work – take overseeing the start of the Cheerleading Club last year for example. From all that, his competition probably needs about half the school's votes, since at the utmost least Draco's got a quarter already in the bag. If Draco goes about this the right way, he'll definite beat any guy who just randomly jumps in and says he wants the post."

Neville had nodded all the way through the Ravenclaw's speech. " You're pretty good at this match analysis thing."

" Thanks. So you really don't plan to run for it huh?" Su sighed, " I mean, I don't hate Draco or anything, but I would still prefer it if things just stayed the way it were. We were a great team."

" Well I still won't vote for that pasty git who looks as white as his ghost-powder-ed girlfriend." Ron muttered but it was short-lived as the group all stared strangely at Luna's exceedingly long laughter at what he said. _Well, Luna does have a strange sense of humour…_

Figuring he should break this up, Neville stood and repeated, " I'm not standing for the election and that's that. Draco would make a good President, I think. Now we've all got classes to go to so if you'd please stop Luna from laughing Su, we should get a move on to find those new classrooms."

Hannah got up to go as well, " Yeah, I have Muggle Studies first and I've never been to that classroom before."

" Me too, wait up." Hermione threw her timetable into her bag and jumped up from her seat as well. _As enthusiastic about class as ever._

" You didn't pick it did you Su? Being Muggle and all." Ron got his confirmation nod and turned to Hermione with a look as if saying he was always right. Hermione just rolled her eyes and the three of them headed out of the Hall. Neville could hear Luna starting another round of laughter at whatever Ron had probably not meaningfully said again.

No other Gryffindors had picked Muggle Studies in Neville's year and opted for Divination instead, which was a bit of a surprise for Neville but this naturally stuck Hermione and him as class partners for the rest of the year. As expected of Hermione, she was of almost no conversational interest as a sitting partner when Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher, spent the lesson lecturing about Muggles and how they were not that different. _I seriously don't know why Hermione bothered writing that down in her notes… _Hannah sat at the next table with Ernie McMillan, who had pulled her into the world of Chocolate Frog cards almost the moment he saw her and continued throughout the lesson. It seemed chatting in whispered tones were more than allowed in this class and Neville felt this was more of a free period than a lecture.

Either way, after catching up on some sleep to Hermione's disapproval, the two of them rejoined the Gryffindors in Transfiguration, and were the first ones there since the others had a long trek from Astronomy Tower. The first thing Ron said when he got into the classroom was, " Harry's going to die."

" I'm not going to die Ron," Harry laughingly gave Ron a shove. " Can you believe it Neville? The Divination teacher was saying my tea leaves look exactly like one of those Grims we were talking about in Flourish and Blotts during summer. I've never seen a real one of them but I know those leaves look more like a chicken than a dog."

" Told you she was a hoax," Neville could not help but smile at himself. The absence of the original clumsy Neville in her class to make Trelawney's predictions come true probably also made the woman's abilities more unconvincing.

" I knew you were a Hermione when you chose Muggle Studies over Divination." Ron then turned with furrowed brows at her, " How did you even get to class so fast? Didn't you say you were just going to the bathroom and ran off on third floor?"

Hermione's eyes turned to Neville wide with alarm but he blocked the question arising the otherwise strange set of circumstances around her, answering Ron's first statement. " As I've told Harry during summer I think Divination classes at Hogwarts are completely useless. Prophecies and the likes are indeed very rare."

" Well I think I'm starting to believe in what you've said about those classes being useless just after this first one." Harry also unwittingly helped divert Ron's attention and by this time, McGonagall was ready to start her lesson.

After the lesson on Animagi, which Harry had showed a healthy interest in now that his mind was not clogged up by any death omens, the Trio and Neville were caught up to by a panting Colin Creevey on their way to lunch.

" Colin! Great to see you!" Neville put an arm round the small boy's shoulder and said in a low tone, " I've seen you snapping a lot of pictures so I was just wondering about some of the seventh years – Well, you know I was responsible for the Fashion Club and I kind of need some references to the modified robes."

" Seriously Harry, in what way has he changed since before summer?" Hermione shook her head and started to head off, probably to use her Time Turner. " I'm going ahead boys."

" How are you Colin? Good summer?" Harry asked politely, though still a little uncomfortable with the idol chaser.

" Yes, of course, thank you very much Harry. Hope you had a good one too!" Colin nodded vigorously and instead of his trademark camera, took out a notepad instead. " So how are the Golden Gryffindors going to combat Draco Malfoy's election campaign? I plan to start the school newspaper and of course it's going to start with the most talked about elections! Plus, no one can really ban me at the moment without the Council –"

" Can we rewind a little," Neville halted Colin's machine gun fire. " Golden Gryffindors?"

" That's the nickname for you guys, don't you know?" Harry's expression was the best answer and Colin explained, " Harry Potter – Boy-Who-Lived and youngest Hogwarts Quidditch player of the centaury. Neville Longbottom – Founder of the Student Council and Tamer of Peeves. Ron Weasley – Undefeated chess champion and Hogwart's Hoglake ace. Not to mention how you three protected the Philosopher's Stone and found the Chamber of Secrets! 'Golden Gryffindors' is just something I started and spread around for others to catch on, you know?"

" Really?" Ron laughed and asked, " 'Golden Gryffindors' huh?"

" It sounds like a breakfast cereal," Neville shook his head.

Harry looked significantly more tired with another new title to his name, " I just like to be known as Harry thanks."

" Anyway, so how are the preparations for the election going? How do you feel running against your ex vice? What direction are you planning to go with your speeches?"

Neville once again put a stop to the boy, " I don't plan on running for the election Colin. Kindly say that to others too if you will – saves me from doing it."

" What? T-that's big news! Why Neville? Are there any hidden reasons that you don't want come to light? Is Draco Malfoy blackmailing you? Or is it just a cover to let your opponents' guard down?"

" You really do seem to suit this job Colin… Either way, I have no further comments." The 'Golden Gryffindors' left Colin and went to lunch and were rejoined by Hermione, who had probably went through a good few more hours since they last met her with how much messier her hair got. By the end of lunch, the news that Neville was not running for President was common knowledge – but not before a hoard of people came over to his table for confirmation, including a frowning McGonagall.

On their way out to Hagrid's first class, they came across Draco's group, who were also heading for the same destination. Spotting Neville, Draco came over for a bit of conversation.

" What a crowd at lunch around you huh?" Draco casually said out loud, " From all that commotion, I really wonder what _would_ happen if you were to run against me."

" Battle of the century!" Neville joked and gestured in the air as if that was printed on a big banner.

" You wish," Pansy popped the water balloon and everyone apart from Crabbe and Goyle gave her a frown in return. Pansy pouted and grabbed hold of Draco's arm, and the best way to describe what she was doing to it was wringing it dry like a towel. " I'm just supporting you Draco! You know I have absolute confidence in you because you are just so great and handsome and smart."

" I think I'm going to puke…" Ron whispered and turned away. Hermione and Harry were doing their best to hide their laughter while Neville snatched Draco away from a loudly protesting Pansy to the side for a short man-talk.

" So you and Pansy are really… going out?" Neville had not practiced his 'teenage date speak' for a while and had sounded a bit awkward while voicing this.

" Yeah, you can say that. She even gave me this really great tasting lollipop this morning." Draco's eyes could be seen floating back to that moment and Neville just buried his face in his hands, knowing it was not some sort of sad innuendo this time.

" Don't tell me you chose to be mutually exclusive because she gave you candy," Neville gritted out through his teeth. " What happened to that playboy thing you had going?"

" Oh I can go back to that any time! The summer was really just for practicing. I think it's a good idea to actually have a girlfriend for a bit – just as a change to see what it's like. From your dictionary, it'd be a good opportunity for me to mature." Draco added as he looked away back to Pansy, who was scrutinising Ron's robes, who was defiantly glaring right back at her. " And it really was a tasty lollipop."

Neville slapped his forehead. " Are you really sure that's not an innuendo?"

" What's an innuendo?" Draco asked blankly. " A rare class of lollipops?"

" C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid boomed from the door of his cabin as he spotted his students approaching.

" Look at that big idiot Draco." Pansy snorted, " I've already owled my father about it and he's as disgusted as I am."

Leaving a furious Harry aside, Neville observed the plentiful Slytherins who picked the class. If Dumbledore had announced his new appointment before classes started though, it might not have yielded such popularity. After all, though the Trio and Neville knew Hagrid's snapped wand was actually hidden in his umbrella, he was in reality not an officially qualified wizard. Then, as controversial as this argument would sound, and even with Neville being friends with Hagrid, it was really the job of the teacher to ensure no children got hurt in class – no matter how naughty the problem child was. _I guess this was his first lesson and it's just inexperience… and the original Draco was really out to be a prat. Well, no more of that now though –_

" Hey Lavender! You picked this class too?" Draco spotted her walking down from the castle with Parvati and almost knocked Neville over in his hurry to grab Pansy's hand. " Had a good summer? I don't believe you've met my girlfriend Pansy very much. She's thinking about joining our Cheerleading Club this year. Of course, when I become President, there might be some changes…"

_No wonder Draco gave up being single… It's like being slapped by someone and he just grabbed hold of the nearest thing to throw back._

Neville shook his head just as Hagrid told the class to follow him to the paddock round back. Hagrid, bless him, really did think the students knew how to open the hand-eating textbook. Neville had forgotten about the trick to opening it and had completely frozen his book in a block of ice with Arcane Magic. It was conveniently left in his dorm for this lesson. After the fumbling with the books, Hagrid went away to get the Hippogriffs. He quickly came back with much enthusiasm and it was still Harry who was the one brave and considerate enough to volunteer riding Buckbeak first as a demonstration.

Harry had enough for the day after his landing and urged his friends to try for themselves, which only Hermione and Ron fell for. Neville of course hung back, not to stand guard to make sure the original events did not happen, but so he did not have to go for a bumpy ride. _I really am impressed that Harry didn't fall off Buckbeak from that flight._

A shrill scream from behind Neville caused him to look back in panic towards where he last saw Draco's group with Buckbeak. Draco was fine – physically. The blonde boy's face was even paler than usual as he kneeled on the ground frantically trying to comfort the wailing Pansy crying her eyes out and gripping onto her arm while that very injured arm was gripping onto Draco's.

" Draco! I'm bleeding to death Draco! Just let me die Draco! I'm going to get a scar for life! Oh Draco!" Pansy screamed like a banshee all the way up to the castle, struggling in Hagrid's panicky arms.

After watching the back of Pansy fade away into the distance, Draco snapped his head round to the obvious person to vent out on. " Look what your big oaf of a friend's done Potter! I haven't said anything about the stupid books that tried to chew our hands off but these monsters? It's our first lesson and look what happened to my girlfriend!"

" It's not Hagrid's fault! He just wants to start the lesson with something interesting for us!" Harry defended as expected.

" Did Pansy say something rude to the Hippogriff?" Neville asked.

" Pansy only said it stinks – which is the truth!" Draco halted Neville from saying anymore, " I know you won't blindly stand up for the oaf or Potter's team so let me ask you! Isn't it a teacher's job to make sure all of his students are safe? Hagrid obviously wasn't doing his job by making sure of that!"

" But Hagrid did say Hippogriffs will attack if you insult them! Obviously it's Pansy's fault for not listening!" Ron stepped up next to Harry at the same moment as Crabbe and Goyle backed up Draco.

" Guys! I'm sure the school governors will judge this incident." Neville held up his hands in the middle between the two ever growing arguments between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Seamus looked ready to throw a nearby rock and Theodore Nott already had a hand in his robes. There were few others who stayed out of the fry; Hermione was pulling Ron back by the arm and Millicent started marching off back to castle, hopefully to get a teacher.

" I say we get the school to sack Hagrid!" Tracey Davis, often seen around Pansy, shouted above the rest of her house.

" Hagrid stays! It was pug-face's own fault!" Seamus shouted back.

" What did you say about my girlfriend?" Draco pulled out his wand at the same time Harry spotted him and did the same.

The third person who saw this was Neville in the middle, who with the help of his Armband managed to be the first to release a spell. Yells of surprise came from both sides as a swift wave of freezing mist swamped out from around him in all directions. " All of you just cool down! You guys won't solve the incident by arguing out here!"

" Well I'm going to help solve it!" Draco recovered first as he had partially blocked Neville's cold wave. " As a candidate for the Student Council President, I fully support the notion of removing Hagrid as a teacher at Hogwarts if I get elected!"

" Hear! Hear!" The Slytherins all shouted behind him, their camp's moral in multiples compared to the Gryffindors, unable to make an equal come back.

" Well… well… I'm also running for election! And I'm up for keeping Hagrid as professor!" Neville snapped his incredulous eyes at Ron, who looked equally surprised at what he had just signed up for in rashness.

" Yeah! Vote for Ron!" The Gryffindors behind him cheered a moment later though and dispelled any regrets that Ron might have had.

" Not only that!" Ron puffed up his chest at the sneering Draco, taking a step forward and stretched his height advantage to the fullest. " If I get elected, I will demand an official apology from Parkinson to Hagrid for not listening to direct instructions!"

" Very well Weasley, we'll see who gets the most votes at the end of the month!" Draco gave a cold laugh and headed back to the castle with the rest of the Slytherins, throwing back a last retort. " Not that it's difficult to see who the victor will be now!"

" Yeah, we'll see Malfoy! We'll see!" Ron turned round and rallied up his troop of Gryffindors. " Come on! Let's go back and tell the rest of the school who they _should_ vote for!"

" Yeah!" Harry was one of the Gryffindors who was caught up in the moment and cheered the loudest as they surrounded Ron and tramped back to the castle.

0

0

0

Neville knocked on the door to the Fashion Club's clubroom and entered. There were a few students around but the only two that he was on close terms with were Luna and Cho. The later spotted him and shoved the fabric in her hands to the club member who was previously in a discussion with her.

" Hey Neville, how was your first day back?" Cho greeted him with a smile as she came over.

" You must've heard about my Care for Magical Creatures lesson." Neville sighed, " The whole school has. Coupled with the hot topic news that's the election."

" Yeah... I guess you're going to be on Ron Wesley's side then?" Cho asked as she inclined her head. " You guys are friends and are in the same house after all."

" House doesn't really have to do with it… Or at least it shouldn't." Neville sighed again. _This is in direct contrast to the original intentions of the Council! Hagrid's job being on the line aside, this damn election's turned into another battle between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I'm blaming all this on Dumbledore!_

" I guess Ron's truly running for the position then, right President?" Luna had came up to the two unawares.

" Yeah, he handed in his name to McGonagall earlier. And don't call me President anymore Luna…" Neville turned back to Cho, not really bagging on Luna changing her nickname for him. " Cho, I've got a letter back from my great uncle. He said the plans for a new line of Hoglake robes is okay as long as I'm okay. Of course, I'll be responsible for it all, but I'm sure you'll do great."

" Thanks Neville!" Cho clasped her hands together and her gaze on Neville practically shone.

" I'm guessing the best way to go about this is to utilise the resources here already right?" Neville gestured around at the clubroom. " You're the president of the club, and your members are probably willing to take part in the project. You have the magic and tools, I'm sure we can get some good results."

" No wonder they write about you outside – you do behave very businesslike. Taking advantage of the completely free services of us students and my club!" Cho pouted and crossed her arms. " You don't plan on dumping everything on me just like this right?"

" As I've said before, I'm responsible for this project so I'll be sure to drop by and help out of course," Neville said.

" But won't you be busy helping Ron's campaign for the next month?" Luna asked with those big round eyes of hers.

" Well I think Harry's his main wingman for this campaign." Neville scratched his head, " And I don't really want to get involved too much. After all, Draco was my vice just before."

" But what about Hagrid? He's your friend too and you don't want him to lose his job." Luna repeated the point the Trio had crammed into Neville's ears again and again already. Hermione was the only one who retained enough reasoning to try and understand why Neville wanted to stay neutral, since she was also quite whimsical about the idea of this election deviating from the original aims of the Council.

At this moment, a knock from the clubroom door was followed by Su and Hannah's surprising entrance. Cho played the host, " Hello, can I help you with anything? Do you want to borrow my broom again Su?"

" That's a good idea actually. I've got to cram as much practice in before the team tryouts after all – but later." Su turned to Neville and said, " We're here to find Neville."

" We… um… kind of want to know what you think about the whole situation with Draco and Ron," Hannah asked again the done-to-death topic.

" I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do… I though I told Colin already earlier at dinner so why can't he get that newspaper of his printed out sooner?" Neville muttered.

" I knew it! That Draco's completely going about this the wrong way. I mean, you won't vote for him now would you? At least, I know I won't." Su swung her arm round Neville's shoulder and continued, " Well as long as we get a nod from you Neville we can do something about it."

" You have a plan to pull Ron or Draco out of the elections?" Neville asked.

" No. Hannah and I could nominate you to run for the election. If you run for this, and win, then everything and everyone would be nice and happy again right?" Su grinned without a care in the world.

Neville looked up at the ceiling and put his hands on either side of his head, moaning, " I never really liked politics to begin with and I've already dabbled too much. Just give me a break! I've got too much to do! I want some more free time with my magic research, or Hoglake business or preparing Har – I'm staying neutral about this whole thing and that's it!"

He fled from the clubroom despite Su trying to catch up with the kid, leaving the girls shaking their heads. Su harrumphed as she came back into the room with her arms akimbo, " Honestly! If he'd just run for election everything would've been so much easier."

" Although I can't because I'm in a higher year, I'm sure a lot of people would vote for Neville. He's been doing a great job so far after all." Cho analysed.

" That's the problem though – he doesn't want to stand." Hannah bowed her head but quickly jolted up again in surprise of the yell Su cried out.

" I've got an idea! Let's go speak with Dumbledore Hannah!" With that, Su dragged her docile friend out of the clubroom like a rag doll. Su halted midway, almost causing Hannah to trip over, and turned back to remind Cho, " You promised me to help me practice tomorrow! Don't forget!"

0

0

0

A/N: There are times when I wonder if I subconsciously say things too plainly because I feel some readers may not spot the little things along the road. I mean, do people take note how during Su's explanation she'd stated that Slytherins will almost definitely vote for someone from their house to be President while the other three houses may vote for a Slytherin? I mean, that shows the Council's ideals are infecting Hogwarts – comparing to how Cedric was Champion and the Hufflepuffs were all against Harry, even if Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors weren't enemies of any sort, just because Cedric was in their house. From the other side, it also shows that many Slytherins are still not that keen on the House unity idea. In addition, I made Su the one who said this, trying to convey that Su does have the smarts (or at least some analytical skills) to be the typical Ravenclaw and competent Council member (c.f Su explaining Modern Magic a few chapters back).

I know the main event here this chapter is the thing with Buckbeak, but I try to show that _many_ of the characters are displaying some major changes compared both to the original J.K plotline and this plot of mines as well. Harry of course is in a generally better mood with Neville clearing up his superstitions and not being helplessly stuck in the middle of Ron and Hermione's arguments – even if they didn't have the argument this time in my story (c.f original book – I pretty much followed it chronologically this chapter).

Indeed, Neville is acting like older, which is a result from what he's experienced after the Chamber incident last year. As said in the previous A/N, More on that later this year. Still, reading early chapters again, he is more fun back in the day. I've actually been stumped on a scene for a few months (almost) and now finally felt like it's better to rewrite what I'd planned so far, thus I'll try and add in some funny bits if I can… Well, I should end my rant for this chapter now because it's getting too long …


	49. Book 3 Chapter 6

Synopsis: It was an eventful first day back for Neville. Draco's new girlfriend Pansy was hurt by Buckbeak, and this transformed the Council President election into an all-out war between Gryffindors and Slytherins again, also with Hagrid's job on the line. Neville was stuck in the middle, not wanting to support neither Draco nor Ron. Su continues to think he should just do it himself and came up with an idea.

Chapter 48 – Neville's Boggart.

" _Rennervate_!" Neville recovered the panting Harry as he got up from the damp grass by the Lake after the Stunner Ron had thrown. " Good play there Ron, got Harry square in the chest. You guys are improving really quick."

" Alright Ron! Now it's my turn!" Harry chuckled with menace and raised his wand. Unfortunately for him, his revenge was cut short by Hermione clearing her throat at the side.

" We have to get to class now! You said it'd be a short practice after lunch! We can't miss Professor Lupin's first lesson!" Hermione slammed the thick textbook she's been reading shut. _She's probably peeved that she'd wasted time watching us practice… Then again, she really should get some practical in as well. I can't stress enough there are things that one can only learn from real combat._

" Alright, alright." Ron picked up his stuffs by the tree and patted Neville's shoulder. " Thanks again mate for teaching us. Using those Italians spells to turn fast and strong might knock someone out easy, but it just doesn't make me feel like a wizard sometimes though."

Neville shared his own thoughts, " Everyone's got their own style – as long as it works."

" By the way, those Muggle books on boxing you asked me to order should be here in a few days Ron." Hermione quipped, " I thought wizards are too magical to do base things like fist fights."

" It's not like I'm Malfoy," Ron immediately looked as if someone had force-fed him broccoli at the mention of Draco. " I wonder if his girlfriend's dead yet."

" I heard she didn't even have to stay in the Hospital Wing." Neville supplied the information as they entered the castle.

" Where did you hear that from?" Harry asked suspiciously.

" You've been talking to Malfoy!" Ron pointed his finger at Neville. " He's our enemy!"

" Ernie McMillan is running for President too but you've been speaking to him fine this morning," Hermione reminded.

" But it's Malfoy!" Ron repeated.

" He's, somehow, still Neville's friend Ron," Harry said with a sigh.

They arrived at Lupin's classroom and just as the books, Lupin hardly spent a minute in there before ushering their class towards the staff room. Lupin did not act as if a big deal happened at the Hogwarts Express and had treated Neville as if he was just another normal student like Sally-Ann Perks. _She's a Gryffindor girl in my year by the way_. Lupin still looked as scruffy as ever, but in relatively good health since the full moon was still a while away. _I really should see if Cho could whip up some robes for him… Actually, Lupin was publically deemed as a Bishie… Would he be interested in modelling I wonder…_

As bad as Neville's memory was, by the time they got to the staff room, he remembered what this lesson was going to be about and was feeling both apprehensive and curious at the same time. After all, a Boggart conveniently showed him what he should be wary of the most in the world. _Now if only I don't need to bare my weakness to the whole class… Who knows when someone's going to come back and bite me with it? I know I will be remembering everyone else's worst fears._

" Lupin," a cold, detached voice greeted the class as they piled into the long staff room.

" Hello Severus," Lupin greeted as he closed the door behind him. " I take it you are interested in our lesson?"

" Interested, maybe not. Concerned, possibly." Neville could see a flicker of Snape's eyes towards Harry. " After all, I would not like any more accidents to happen during a new professor's lesson. What would the parents think otherwise?"

_Snape really _is _suspicious about Lupin… I bet if Dumbledore had allowed it, he would be placing a Repelling Charm between Harry and Lupin._

" Of course," Lupin turned back to the class after striding right past a frowning Snape. " Now what I have here in this wardrobe is a Boggart. Boggarts are…"

" Longbottom. Pay attention in class." Snape hissed as not to interrupt Lupin's explanation, which Neville really was only listening with half an ear. " You'll never know what some people's worst fear would be. It could be… strange. But if you spend time and think about it – it might all make sense."

_I bet Snape's talking about Lupin's Boggart being the moon. Well there was no way of Snape knowing that I knew Lupin was a werewolf._

" Neville? Would you like to assist me with the first demonstration?" Lupin called out and Snape's lips curled downwards even more.

" Why me professor?" Neville's brows also furrowed at Lupin's suggestion - for several reasons. For one, did Lupin think he was succumbing to some sort of negative influence from Snape? Then, comparing to the original events, Neville was picked first for the demonstration because Snape made him feel nervous and incompetent. _Did Lupin think I'm incompetent?_ Finally, Neville did not want to be the memorable first one to bare his weakness to the class.

" Well Neville, I plan for everyone in the class to tackle the Boggart. We would get to you sooner or later so it doesn't really matter who goes first." Lupin explained and had even walked over to shepherd Neville towards the wardrobe. " Just do as I've instructed and you would be fine Neville."

_What? You think I'm nervous? I admit I might've messed up in front of you as a first impression, but a Boggart is different from a Dementor. I doubt the Boggart can create any effects or make any mental attacks that'd make me unable to cast spells. One simple Blasting Curse from me would destroy the Boggart and the cupboard!_

" On the count of three Neville," Lupin pointed his wand at the wardrobe and Neville had shot his wand into his grip, also pointing at the same direction. _I'll take care of the Boggart before anyone could lay an eye on it. A massive blob of ice-cream falling over the Boggart's head should be ridiculous enough to do the trick. _" One – Two – Three – Now!"

Lupin's charm hit the doors of the wardrobe and just as the first syllable of the Riddikulus Charm left Neville's tongue – his voice froze. Not out of fear – but just utter surprise. Neville had caught a glimpse of his Boggart's form from the ever increasing gap of the wardrobe door. Before Neville recovered enough to send a charm to slam the doors shut again, the Boggart had pushed it open and stomped out into the light of the room.

" Who's that?" Neville could hear Ron ask behind him.

" Don't know. Never seen him before." Harry's voice replied. " At least I haven't seen him in Neville's shop during summer."

" Could it be someone Neville knows from jujitsu?" Hermione's voice.

" But he doesn't look strong at all." Ron was referring to the person the Boggart assumed. From the class's point of view, all they saw coming out of the wardrobe was a teenager about seventeen to eighteen years old. He was neither strong nor frightening, and was just wearing plain Muggle clothes.

" Neville." Lupin, being the professor, of course did not probe into why Neville's worst fear was seemingly a normal young man and had called out his name to remind him he had still to performance the correct charm. When Lupin did not get a response, he tried again louder, " Neville."

" Ness," Neville unwittingly whispered out loud and that seemed more effective in waking himself up than Lupin's calls. " Damn it! _Riddikulus_!"

The aim, wand movement, and incantation of the spell were absolutely correct and just as Neville relaxed at the cracking sound the Boggart emitted, signalling it was changing shape, Lupin shouted, " It didn't work. It's changing into another form Neville!"

_I forgot to think of something to make it funny! _From Neville's wisdom, of course he knew that mental intent was everything in magic and he was left face-to-face with his second weakness. _Well… It is practically the same weakness isn't it?_

This time though, at the sight of the new form the Boggart assumed, the class burst out laughing. Neville could hear Ron behind him, probably doubled over in laugher, " I-I never really thought he was that serious! His worst fear is becoming fat?"

" Now he'd have to think of a way to make _himself_ look ridiculous!" Seamus called out through his laugher, " Hey! Give yourself big fat fluffy bunny ears or something!"

The rest of the class probably thought along the same line as Ron but Neville knew better about what the two forms of the Boggarts meant. He had no intention, and probably no will, to think up of anything amusing at this moment. He had very blatantly noticed a lack of scoffing from Snape at the back, and Lupin also wore a thoughtful expression. These two more mature men knew there were more in the Boggart's forms than met their eyes.

"_Veniant Glaciales! Iaculation Grandinis Inimicum Confodi!_" Neville raised his wand over his head and chanted the Latin incantation he managed to decipher from his Arcane Magic research notes during summer. The time and incantation were needed at Neville's current level in order to gather and focus enough magical energy for one of these higher level Elemental Spells, but the concentration involved did not need to be as precise. If he mastered the art, he could summon spells like these with intent alone – like Dumbledore at the Seaside Cave. At this moment though, an invisible swirl of magical wave spiralled up around Neville's body and gathered at his wand tip. " _Caedo!_"

The moment Neville brought his wand down, a dozen long, slender icicles appeared as if the moisture in the air had suddenly frozen over together. Before anyone could register the materialisation however, in a flash of icy light the Boggart was speared from all different directions. The Boggart's eyes widened even more when from its insides, a block of ice solidified and expanded in a chilling wisp across its body. Spikes of ice protruded out from his body a fraction of a second later and the Boggart was little more than a sea urchin from the freezer.

A cold, cry void surrounded the room as the class stared on at the haze from the chilly ice that surrounded the Boggart. Lupin's face was set in a deep frown as Neville panted and wiped sweat off his forehead. A spell of this level was still pushing his magical limits for a thirteen years old body. Snape also kept a pensive silent, with an expression as if he was calculating a hard sum inside his head.

Finally Lupin spoke first, " That was not what you've been instructed to do Neville."

" Sorry," Neville gasped out between breaths. " But – it worked."

" No, it did not." Right after Lupin had stated that, a swirl of flames like a small tornado erupted from the centre of the spears of ice and as if climbing out from the depths of hell, what must be the form of the original Neville roared as it showed itself in front of the wide-eyed and stunned Neville. Before the Boggart advanced, Lupin stepped in its way and it changed form almost instantly into a yellow-tinged sphere. " _Riddikulus_!"

The Boggart twisted itself into a knot and was propelled back into the wardrobe with the impact of Lupin's spell. Lupin then turned back towards Neville and from the downward slant at the corner of Lupin eyebrows, he knew Lupin was looking at him as if he was a lost kid at the mall. _What do you take me for Lupin? A thick brat?_ Neville fumed internally as he restrained a glare at Lupin.

" Lupin, I assume you are done with Neville for this lesson. I would like to speak privately with him about our arrangements for this year's Occlumency lessons." Snape surprisingly stepped out from the crowd and pulled Neville from the discomforting situation.

" Certainly," Lupin nodded with a smile and turned back to Neville. " You may go Neville."

" Thank you." Neville stepped through the still-silent crowd and followed Snape out of the door, taking care not to glance in Hermione's direction. Despite this, he could probably tell she had a worried expression on her face.

" That was very uncharacteristic of you." Snape said as the two of them walked through the corridors of the castle under the flickering of the torches. Neville was wiping the cold sweat on his forehead. " So many edges in tackling a measly Boggart. With my level of Occlumency the Boggart would not even be able to find a proper form to assume. I thought you would want to hide your weaknesses more than that – cryptic as they may be. I thought I'd taught you better than that."

Neville felt something clicked in his brain from the information Snape casually revealed while kicking Neville down a few notches. " Occlumency?"

" Yes, I thought we would not need to continue our lessons this year from the level of competency you've displayed before summer – but now… I think it is best if we rethink that decision." When Neville did not reply to his taunts, Snape continued with what was probably his original intended topic. " Now after your first lesson, what do you think of Professor Lupin?"

" A little patronising, but I'm sure he's a good teacher." Neville answered honestly.

Snape gave a curt humourless laugh. " A good teacher? So you only disliked Lupin because you think he's patronising?"

" I know you dislike him… to put it lightly." Neville did not want to see Snape scrunching up his face and just said, " I know Lupin is someone who comes with a rich back story. I'll see to it that he doesn't do anything to Harry."

" What does Potter have to do with this?" Snape laughed again, looking away. " You haven't the slightest clue as to what Lupin may do and who he may be in league with."

Neville had enough of being taken lightly today and uttered, " I don't really think Lupin is in league with anyone at the moment. However, Sirius Black is still at large and some Muggle said they've spotted him heading this way…."

From how Snape snapped his head back to look at Neville at the mention of Black, Neville knew he earned a boost of confidence from Snape again. " Well Black is common knowledge isn't it?"

" Frankly, I don't think Black is of any danger to Harry though." Neville tested the waters and it was as if he had dropped a piece of lithium in it instead.

" Black's not dangerous? He's not dangerous you say? How dense are you boy?" Snape composed himself enough to say before stalking off, " You're well worth the patronising Lupin throws you with your level of ignorance."

_Well… That's a relationship between two characters I'll never change… _Neville sighed and turned back to the way he came, quite clearly remembering Snape had forgotten to arrange a meeting time for their lessons in his rage. _I can't go back to Lupin's stupid lesson after that… In my hurry I've even showed the class an incomplete Arcane Magic… Man, I'm hungry after that spell – to the kitchen!_

After stuffing his face full before dinner, Neville patted his stomach and strolled back to the common room with a toothpick still in his mouth. The toothpick dropped though when his class stormed him the moment the Fat Lady's portrait moved aside.

" How did you do that Neville?" Parvati asked excitedly.

" That's definitely not something taught at Hogwarts! Is it some family spells or something?" Sally-Ann Perks squealed.

" That was awesome! It's like from a video game!" Dean hooted.

" You've got to teach me that!" Ron pulled him from the crowd and sat him down on a sofa, with the rest of his classmates following. " Is that your new move against Dementors? Or is it the so-called research you've been working on?"

" What do you mean by 'so-called'?" Neville growled and proceeded to spend the next hour or so trying to bore his classmates to death with advance magical theories and what he knew of Arcane Magic. According to plan, his classmates' interests wore off gradually, especially when Neville said he could not do a demonstration because the spell took too much energy out of him already. It soon got to the proper time for dinner and only Ron and Harry was left with him. That was when Neville noticed, " Where's Hermione?"

" Actually we don't know," Ron shrugged as he stopped trying to make a badge stop flashing 'Vote for Ronnie-kins' in bright pink – courtesy of the twins. " You know how she's been these days. Just disappearing and reappearing everywhere. If I don't know better I'd thought she learnt how to Apparate."

" I guess she's busy with classes," Neville said as he winked at a seventh year cheerleader who just walked past. She just laughed and continued her way with her friends out of the common room. _Does no one here ever take me seriously?_

" Hey, are you sure we can't learn that spell of yours?" Ron asked again.

" I never said you can't – anyone can. All you have to do is, first, understand Merlin's fundamental laws of –"

" It's dinner time guys! Let's go!" Harry got up to his feet in a hurry.

" Yeah! I'm starved!" Ron caught up to Harry's speed instantly. _These two really are slackers… Even if Ron's gotten more diligent at his campaign and Harry's still mulling over his parent's notes… I guess that's _some_ improvement on their academics from the originals._

" You guys go, I've already ate from the kitchens," Neville said.

" You don't have to miss a meal just because you're that scared of turning fat," Ron ducked just in time to avoid the stray roll of parchment thrown at him. Ron laughed and playfully mimed a few steps of shadow boxing before Harry pulled him away after seeing Neville's stare straying towards a nearby vase.

" Wait… worst fear…" Neville got up and dashed out of the portrait hole to catch up with the two. " Did Hermione take on the Boggart?"

" No she didn't. Me neither." Harry answered concisely.

" You know mines already – it was almost like being in the Forbidden Forest all over again." Ron shook his head to clear the image, " Let's go eat! Let's go!"

" Alright, I'll see you guys later." Neville headed towards the first floor with a frown. _I haven't spoken that much to Hagrid about Norbert since I got back. As far as I know, Norbert's permanently living in the Chamber of Secrets now to the knowledge and permission of Dumbledore and is getting taken cared of by Hagrid. Hagrid said he'd done some decorating in there too to suit 'his baby Norbert'. _

True to Hagrid's words, after reciting the best Parseltongue he could, Neville opened the hidden entrance in the bathroom after the tenth try to be greeted with a flight of steps. _DIY is just so much easier with magic isn't it?_ The tunnel at the bottom was now lit with torches, and the Basilisk skin of course disposed of, but there were not that many changes otherwise. At the end of the tunnel, Neville could hear Norbert flapping his wings behind the double doors. The thing was, instead of snakes, the doors were changed into something more similar to dragons instead. _Trust Hagrid to do something like that – I can't be sure, but I'll bet the big guy was in Gryffindor before._

Once again trying his Parseltongue, which was really only one word, Neville entered the Chamber of Secrets – the secret now only being Norbert. The pillars were still there, as was the massive statue of Salazar Slytherin at the back, but the chamber was exponentially brighter. Though it was underground, Hagrid had somehow charmed it so light somehow shone from either sides of the ceiling as if there were a row of windows up there and it was a sunny day outside. The floor was dry now and the tiles all clean, with a sort of stone sty near the bottom of Slytherin's statue that was probably Norbert's sleeping area. The magical chains were a property of the Room of Requirement, and no restraints were seen to bound the dragon anywhere, probably because Norbert had seen Hagrid enough not to try and bite his head off every time he entered to feed the dragon. The place reminded Neville of a preserved cathedral ruin more than anything negative.

As if the boss level of the second book did not look strange enough with the changes already, there was a major aspect out of place about the Chamber at that moment.

" Hermione!" Neville's earlier guess came true and the little girl turned around on the stone bench she was sitting on in surprise at the other side of the vast Chamber to Neville's echo.

Neville's call also seemed to have caught the attention of Norbert and he seemed to be pretty peeved at seeing a trespasser in his new home and with one beat of his mighty wings sped towards Neville like a missile. Neville instinctively used Dracula's Floating Magic to try and quickly dodge out of the way but as if he had slipped on ice in midair, Neville plummeted to his shock hard onto the stone floor. _I'd used too much energy with that earlier spell on the Boggart!_

Neville had just armed himself with his wand, not really sure what that could do without ammo, when he heard Hermione scream, " No Norbert! Stop!"

Neville rolled over on the ground needlessly as Norbert flapped his wings and climbed up to the high ceilings at the last moment before he collided with Neville. Neville laid sweating on his back as he watched the dragon circle around right on top of him, looking down at him as if the dragon had just taught him a lesson in manners. _Nobody likes me today huh?_

" Are you okay Neville?" Hermione had ran over in a flutter of robes and helped him back on his feet. " I think Norbert was just surprised, that's all. I'm sure he likes you."

Norbert blew a stream of fire out of his mouth above them at that moment, but Neville could not guess whether that was confirming or denying what Hermione had speculated. Neville turned back to Hermione and asked, " If I was Norbert, I'd be more surprised to see you here."

" Oh," Hermione bowed her head and started walking back to the bench she was at before in front of the sty. The sty was really just a clutter of stones arranged to simulate what it was like from Norbert's natural habitat. Hermione asked, " How did you know I was here?"

" I heard from Harry you two didn't get a chance to fight the Boggart." Neville followed after her and continued, " Knowing you, I guess you want to come back here to prove that you can conquer your fears."

_Compared to the original Ginny, who would definitely avoid this place like the plague, Hermione was just… different. At least, I just feel she needed to prove to herself she can get over this… Maybe it's just me…_

" If you try harder in class I'd never be able to beat your scores," Hermione light laughter surrounded the room around them. " I guess if I'd been allowed to tackle that Boggart, it would turn out to be Riddle…"

" Actually, I think it'd be McGonagall pointing a finger at you screaming 'you failed all your OWLs!'" Neville's imitation got himself a light slap on the arm.

" Hey that's not something to joke about!" Hermione harrumphed and feverously turned the spotlight back to him, " And how you tackled the Boggart was all wrong. No matter how strong your spells or muscles are, you'll never push down a Boggart with blunt force. Dark Creatures of that class has a specific way to be dealt with because they attack you mentally – it's just their nature. If your fear was worst, you won't be able to even do a spell anyway. Then again, I don't really understand how someone's greatest fear could really be turning fat –"

" It should be every normal girl's worst fear." Neville got a hard slap on the arm for that spontaneous comment. _Wait… Dark Creatures… Fear… _Neville shook his head, " Anyway, sorry."

" Well for that, I want all the candy reserves you brought with you this year for my birthday!" Hermione's stubborn request was met with a boisterous laugh.

" You said it! Well if you've been expecting dozens and dozens of packets of Sugar Quills like last year then you're out of luck! We have Hogsmeade trips this year remember? If I've got a supply port why do I have to bring all the cargo with me to start off with?"

" I'm not that big on candy, but I want to check out that Honeydukes too. After all, my first wizarding chocolates were made by them." Hermione had touched upon a most sensitive topic. After all, there were no barriers anymore to hide the fact that everything traced back to Neville when it came to Hermione's misunderstanding of Ron's feelings for the last two years.

" So fourteen this year! What's the plan old girl?" Neville got another hit on the arm. _Seriously! No one likes me today!_

" I'm not that old!" Hermione protested, completely overlooking how she had basked in the fact that she was older when the two had first met. " And I just want to pass all my classes this year – you know how many more I'm doing compared to normal. It hasn't been that long since the summer and I already feel like I need another break already – for the first time in my life."

" Why don't you just use the Time Turner and take a break? Or two?" Neville ignored Hermione's gasp and incredulous look. _This was one thing I'd never understood from the original. With Hermione's lack of sleep, or lack of time for doing homework – the Time Turner _is_ for making time for those! Spend the first night doing homework and then go back in time to sleep the second or third night! It's not just for attending classes!_

" How do you know about the Time Tuner? I thought I'd hid it so well!" Hermione panicked and started mumbling to herself, " What would Professor McGonagall say? I'm not supposed to let anyone know! Oh no!"

" You're acting like Hannah now," Neville laughed and Hermione looked at him pleadingly. " Of course I won't tell anyone about this. It's common knowledge you attend each and every class, and a single one of you can't be at two places at the same time. The students are fooled because they don't know the existence of a device such as the Time Turner, but many people will be able to guess if they knew of it."

" Really?" Hermione sighed, " I guess there is this fundamental flaw in our plan. But I guess I know what you mean about using the Time Turner more. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do since Professor McGonagall said I should only use it when strictly necessary, which is for going to classes I think."

" I think sleep is necessary. Trust me." Neville slumped his shoulders a little, " I would say I can take responsibility for you if others found out but I'm not the President anymore so it's not like I have any say in running the school."

" Are you going to help Ron with his campaign? Just the small stuffs, liking putting up posters," Hermione asked. " I'll probably have time, if I use the Time Turner more, to help him a bit."

" I guess I'll have to really. We are friends and in the same house… I think Draco'll understand." Neville's brows furrowed, " I just think I should be there so the shouting between whether to sack Hagrid doesn't turn into a wizard's duel."

" Actually… Hannah asked me to help her with something about the election…" Hermione trailed off but Neville had not caught on to that since Norbert had flown down right over the top of his head and landed behind him.

" Oh? Is Hannah helping with Ernie's campaign?" Neville turned around to sit the other way as to face the dragon – just in case. " By the way, you've sure got a good relationship with Norbert. He protected you last year, and probably didn't try to eat you when you walked in right?"

" Yeah," Hermione smiled and even stood to pat Norbert's neck. " Even though this place should be scary – after what Hagrid's done to it and with Norbert here, I think I can come here to use the Time Turner or do homework. It's like a secret hideout again like the Room of Requirement last year. So much for what I thought would be my worst fear in this school, haha."

" Actually I have plans of using the Room of Requirement as my private en-suite bedroom." Neville cackled, but it quickly turned to a yell as Norbert blew fire just to the side of him as if he understood Neville was about to steal his old home. Hermione just laughed freely at the display without any sympathy to Neville's dismay.

0

0

0

A/N: I'm no expert in Latin – or anything Latin at all. I've been thinking if it's a better idea to just write English in Italics for spells… Tell me what you think?

Thanks for the reviews everyone, and it's reassured me my hinting is okay and maybe even too plain in sight(this Boggart wasn't enough of a shock) so I'll improve upon it.

By the way, I've always had an issue with the time travel gigs. Unless we succumb to the uninteresting and still messy multiple universe theory, I just don't think time travel is very 'neat'. Therefore, I don't think I'll be using the Time Turner, which might as well be a cheating device in the original third book, into this story.


	50. Book 3 Chapter 7

Synopsis: Neville's first Defence Against Dark Arts lesson did not go so well as he could not even properly take down a Boggart. He however revealed his Arcane Magic abilities to Lupin and an on-looking Snape, but it did not seem to put Neville in a better light and Occlumency lessons are predicted to continue this year. Neville made a visit to the new Chamber of Secrets, where it was Norbert the dragon's new home, and was put at ease by Hermione being at ease there even after last year.

Chapter 49 – Tea parties and tomato soups gives the best sparks of inspiration. 

Neville was reluctantly frowning at the broom cupboard in front of him. If the person waiting for him on the other side of the battered wooden door was a gorgeous half-naked woman he would have long since jumped in by now, even if it was the Vanishing Cabinet. _If only…_ Eventually Neville just sighed and knocked on the door.

" Live long," the person inside hissed.

" And Prosper." Neville sighed even more at the stupid password he was made to recite. Draco had taken a liking to it after Neville used it as a joke that only Su got during one of the old Council's meetings. _He said living long and prospering is a perfectly ideal goal in life._

" You're late!" The blonde boy looked left and right to check the empty corridors, then slammed the cupboard door shut after yanking Neville in with him,

" _Lumos_. Do we really have to meet here?" Neville whined as his shoulder hit the back of the cupboard.

" You know Pansy!" Draco mumbled and pulled out a lollipop from his robes. It was his trademark accessory nowadays because of his addiction to Pansy's lollipops and the fact that he could bewitch them with a Sonorus Charm for his public speeches. _Not that I understand how using a lollipop as a microphone could boost his image and votes. _Neville guessed this one was not bewitched as Draco mumbled with a stick hanging out from his mouth, " Pansy thinks you're an enemy. We won't have to talk like this if you'd just stop helping the Weasel campaign."

" All I do is post up posters and attend rallies." Neville shuddered, " Plus, you turn up at Ron's rallies to sabotage them anyway. I'm always the one that has to break you two up before teachers get there."

" That Weasel punched me! He thinks he's some Muggle boxer – Robin, or Micky, or whatever. Damn that vulgar Weasel!" Draco rubbed his nose at the memory.

" I don't see how you two centring your election campaigns on Hagrid's case really has to do with the ideals of the Student Council." Neville observed Draco as he asked, " You remember them right?"

" Inter-house relations, I know." Draco furrowed his brows and waved it off, " You should've heard what Pansy suggested. She said I should propose, not only for Hagrid, but to sack Flitwick as well because he isn't a… full wizard, if you know what I mean."

" Completely." Neville risked mentioning the advice again to the boy, " I don't think Pansy is a good influence on you."

" This again? I don't understand why my best friend and my girlfriend can't get along!" Draco threw his hand up exasperatedly – as high up as this confined closet allowed anyway.

" I would get along better with her if she doesn't whine every five seconds about an injury that was healed on the day." Neville knew it was true from Draco's averted eyes. " And she told her father to take Buckbeak's case to the Ministry. Buckbeak's a Hippogriff – it was acting out its well-documented behaviour and is not any more dangerous than any other Hippogriffs."

" It's not her fault!" Draco interjected heatedly but his arms banged the walls of the clamped closet again. Draco could tell this path would lead to nowhere and wisely discontinued the topic, as did Neville.

" I still don't see why you can't just up and talk to me in class." Neville said while opening the closet door because he was lacking oxygen. " She's not going to kill you just for that."

" She'll stop giving me these lollipops." Draco floored him with that comment. Neville had actually tried one before from Draco's 'limitless generosity' and it was good – putting Pansy in one of the few moment's of good light – but there should be a limit to candy addiction for anybody. _I should ask if there was some sort of group for this in the magical community… like Weight Watchers or the AA._

" I've got to go see Snape for Occlumency lessons. Election date isn't long now and the popularity seemed to be tied between you and Ron. I suggest adding more substances in your speeches than Hagrid's umbrella."

" Thanks man." Draco joked, " You have fun with your lesson."

" Yeah right. Bye." Neville did not put his name forward for the election, and as a bystander – and voter – he would say the person that would most likely get his vote would be Ernie MacMillan. He was the last of the three standing for the post and actually proposed for things unrelated to Hagrid's case – like building an airborne garden beside the Quidditch Stadium for example. _Sure, he's got some unrealistic ideas, but at least his heart is sort of in the right place. _

Neville descended the stairs into the strange smelling dungeon corridors, feeling a bit uncomfortable due to the out of place aroma (it reminded him of ketchup) and the thought of not supporting his housemate and friend. Though Ron was a good person by nature, he should not become a politician. Sure, Neville did not really want Hagrid sacked either, but basing his entire election campaign badmouthing Draco and the Slytherins was plain stupid. Neville's 'moral line' was to help Ron with some chores like booking rooms for his rallies and whatnot.

Arriving outside Snape's office, Neville was worried about Ron's rally later, where Draco would bound to come along and disturb, and he made the grave mistake of knocking then entering before Snape's voice granted him permission. If Neville had something in his hands, it would have fallen to the floor at the shock he saw inside Snape's office. It was not the pickled animal brains, nor the cauldron of red bubbly liquid, or even the half-dissected head of an ashwinder that was in the process of being stripped for potions ingredients. _I'm used to all that mad scientist stuffs by now… but _this_! _

On the side table on the other side of Snape's work desk, reserved for guests and hence usually covered in a thick layer of dust, laid out a china tea set with steaming tea and even a tray of cakes and biscuits. Snape was on one of the table's chairs, the album in his hands having really fallen with a plop at Neville's surprising entrance. On the other wooden chair was a less alarmed Harry, who was not as mortified and had kept the pictures he was holding safely in his hands. Actually, on second glance, the side table was covered with old photographs of Harry's mother that he had shown Neville before during summer.

" Longbottom!" Snape visibly shook and Neville noticed Snape's hands were now claw-shaped. " Who gave you permission to barge into my office like this?"

" You told me to meet at six for my Occlumency lesson." Neville could not help but smile at the scene as he pointed at the clock on the wall.

" I'm sorry Professor Snape, I guess I'll just be going then." Harry made haste in gathering the photos on the side table after giving Neville an apologetic smile. _He knows I know what's going on anyway – the deal between Snape and Lily. I wonder if he would react so tamed if it was Draco who waltzed in._

Snape would have looked panicked if he was a normal person, but he was just standing tall on the spot with a frown as he intercepted, " We've still to discuss the points you had problems with in your research notes Potter. Plus there's also the…"

For Neville though, just from Snape's slightly higher tone, meant he knew Snape was definitely panicking about being unable to keep Harry. Neville did wonder why Snape had dwindled away at midsentence and glanced once more around the room. The cauldron on the fire caught his eyes, with Snape's wand suspended in midair, stirring the red smoking liquid inside.

_That isn't… a harmful potion is it? I'm confident in saying I've fixed Harry and Snape's relations so much that they could actually sit down and have a tea party. Let alone the fact that Snape never had a notion of poisoning or killing Harry in the books… nothing could've changed Snape in that direction… right?_

" Professor, what potion are you making in that cauldron?" Neville asked suspiciously, right arm bent and ready to arm himself as he sniffed at the peculiar smell of herbs in the room.

" It's none of your business!"

" It's tomato soup." Harry managed to blurt out at the same time as Snape. The two looked horrified at each other, one in a whining shock while the other in an apologising shock, and Harry immediately apologised. " I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Neville could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, to the point of holding his stomach and punching the ground. " Oh… Oh you're killing me! As if the tea party wasn't enough you're making soup? Haha! I think I'm getting cramps from laughing! BWHAHAHA!"

" Longbottom!" Snape held out his hand and the wand that was previously just stirring the tomato soup shot towards his opened palm.

Just as Snape was probably about to Sectumsempra Neville to the next dimension, Harry jumped in the way. " Professor Snape, I'm really sorry, I apologise for Neville. _Neville_! Get up from the floor!"

Seeing the scene kind of touched a soft spot inside Neville and reminded him of a child protecting his puppy from his parent after it dug up the garden. _Hey wait, doesn't that make _me_ the puppy?_ Neville settled himself and patted the dust off his robes, " Well you guys have fun and enjoy your evening-in."

" Actually would you like to join us Neville?" Harry suggested liberally to the complete shock of the other two. " I was just about to ask Professor Snape about the research notes on Immaterial Transfiguration and it would definitely help if you are here to explain some things we went over during summer."

_You really think this is _your_ office Harry?_ Neville took a quick glance at Snape, who looked livid at the idea as well. _At least I can be assured safely the old bat wouldn't accept this idea._

Before Neville could agree to what he thought would be Snape's verbal unwelcoming broom, sweeping him away from his office, Snape's voice quivered as he said, " Fine."

_Fine? FINE?_ Dinner with Snape was one thing, but a dinner with both Snape and Harry, while pretending Snape was still Harry's apathetic professor was doomed to be terrible. _I can't believe it's got to the stage where Snape can't say 'no' to a simple request from Harry…_

" That's great! Here Neville, take a seat." Harry went on to pull up a chair while Snape reluctantly pointed about the room with his wand to serve up a helping of his home-made tomato soup.

To avoid an awkward silence, and just standing there like a log, Neville randomly picked a topic, " So… Professor Snape… I never knew you were that good with Wandless Magic."

" You discussed your mother's research with _him_ through summer Potter?" Snape sneered without sparing a glance in Neville's direction. " Someone who doesn't even know that Wandless Magic is near impossible to master. Even Dumbledore could only manage simple spells like the Levitation Charm without a wand. Neville, what could've possible gave you the idea that I was adept at Wandless Magic?"

" What? But didn't you just summon your wand into your hand from way over there? And there're plenty of times when I saw your wand automatically stirring different potions while floating around the room." Neville had not read that much on Wandless Magic, with all the fan fictions about it and everything, and had just thought it would come to him much like Non-Verbal spells as he grew more powerful after seeing Snape's displays.

" What parts of those acts were wandless Longbottom? Trying to perform magic without a wand would be like writing without a quill!" Snape sighed impatiently as if he was explaining Potions to the original Neville. " If I was to summon my wand to me with Wandless Magic, even if I had succeeded, I would have fallen onto the floor by now out of exhaustion."

" But you obviously did just there! Look! There's still tomato soup at the wand tip even!" Neville pointed and exclaimed.

" There's a difference between Wandless Magic and utilising the magic in your wand remotely." Snape smirked as he shot his wand once around the room as if to show off in front of the dumbfounded Harry.

" You mean you can somehow use your wand even if it's far away?" Neville had never read this theory before in any books.

" To a certain extent. The skill allows the wand to roam freely within a certain range and maybe perform some spells if you are at my level of mastery. It's just a technique little known to the common wizards." Snape plopped a bowl of soup in front of Neville, " Of course, the likes of you will probably never be able to master such an art."

" I want to learn it," Neville said, ignoring the soup. As surprisingly good as Snape's cooking smelled, the prospects of learning how to render the Disarming Charm almost worthless smelled better.

" Didn't you just listen to me boy? Few are adequate and I doubt you are." Snape sat down on his own chair, crossing his legs comfortably. " For example, can you perform spells with your left hand?"

" I am right-handed – that's my wand hand," Neville stated. He had never tried to use his left hand to perform magic, but at one try now, told him he could not.

" Ha. If you can't even do a simple task such as this, how do you expect to control the movement of your wand through the air at all angles?" Snape was clearly enjoying the torment on Neville after the boy had burst in to disturb his time with Harry. " After failing to a Boggart, here is Longbottom failing at another feat. You sure have a fair number of weaknesses for someone the Headmaster overestimates."

Neville ignored the comment and persisted, " But isn't this just like trying to draw a circle and a square simultaneously with both hands? There's something like this in martial arts or even just playing a musical instrument. It's difficult, and comes naturally to some people, but it's definitely not impossible through practice."

" This is just the basic of the basics." Snape took a drink from his tea cup, almost stretching out his pinkie in amusement. " Do you realise how complex this stem of magic really is? Wands are the concentrate of immeasurable magical momentum and the focus of a wizard's spirit before each spell. To control and activate such a power would require an abstract understanding of the principles – and your learning abilities are mediocre at best."

" So… Is this 'Wand Magic' almost the same as, for example, igniting a spark in the middle of a gun powder factory?" Harry, who had until now been the silent listener, spoke up and once again for the countless time today shocked the duo. When the two did not reply, Harry quickly bowed his head and fumbled out, " The gun powder factory being the wand of course, with the concentration of magic and… You know, as a wand is the core of magic and… You just said Wandless Magic is exhausting so if it's just spark… Am I wrong?"

" N-no! Not at all Potter!" Snape gave out a loud laugh and turned back to Neville, " See Longbottom? This is the difference between a real talent and you."

_Harry's not your son damn it, you don't have to sound like a proud father after his baby took his first step._ Neville gritted his teeth and turned back to Harry, " Do you want to learn this too?"

" Yes." By this question, Harry's expression turned serious again. " Because I think this could be the key to my mother's research."

" What?" Snape and Neville asked simultaneously like a band of ducks.

" Remember the basis of Immaterial Transfiguration was to make an immaterial entity achieve a material status, and to do that the immaterial entity should be fused with a substance of great magical capacity? What about a wand? Not shooting a spell out of the wand, but if I can just move it freely about a room…"

Snape was nodding contently as Harry went on with his glazed-over eyes, despite Snape probably not having read the research notes yet. Neville had to interrupt, " It sounds something like trying to transfigure a wand Harry, which is something impossible to do. Plus, the research notes did not get to the stage of merging immaterial and material entities –"

" That is brilliant – I mean, I never would've thought you could come up with such a hypothesis based on advance magical theory." Snape glared at Neville as he cut the boy off, " And you should stop being so negative Longbottom. The point in magical research is to take the path not taken! Potter! I will assist you with all your research needs – within the bound of being a professor of course."

_Oh forget it! By standing next to Harry in Snape's eyes now I'll always just get shouted down or used as leverage for Snape to praise Harry. I'm not saying this path of research doesn't work, it's definitely an idea – and now with Snape helping him, it might just be possible. After all, in their teens, the Marauders became Animagi and created the Map; Snape invented his own curse and innovated traditional potions making methods; then Voldemort created Horcruxes and god knows what. In addition, I've always considered this year to be the year Harry's magical 'dam' broke. I would probably bet the precise moment Harry's magic experienced the exceeded growth to be when he successfully conjured a corporeal Patronus at the end of the year – of course, I won't be betting the same now after my meddling…_

" Now, more importantly Longbottom – Why are you not drinking my soup? Is it not good enough for you?" Snape glowered. _I guess cooking and potions making really does share the same stem doesn't it?_

0

0

0

" So you guys will vote for me right? After all, I'll be sure to expand our Hoglake Club if I'm President!" Neville almost slapped Ron for making such an unethical electoral promise.

Neville leaned into the ear of the taller boy and whispered, " That is not the sort of thing any political candidate should say – or at least, not how they would say it."

" No problem. This is my club, we're all good here," Ron waved at the first-year new recruits as if he was riding a limo in a parade. " Plus, the bigger Hoglake is here, the better business is for you outside – what's there to lose? I'm the ace of the club remember? There's no way these guys won't vote for me – especially if I start talking down the Chess Club again."

After most of the past month, Neville had almost had enough enduring this charade of an election. His ideals of a Student Council were in shambles with Ron providing fuel for fires between clubs and Pansy egging Draco on with isolating the Slytherins as if they were making their own private league. Neville was just glad the elections were tomorrow, and although he was voting for Ernie MacMillan, who just newly proposed for Hogwarts to be moved to the Maldives, he really hoped whoever won would somehow just put everything right again.

" You have fun playing Hoglake, or your last-minute votes pulling, but I'm heading back." Neville waved to Ron, who was just taking another flyer from the bundle Luna was carrying next to him. Luna had joined the Hoglake Club as well apparently.

" Okay, see you back at the dorm. I shouldn't be long – big day tomorrow!" Ron waved back, but quickly turned to point out the guy who threw away one of his flyers. " Oi you! Just because you're in fourth year and can't vote, you can at least take them back to your common room!"

Neville sped up his exit, implementing his Floating Magic as if he was on an invisible hover board. After over half a year since he had first learnt the spell, although he still could not fly around in the sky, his speed and stability in the air were no longer a problem. Feats such as scaling a three storey building were probably his limit around now, which he tested at that moment. Spotting an open window that he remembered led to a random corridor on third floor, Neville swept back his Dracula's Cloak and shot up towards it, leaving a temporary circular imprint on the spot of grass he was hovering on just a second ago from the ascending force of the jump. Making it to the height of the ledge, Neville reached out his arm before his altitude dropped and pulled himself through the window sideways.

" Nevi!" Millicent jumped so high at his unexpected appearance that Neville could suspect her of knowing Floating Magic as well.

Neville eyed the two nervous first-year Slytherins up against a wall, taking in the fact that no one else was in the corridor either, and cautiously greeted, " Hello Millicent. What are you doing here?"

" N-not much! Just talking to some of my underclassmen! Haha," Millicent quickly took the younger pairs' hands and started trampling off the corridor while calling back, " We have to go now! See you later Nevi!"

Neville was only slightly put at ease by the fact that the two first years did not seem to be forced away nor were they pleading with their eyes for Neville to save them. _I guess I can trust Millicent… She might bully me mentally in her own way, but I'm sure she isn't a bully in the way of Crabbe and Goyle – Wait._

" She just ran away from me." Neville stood flabbergasted for a moment, trying to comprehend that. Then after a few more seconds, he burst out laughing like a mad man and skipped along to the kitchen for something to celebrate with. " Finally! Ever since I started Hogwarts! Finally Millicent's over me! She always runs up to me, not _away_ from me! This could only mean her crush is gone! I'm free! _Free_!"

0

0

0

A/N: Don't know if this reminds you of the first chapter where I went into all the magic theory stuffs. Sorry about not much action this chapter, but an explained magic structure is just to provide more action later. I just want to get across how things worked in this world that I've created. It might clash with J.K's world possibly, but this is how it goes here.


	51. Book 3 Chapter 8

Synopsis: The friendship between Neville and Draco was put up to the fire that was Pansy. After Neville unintentionally gatecrashes Snape and Harry's tea party, the later stumbles upon a hypothesis to further Lily's old research? The election for Student President was upon them, but Neville wasn't happy at all about what the whole process had caused. On the other hand, he _is_ happy about Millicent getting over him, he thinks.

Chapter 50 – There's always dirt behind elections worthy for the newspapers.

Neville had just spent the Saturday morning leisurely finishing his homework, and wrapped Dracula's Cloak around him as he left his dorm, heading to the kitchen for brunch. _This is definitely a pleasant change from last year – not needing to do homework at three in the morning. These weeks might be grilling with the rowdy election campaigns, but it sure reminds me that I've made the right choice in reducing my workload. I might even get a chance to visit Norbert after this._

Just as Neville emerged from the shades of the staircase leading down from the boy's dorms into the common room, a flash of red tugged at his Cloak. Next, Neville saw a glaring pair of brown eyes as Ginny said, " You pig! How long do you plan to sleep in on a weekend anyway?"

" I was doing my homework upstairs actually," Neville tugged his Cloak back from the small girl's hands. Ginny's face heated up a little at being caught wrong and Neville continued, " Plus, I don't see how this is any of your business. Did someone make you mad again? Percy with his lectures or Ron fending off another boy for accidentally touching your hand?"

" What are you talking about? I'm not mad," Ginny unconvincingly harrumphed. Neville resisted a raised eyebrow as he surveyed her tied up hair and casual Quidditch robes. Ginny shook the broom in her hand and said, " By the way, I wanted to go practice Quidditch for the tryouts –"

" We have no tryouts this year, our team's full, remember?" Neville interjected.

" There're tryouts for substitutes!" Ginny growled, " As I was saying, I need someone to help practice."

" Ron's not in his dorm, you know it's election day today. Harry's probably out with him to rally some last minute votes as well." Neville said as he surveyed the empty common room. _The Gryffindor are probably out as a single unit against the Slytherins right about now._

Ignoring Neville's sigh, Ginny snapped, " I wasn't looking for them! I was looking for you! I want you to help practice!"

" Me? Why me? Weren't you too shy to even look me in the face at the Hogwarts Express because of the ki –"

" Wa! Don't say it! Don't say it!" Ginny covered her ears and closed her eyes until she was certain Neville had stopped talking. A faint blush was still left on her cheeks though as she said, " No one else is as free as you are today – so there. Now let's go already!"

" Is that really the tone someone asking a favour should take?" Neville shook his head, " Kids these days… I can't help you anyway, since I don't even have my own broom."

" What do you think this is for?" Ginny shook her broom in her hand again.

" What about you?" Neville asked.

" I've borrowed another one…" Ginny lowered her face and her blush got even redder. That was when Neville noticed the familiar broom by the couch Ginny had presumably been sitting.

" Hey! Isn't that Harry's Nimbus? Why did he –" Ginny grabbed Dracula's Cloak again and shoved Neville towards the portrait hole.

" Let's go already! The sun would set if you delay any longer!"

" But I haven't eaten anything yet today!"

" How come with you the topic always ends in food? I've got something with me you can devour when we get to the Quidditch pitch! Now come on! I've waited all morning for – Oh, just come along!"

0

0

0

" Tell me Ginny, when did you start feeling this way about me?" Neville asked in the backdrop of a setting sun.

Ginny mumbled back as quick as she could, " I don't know. It might have been at first sight… You know, when you bumped into me at the Quidditch stadium."

" Really?" Neville was carrying Ginny's broom back to the castle for her and swapped shoulder at that moment. Broomsticks were heavier than they looked. " I saved you from a speeding broom back then, remember?"

" Yes I do," Ginny looked up from under her fringe at Neville. " But you hit me on the head with your chin – and you've got a hard chin. It hurts you know! And for the last time, I don't hate you!"

" If you don't hate me then why did you starve me and insist I waste a whole day training with you?" Neville finally exploded and threw her heavy broom down onto the ground. The stubborn and selfish girl had refused to let Neville leave the Quidditch stadium all day since she dragged him there this morning. After twirling around the three stupid hoops for hours under the sun, without the promised food, Neville's mood was at its lowest.

" Well, you may not know it now – but you'll thank me later!" Ginny proudly snapped her face the other way and crossed her arms. _Why the spoilt brat! Who said Draco was spoilt? Those brothers of hers definitely care about this little devil too much! Definitely!_

" I don't care for playing Quidditch so I don't think I'll ever thank you for throwing Quaffles in my face!" Neville snatched Harry's broom from the offended girl's hands. " I'll return this!"

Ginny had obviously been wanting to keep Harry's possession for much longer and disappear off to daydreams with it but Neville just jumped on ruthlessly and sped back towards the castle. He ignored the shouting and raving from the little girl behind him and made a beeline for the Great Hall. _It's dinner time and no one is stopping me! Not Ginny! Not the election! Nothing! I want food damn it!_

Filch bellowed something about not being allowed to ride brooms inside the castle as Neville sped towards the doors of the Great Hall, jumped through the large doorway, and strode towards where he spotted a surprised Harry. Stuffing the Nimbus into Harry's arms, Neville crashed unceremoniously down next to him and started gulping down whatever looked edible on the table. Harry might have tried to tell him something, but he had pretty much tuned out the world around him by now. Ginny came in not long later with a dark look, thumped Neville on the head, which did not stop him a second from his food, and sat Grudgingly opposite him muttering how he was a pig.

When Neville finally ate the last spoonful of ice-cream in front of him and patted his stomach in satisfaction, he finally realised many people in the Hall were staring at him, including Dumbledore at the top of the staff tables. _Oh right, elections now, final speeches from the candidates. Oops, guess everyone was just waiting for me to finish dinner…_

Neville gave a quick glare at Ginny for before and announced, " Yeah I'm done Headmaster."

" Good good," Dumbledore cleared his throat. " Now that every single student is well-fed and watered, I think it is time we finally start the beginning of the end for the heated first Junior Student Council election at Hogwarts. As a last attempt for the candidates to appeal to the students, I would like to invite the candidates to give their closing speeches, summing up their campaign agendas, up here on the stage in front of the student body. Let's see… Mr MacMillan, how about we start with your closing speech first?"

Neville did not pay much attention to the speeches of the three candidates really. When Draco was going up though, he gave Neville a quizzical look, and Ron even just snapped his red face the other way – it might have something to do with how Neville was banging the table and wolf-whistling at their entrances. Either way, the speeches finished and Dumbledore stood up again, Neville fully expecting him to explain some sort of magical voting process that involved the thing that looked like The Goblet of Fire at the front of the Hall.

Dumbledore surprised Neville once again though.

" Although I don't understand the strategy of this candidate, only starting his election campaign on the final day of the elections, may Mr Longbottom please step up to the stage please for his closing speech?"

Neville looked at Dumbledore and was even ready to laugh at this uncharacteristic joke before noticing how everyone in the Hall was staring at him. Neville immediately looked at Harry next to him for help, " What's this all about?"

" What do you mean? _You_ were the one that told us you weren't running for the election," Harry whispered back, with a tinge of unrest in his voice. " For the whole day today, your name echoed across every corridor in this castle. Is it for some sort of impact effect or something? You rallying votes on the very last day?"

" But I didn't! I was with Ginny all…" Neville snapped his head at Ginny, who looked up at the ceiling whistling a tune. " You tricked me…"

" Ahem – Mr Longbottom," Dumbledore urged him on the stage.

" Headmaster, there must've been some mistake." Neville stood up and explained to the whole school, " I never even handed in my name for the election."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and looked over at McGonagall, who mechanically opened her mouth as if in surprise, " Oh? Well. I don't know about this Mr Longbottom. I did indeed received your name at the end of the first week, along with the name of your two nominees. They were Miss Li and Miss Abbot, who were also the people who handed in your application."

Neville narrowed his eyes and searched the Hall for the two troublemakers, but they were nowhere in sight. Looking back at the Ginny, who was still 'innocently' whistling away, he knew she would not be of much use. _No matter anyway. Dumbledore will just nullify my –_

" Well since the two people in question are not present, I think there is no proof of what you are saying Mr Longbottom." Dumbledore cleared his throat, " You might as well just step up and give your closing speech, and let the students decide who they want as the new Council President."

_What's with the old fox? He was the one who wanted me off and created this whole fiasco to start with! _Neville frowned but tentatively went onstage anyway. _There's no way these kids will vote for me anyway… right? After all, I don't know what's the deal with what Harry said, but no one else knew I was running for election until the start of today at least. One day of rallying can't have that much effect… right? _

Neville tried his best to ignore Ron's accusing stare as he tried to make up a quick speech on the spot and get out of there. " Students of Hogwarts, hello. As you… er… seem to know only at the start of this morning, I am somehow running for this election. There isn't really that much to say about what happens if I get voted, since it'll probably be how I've been doing things for the past year or two. Okay, thanks."

" What about Hagrid?" Someone in the crowd shouted.

" Yeah, what's your stand-point on that?" _Damn these busybodies._

" Well, I was in the same class where the incident occurred." Neville gave an apologetic look at the tense giant, who had his case discussed nonstop for the past weeks by everyone. " Hagrid did indeed tell the class about the dangers of Hippogriffs and gave a set of instructions – it's on my Eton Ear for legal purposes. However, it could not be argued that in article twenty-five of the Hogwarts Teachers Manual, the safety of all students under a professor's care in his or her class should be the full responsibility of the teacher in charge. Then again, in sector ninety-five of the small print, regarding the spontaneous and inherently dangerous nature of the class activity, the teacher could not be held accountable for unpredicted side-effects caused by said activity. Therefore, the only conclusion I could deem this incident to be would be – an accident. It is an unfortunate accident that nobody wanted to happen. Concerning the validity of Hagrid's appointment though, the full decision should be given to the Board of Governors. If I was elected, on behave of the student body as the President, I would assume the standpoint that this accident should be maintained on record if Hagrid was to be charged for a similar incident in the future, and that is all."

Under a round of the usual clapping, Neville returned to his seat. Dumbledore announced that the students may take some moments to discuss the candidates, and the voting process would begin shortly. The Hall was currently being charmed for this to work by the various staffs. Neville could not really pay attention to that though, since he was being crowded in from all directions from curious voters. Colin Creevey was first in line of course, grilling Neville about how he came up with his 'game plan'. From questioning the boy back, Neville found out that even if today was the last day, due to the sudden appearance of his campaign, he was the candidate that got the most attention at the final stages of rallying for votes.

More importantly, four people had been spreading his campaign today, the contents mostly derived from what he went over with the others at the Council from the past. _These four people are the ones standing at the entrance of the Hall right now actually…_ Spotting the pranksters who pushed him into this stupid corner, Neville shoved people out of the way to get to Su, Hannah, Hermione and Millicent who still dared to have the nerve to greet him smiling.

" Well? What do you think? If Draco didn't get his campaign into a rut facing Ron, he may've stood a chance. I'm pretty sure you're gonna win this election with the way things are going." Su ignored the scary expression on Neville's face that made Hannah hide behind her.

" What is the meaning of this?" Neville growled. " This is not funny girls! Didn't I tell you I don't want to be the President anymore?"

" Yeah, if Draco was going about it the way he should," Su argued. " You really want him and his girlfriend to take over the Council with how they're going about it right now? Have you even listened to that one speech of his about building a separate Great Hall for Slytherins only?"

" Well… I'm sure he's going to change that when he gets elected." Neville sighed, " Come on…"

" I know you aren't happy with how this election is turning out for the past weeks." Hermione pointed out, " That's why I agreed to help, and got Ginny to distract you. We worked very hard today trying to promote you throughout the castle you know."

" Yeah Nevi! I like Draco, but I… of course you're… well… you know." Millicent covered her face 'in chagrin' and ran away. _Drats… I guess she isn't over her crush…_

" We even got Millicent to help in her house! You should show some appreciation for us." Su harrumphed.

" Neville, I'm sorry for not asking your permission first but…" Hannah piped up, still hiding behind Su, " In the end, it really comes down to the students who vote right? If they don't want you as President, they'll vote for it. Isn't that the point of this election?"

_Poor Hannah… She just doesn't know about Dumbledore… But I guess I don't have to worry that much – there's no way Dumbledore will let me win. I'm betting the old fox will rig the votes anyway._

" Can you by any chance tell me what is the meaning of what you've done today?" Draco's voice made Neville realise how Sirius must feel. " For the whole day, thanks to these three and Millicent, the only name I've been hearing was yours whenever the election was mentioned. It was like you're the only one running."

" Yeah!" Pansy growled next to Draco. " And to think Draco gave you a chance at the start to challenge him fair and square, but you pull a stunt like this on the last day for some cheap votes. What kind of friend are you anyway?"

" Draco, don't misunderstand!" Hannah quickly came to Neville's aid to his relief. " Neville really had no clue about this. It was all Su's idea!"

" Hey!" Su protested as she tried to direct both Neville and Draco's frown at Hannah instead, futilely.

" Well Millicent's hasn't really been popular anyway since her family's always been a little less well-off than ours. But that girl's a real idiot to betray our house just for some snort-nosed boy like you." Pansy snorted ungracefully and tried to drag Draco away from the conversation she thought she was a part in.

Neville, for the first time, gave a glare at Pansy instead of the usual frustrated frown. Draco picked up on it and made haste to leave, " I knew you didn't want to stand Neville, so we're cool. Even if you actually did, and this was a gimmick, you really only did a day's worth of votes pulling. May the best man win. Come on, let's go Pansy."

With the Slytherins away, in swooped the Gryffindors. " What is this all about Neville? Am I not good enough friends with you to tell me that you _were_ in fact going to run for election?"

" Ron –" Getting cut off by the impulsive redhead, Neville blamed it on the smirking Ginny behind Ron who was of no help at all. _Guess she's paying me back for earlier now…_

" I stood up against Draco because you wouldn't stand up for Hagrid in class. For the whole month you were standing there at the side, watching us fight like idiots –"

" You two were the ones who chose to fight like idiots." Hermione's scold halted Ron effectively. " Did you really take this election seriously or were you really just in it to spite Draco anyway?"

" Trust me Ron, I really have no idea about this until dinner. Ask Ginny. She trapped me inside the Quidditch stadium all day, _without food_, just because of it."

" You just have to accent the 'without food' part." Ginny rolled her eyes.

" I knew something was up when I hadn't seen Hermione since this morning." Harry scratched his head, " Now I have to decide who to vote for. Besides, do you even want to be the President even if you're voted for it?"

" Well…" Neville gave a look in Draco and Pansy's direction amongst their herd of upper-classed Slytherins. " As Hannah said, if I get voted, then I'll do it. But you mark my words that Dumbledore –"

" I really don't get what's your grudge against him!" Harry threw his hands up in the air, " I'm voting for Ron just for that. I want my Council President to at least get along with our Headmaster."

" Thank you all for patiently waiting!" Dumbledore was on the stage once again and the students all settled back down into their house tables. " The charms are now in place and if you would point at the Magical Goblet here whilst thinking of the candidate of your choice, the Goblet will register the vote. This would be a completely anonymous voting process, whereby the votes would not be known by your peers. As a point of note, a candidate standing for election could not vote for themselves. Now let the voting – begin!"

The students who were allowed to vote pointed their wands at the Goblet and as did Neville. He was, as planned, voting for Ernie and as he watched the strands of white sparks shoot out from the students' wand tips, his eyes caught Dumbledore's. _Hey… hey! That! Dumbledore's eyes twinkled! This thing really _is_ rigged Harry! I'm bloody sure of it! Without the good old ballot box and counting small scrapes of paper, Dumbledore could've charmed the Goblet with anything he wanted! The old fox didn't even bother staging a miscount!_

The sparks gradually thinned as the Goblet seemed to have glowed brighter and brighter. From a bronze colour, it was now almost eye-blindingly white and probably as the last vote was casted, the sound of a small explosion from within the Goblet blew out a piece of parchment high into the air. The entire Hall stared as the small strip of paper glided softly into Dumbledore's waiting palm. Dumbledore read the strip of paper in the typical old man fashion with his half-moon spectacles and nodded with a smile on his face. _Great acting old fox._

" The results of the elections are now in my hand," Dumbledore announced as Neville refrained from rolling his eyes at the cheater. " In fourth place is Mr Ernie MacMillian, with around two percent of the votes."

Neville clapped along with the crowd, maybe even much louder since he was one of the two percents, at the blushing Ernie. _Better luck next time – and this is a bit cruel of Dumbledore to make up the scores as well… Even though that percentage is pretty believable._

" In third place – Mr Ronald Weasley with around a twenty percent of votes." Neville clapped for Ron beside him, who was staring back accusingly.

" You did great Ron," Neville patted him on the back and as did Harry.

" Yeah mate, you were brilliant for the last few weeks. We had plenty of fun knocking Malfoy down a few notches too at his rallies." Harry was also one of those who completely missed the point of this Council election.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and the Hall settled down again for the most important results. " The last two candidates received about thirty and fifty percent of the votes respectively in second and first place. It is great to see that the choice of the pupils had won out by quite a large majority in terms of an election and I trust that the new Council President would continue with the ideals behind which the Junior Students Council was established to uphold."

Neville was pretty surprised to say the least. For someone who had no idea he was running for the election, he received a third of the school's votes for practically doing nothing. Then again, it was maybe just Dumbledore's wonky creativity. It was pretty obvious that Draco automatically start with twenty-five percentage of the votes, the Slytherin, and with other fascist purebloods spread amongst the other houses, a fifty percent majority was not impossible. It just proved that Draco really did make an impression with a good job done since the start of the Council.

" Mr Longbottom. Congratulations on passing through to your second term in office as the Junior Students Council President." Neville snapped his head up and looked at Draco across the Hall, who stared back in equal shock. Dumbledore somehow ignored the boys and continued, " I guess the staffs would once again have to entrust the position to you despite your duties out-with Hogwarts. I guess after this turn of events and the exhilarating election process, it is high time for you all to retire to your dormitories. Mr Longbottom, may I have a word with you in my office in regards to the appointment of the other Council members?"

Ignoring the enraged yells of Pansy in Draco's ear about how it was his fault they lost for him fraternizing with the enemy, Neville managed one last eye contact with Draco before following Dumbledore out of the Great Hall. Draco was as shocked as Neville was at the loss, but that was all that Neville could read out of him. _Would Draco take what Pansy said, which would most likely be repeated for the next few weeks beside his ear, to heart? With the way things are on the table, if I was Draco, I would definitely be suspicious of my own intentions. Why would Dumbledore let me win anyway?_

" That is the most important question," Neville whispered to himself as Dumbledore commanded the Gargoyle to move and they climbed up the stairs into the headmaster's office. Neville had been here before on many occasions regarding the Council in the past, but was still highly aware of the many portraits around the room. It was actually pretty freaky and he had no idea how Dumbledore, or anyone, could work comfortably with so many eyes on him while he was here.

" Neville, how are you finding Hogwarts again after the summer? I trust that you have settled back into the student lifestyle after your eventful summer." Dumbledore led off by beating around the bush – a skill acquired with age, Neville was sure.

" Not as eventful as what Hogwarts has to offer, I assure you." This was the first time Neville had actually talked alone with Dumbledore since he got back, but he was determined to keep it short as always. " Just the very night coming back to the castle, and we have an election thrown at us. Hogwarts is not for the faint of heart I tell you."

" I must congratulate you again on your victory. If it was not for Mr Malfoy's rivalry with Mr Weasley, or Miss Parkinson's interferences, he would have been your most troublesome competition." Neville felt a familiar wave of Dumbledore's Legilimency and increased his own already posed Occulmency shields. _Just what was expected from the old fox._

With a crude smile, Neville drawled, " It was certainly an entertaining voting process you selected Headmaster. None of that conventional pen and paper hassle. Counting each individual vote and all."

" Your Occulmency skills seemed to have slipped there Neville, for I sensed a thread of mistrust inside your mind." Dumbledore smiled as well, but it was his usual poker-faced one that revealed nothing. " I take it you suspect me of 'rigging' the votes?"

" I am not in a position to judge the highest authority in the school Headmaster – just like every other student." Neville had fun in his jab – for these few seconds only.

" You should be more confident in the position you now hold – after all, you do represent the student body. This whole election was indeed as you suspected it. It was all for show and I could've announced the winner to have been anyone I wanted onstage." Neville's smiles all retreated as he looked for the nearest cover. _He's just ripped through that thin piece of paper holding back his hostility? This is as good as him proclaiming war against me here!_ " But – it turns out I had no need to cheat after all."

" What?" Neville flexed his grip and checked that his Wand Armband was at the ready.

" You really did take the heart of the students during your term Neville. After all, why change a good thing? As long as you promise to work as hard as you did, the students, as shown, would still support you and the Council. From the voting percentages, apart from the Slytherin and some of the Gryffindor house, almost all the others stood by you. However, this also reflects the fact that there is still some ways to go for uniting Hogwarts' four houses and –"

" Please wait a minute." Neville was half on his feet as he asked, " Are you saying you actually wanted me to win this election to start with?"

" Why of course. You have been doing a tremendous job so far," Dumbledore's eyes frustratingly twinkle.

Neville banged his fist on the chair arm, " Then why did you even bother with this whole election thing?"

" This election was not of my intention Neville." Dumbledore studied Neville from the top of his glasses, " Above my head at the functioning of this school, there is also the presence of a Board of Governors."

Neville paused to think for a moment. Lucius Malfoy was one of the Governors last year. " Can you tell me who makes up the Board of Governors?"

" A diversity of wizards from the Hogwarts Alumni. A little less than half of which are from families quite well-off – not unlike young Mr Malfoy's." Dumbledore had already revealed more than enough for Neville to understand there was probably a good debate before the school year started about this election – and possibly other things as well. " As I've said at the Welcoming Feast – it was the school, the Governors, who had instigated this election. Also as I've expressed back then, they are awfully concerned about your workload after the summer to continue taking on the duties of the Council."

" You're kidding right? My Hoglake business is technically my great uncle's – and he is in charge of its present operations." Neville almost muttered to himself, " Plus the Council is just in charged of less than half of the weakest students in the school."

" As I've said just earlier, you should be more confident in the position you now hold." Dumbledore stroked his beard as he continued to deduce, " The Council you have led have surely made an enormous impression on the school – just look at the lack of the plain old school robes the students had been wearing for decades. Also from the majority of students fully believing in the old Council, as the vote results illustrated today, you are effectively _shaping_ the future of our society.

" You are a remarkable student Neville. Your family members must have supported you the whole way. Then on your own, in one summer, you've amassed wealth, fame and friends in many places. I am sure even many older students are envious of you."

Neville massaged his forehead as he took in what Dumbledore had said. _I can't believe playing a little business simulation through summer to take my mind off things led to these kinds of effects. Not to mention the purebloods having already latched onto my idea of uniting the houses to dissolving the cornerstone that threatened their social superiority. And I thought I _hadn't _been changing much from the original books for the past two years._

" Lemon Sherbet?" Dumbledore offered as encouragement but Neville declined. " You know, this position is tiring – but it does have its benefits."

Neville doubted it was benefits for himself, but from Dumbledore's reach for cooperation, he took the lemon candy anyway. Neville muttered as a small vent, " It's not like I have other choices now."

" As you know, we have Dementors on patrol outside our school gates and in Hogsmeade for the duration of the school year – or rather, indefinitely." Just as originals, Dumbledore was not thrilled at the idea at all. " Although the Minister had proposed them, if the school were to vehemently protest with an impeccable basis, the Minister would still have to withdraw them from us. After all, Hogwarts is technically not a public school."

Neville thought back to the fifth book, and all the 'educational decrees' that were set. It was pretty much just Fudge playing hardball to nudge his way into Hogwarts. Plus, from what Dumbledore was implying, this Board of Governors really was a 'nuisance'. _A nuisance that Dumbledore wants to tame with… me and the Student Council, representation of the student body…_

" Not only in the case of the Dementors, but the Board of Governors has a hand in many aspects of the running of Hogwarts, both the internal business and external relations. For example, with this case of Hagrid's where it would be brought in front of the Wizengamot, it would be necessary for the opinion of the school to be put into consideration…"

" And the opinion of the school is partially the opinion of the students." Neville sighed. _Yesterday I was whizzing down the school stairs on a charmed desk and today I have to go and deal with the shady side of grown ups again…_ _I am just physically thirteen!_

0

0

0

A/N: I've explained less than I mostly do at the end about the situation with the purebloods behind the election and etc. I feel I'm explaining too much.


	52. Book 3 Chapter 9

Synopsis: Su and Hannah's scheme of entering Neville into the election without him knowing succeeded and he was even voted as the new Council President. Dumbledore however let him in on the fact that the elections were in fact not his idea, but the Board of Governors'. The Council President, representing the students, is a position growing to become more important for Hogwarts and its relations with the wizarding world. Neville might have already been placed on the side opposed to the purebloods and the ministry before he knew it…

Chapter 51 – Aftermath and another tea party.

" Listen Neville, can I talk to you in private for a –" The plump seventh year Slytherin that was in charge of the Sherbet Lemon Appreciation Society put his hand on Neville's shoulder as the others piled out the room.

" I don't care if Dumbledore started the club but if you guys think we're authorising that sum of money for your club's 'raw materials' then you must be kidding me." Neville shrugged the hand off and held up the files in front of him. " We all just shouted through a two hours meeting about club budget allocation and if you want me to upset the delicate compromise we all grudgely stuck with you'd better be prepared to answer to all the other clubs yourself."

" Hey! We voted you in!" The simpleton made a last ditch protest.

" No you didn't. You're senior. And most of your house probably didn't. Now get out before I demand an emergency re-election within your club." Neville even held open the door for him.

" It's the Sherbet Lemon Appreciation _Society_!" Neville slammed the door in his face and handed the files with the budget documents to the waiting Hannah.

" A lot of Slytherins sure started rejecting you after the election," Hannah said as she organised the papers from the meeting in her hands.

" Pansy almost locked me in the dorms to stop me from coming to this meeting," Draco took a hard bite on his lollipop at the prospects of facing his ball and chain when he got back. Draco, on more than one occasion, had been questioned by Neville as to why he let that bitch (_pug pun_) run his life when he had the full potential to be master playboy of Hogwarts. Draco persisted that the reason was because Pansy was a great snog, typical behaviour of a teenage boy, but had worryingly started following that with a string of praising adjectives that even Aphrodite would blush at. " Ever since she found out I voted for you as well, she had been on my case about 'fraternizing with the enemy' – she loves that phrase these days. She even bawled her eyes out accusing me of never really wanting to win the election for her to start off with."

_Win the election – for her?_

" Then why don't you just dump her?" The exasperatedly Ginny finally could not help but point out the most correct solution.

" Shut it Weasley." Draco's voice turned back into the 'Malfoy' tone, as Ginny called it, when speaking to her.

Neville had managed to persuade Dumbledore to expand the Council by recruiting more members – explaining why Ginny was at the budge meeting. Firstly, these younger members could take over once the originals graduated and make a smoother transaction. Most importantly, Neville just did not want to be as hectic as last year again, considering he did not want the position in the first place. Since first years were still too busy getting lost around the castle, a second year from each house was selected as the new Council members.

Ginny was admitted into the Council considering the period last year when Neville dragged her with him everywhere, suspecting her with Riddle's diary, and she was a natural choice. From Hufflepuff came Scott Summerby – a frail looking boy with a handkerchief. Neville figured he either had hay fever, allergies, a cold, or all three. He said he had taken up Quidditch to try and get healthier, which meant he easily got the pass from Su. Neville had no idea why Luna was selected by the original four to join the Council, but Draco did have a good laugh when she said he carried the smell of a Garalitube during her interview – and Draco had still to find out what that was. _Let's just say it was a non-existent magical creature's half-sentient 'processed food'. _Neville had foreseen problems recruiting Slytherins, despite someone in that house must have voted for him to get his fifty percentage majority, but with Ginny's recruitment came the enthusiastic Alan Harper. _Poor boy was still infatuated with the redhead since Halloween Ball last year._

" Alright you three – I mean, seven." Neville was still to get used to the bigger crowd. " It's been a long meeting, go back to the dorms and get some sleep. Hannah, organising the papers can wait till tomorrow, you've been busy with the new club applications as well. Some people really have too much time on their hands to think up of stupid clubs like Threstles Watch Union when ninety-five percent of the school couldn't see them."

" Actually since there are eight of us in this room, and two of us can see them, this means only seventy percent couldn't see them." Neville knew Luna Time was upon them again.

" I think you mean seventy-five percent Luna." Su corrected her maths.

" You forgot the Bellada Constant Su." Luna shook her head in reproach with her usual radish earrings swinging from side to side. " Bellada is a creature that loves percentages and eats them whenever someone speaks them out loud. And there're five floating right next to Scott's head over there."

Draco said behind his palm to Neville, sniggering as Scott jumped and sneezed at the same time. " This is why I voted for Miss Wumble Worm."

" I see." Neville still remembered that last dash to find a partner – and one of the reasons why he actively banned any proposals for another Halloween Ball this year. _The rapidly approaching Halloween will be the typical feast that a typical feast should be! _" Break it up guys. Good work."

Neville and Ginny went up towards the Gryffindor Tower while the others went back to their respective dormitories. That emerald-green hairclip Neville gave her last year seemed to be her signature nowadays and she was just at the right height for him to notice it all the time. Patting the little girl on the head, with her returning an annoyed look, Neville laughed, " I'm pretty sure I can pass this President position onto you in no time from how you shouted at Jameson earlier for suggesting a levitating swimming pool."

" You were only just elected and you're already wanting out?" Ginny growled, " Why did my brother and I vote for you?"

" Well, Ron because he couldn't vote for himself and hell would've frozen over if he'd voted for Draco. He could've voted for Ernie like me…" Neville explained as if he was her home tutor.

" Frankly, I'm still surprised Draco had no hard feelings about you winning over him when every time his girlfriend looks at you, she reminds me of someone who just ate some sour plums."

" Pansy is Pansy. I hope Draco can still retain his own identity even in, what he calls, a romantic relationship." Neville gave a curt un-amused laugh.

" God you sounded so much like Snape there – you should stop those lessons with him. I'm scared Harry's going to turn out like you…"

" At least his Transfiguration grades are sky rocketing! He sure surprises me every time we discussed his research notes after his meetings with Snape." Neville's gave a chuckle and said, " You know, with your grades at the moment –"

Ginny could feel Neville was about to tease and quickly changed the subject back. " Yeah, still can't believe Ron complained more than Draco about you getting the job. Then again, Draco was the one who became Vice President."

" With Ron, this may be the extent of the discord – but Draco? As long as Pansy's around him, I can't say things are going to smooth over one hundred per cent." Neville confessed his bad premonitions only to this degree with Ginny.

From what Dumbledore had said – they were as good as being on the same side now, surprisingly to Neville – they might have as well 'caught them off guard' for the last two years, but the Council had finally drilled into hard rock. The Council had aimed to change the pureblood views very gradually by mutual interaction and communication amongst the younger generation – but shown from this election, the pureblood fascist families are ready to take a stand, some might have even warned their children. What he was wary of, as Hannah pointed out before, was how some Slytherins were no longer friendly to Neville or the Council. He really hoped the children here would not really act on the wishes of their blinded parents.

Along with Draco losing the election, support for the Council had practically been reduced by a quarter at the school. As Dumbledore had discussed with Neville, although he managed to retain Presidency, the loss of the Council's influence meant this round was at best a draw. _Then again, even if some Slytherins students obliged with what their parents told them to do, I just have to believe that their values can still be wavered away from all that pureblood supremacy… Then again, I can be convinced it's too late for Pansy._

Neville shook his head, " If only I wasn't a guy, then I won't have to uphold – The Bro Code."

" What's that?" Ginny naively asked.

Neville tried his best to assume a Barney Stinson impression and said, " A bro shall never dabble in a girly way another bro's sexual relations with another woman – unless it is upon a bro's request to stage a breakup."

" You are horrid," Ginny quickened her pace away him.

Neville chased after her, " What? It's funny right? I'll make a legend – wait for it – _dary_ character on an American Sit-com!"

The two gave Fat Lady the password when they got to the Gryffindor tower and found the Trio sitting around the common room. Dean and Seamus were talking to them, and Neville managed to catch the end of their conversation. Seemed as if Dean wanted to forge Dursley's signature for Harry's Hogsmeade slip but Harry had confessed to McGonagall already about the form. _If only my biggest worry was being able to stay safe inside a castle… _

" Harry, think positively. You can spend the extra time practicing Snape's Wand Magic." Neville played the sneaky card, " You do want to complete your parents' research as soon as possible right?"

" I guess you're right Neville, but I've never been to an actual wizarding village before…" _Guess thirteen year-olds just have abundance curiosity and enthusiasm… Actually, he did get there in the end – and got a right telling-off from Lupin afterwards. It was quite a good and reasonable lecture actually. Anyway, Harry managed to sneak out because…_

" I promise we'll get you something back from Honeydukes." Hermione tried her best to comfort him but Neville used all his tricks to prevent himself from jumping at the name of the confectionery store._ Yeah… I remember now… The Marauder's Map… Harry got it this year and I really should return it to the rightful owner – seeing how I've kept it a secret for almost two years. _

_ Now for the other business I've been meaning to come to a decision on for over two years…_

" I still don't see why Harry couldn't just hide under my cloak and sneak out." Ron complained stubbornly.

" If Dementors can see through Invisibility Cloaks I think they can see through yours just as well!" Hermione pointed out, lowering down the book she was reading.

Ron butted back, " Yeah, sorry for wanting my best friend to come to Hogsmeade with us all instead of trampling all the ideas to dust."

Those two had not been very agreeable with each other since Crookshanks chased Scabbers around the common room a while back – not to mention that hilarious conversation about Lavender's rabbit. Harry might be able to go Saviour Mode in emergencies, but he was completely no help in solving these kinds of situations. Though Neville would like for the two to make up, his knowledge of Scabbers's identity and who was hiring Crookshanks as the assassin hindered his good intentions.

_I've said back when I first saw the rat, I had two years to decide whether to kill him. It's past two years and I'm still deciding… Pettigrew definitely deserves death but the problem lies in the after effects. If I kill him now, as Scabbers, Sirius's name may never be cleared. If I reveal his identity, before I can gather enough solid evidence to convince everyone I wasn't a psycho, the rat will have a chance to escape. I don't underestimate my opponents and I suspect Pettigrew as the type that was very adept in the art of fleeing. Finally, I've not forgotten how Pettigrew owed Harry a life-debt, which somehow JK bluntly used to save Harry's life later in the series. The thing I did forget was exactly how and why… _

0

0

0

Neville could feel the chills as if he was in a nightmare, but the contrasting sunshine reminded him that he was awake. Taking advantage of the Hogsmeade visit on the morning of Halloween, and most of the students still having breakfast inside the Great Hall, Neville had bypassed a grumpy Filch and could finally test out a theory of his at the front gates. The front gates guarded by the Dementors.

The two Dementors standing on either side of the gates had both turned to face the, seemingly foolish, Neville who was gradually decreasing the distance between one of them and himself. They were situated quite far away from the main path for safety, since the school children would be travelling past the gates today, but Neville had already stepped off that path. After what happened on the Hogwarts Express and the Boggart, Neville realised there were still some areas in which he was magically lacking. Dementors would become a main enemy in the near future and he just could not afford to have such a weakness. He had almost given up on practicing the Patronus Charm, but Snape and Hermione had unwittingly given him an idea to test out on the dark creatures that day after the Boggart.

" Neville Longbottom!" A hand clamped onto his arm and latched him back into safety distance from the Dementor. Neville allowed himself to be dragged back onto the main path because his experiment was pretty much finished without a bang, but he was pretty excited at the results indeed. _Though not as close as back on the train, I've definitely increased my resistance to these things! Sure, I still feel the cold, but if I really put all my thoughts into my Occlumency shields –_

" Are you even listening to me?" McGonagall screamed in Neville's ear and he was finally forced to fend her off. The old woman was continuing from her previously-ignored rant, " Getting that close to a Dementor! Don't you even know how dangerous it is? If I hadn't been out at Hogsmeade this morning for some ink who would've known how far you'd have went? I think this little stunt warrant the cancellation of your privileges to visit Hogsmeade today!"

" Okay," Neville accepted in hopes of cutting the hassles short. He could already see students filing out of the castle and nosily staring at the two of them.

McGonagall looked to have metaphorically collided with a brick wall with Neville's lack of struggle, considering how she knew Harry desperately wanted to go to Hogsmeade. She probably thought Neville was only accepting this punishment as to keep Harry company in the castle as her tone softened a level. " Very well – at least you understood your faults. Now get back to the castle and never do that again."

Neville ran along and quickly bumped into Ron and Hermione. The two of them seemed a little uneasy walking together alone, since Harry was held back at the castle without a signed permission form. Hermione looked ready to hug Neville, but she did not, as she exclaimed, " Where've you been all morning? We tried to find you everywhere!"

Ron looked equally as pleased to end the alone-time with Hermione, " Yeah! Anyway, let's go now! I want to head to Zonko's first!"

" Actually guys, I've been grounded like Harry to the castle today. McGonagall caught me walking too close to a Dementor," Neville quickly parried. _This was practically their first ever date in the original books, wasn't it? Letting the two of them alone is also a good opportunity for them to sort their relationship out by themselves… _Without_ involving me as some sort of middleman. _ Neville took a deep breath and bid a quick farewell, " You guys have fun at Hogsmeade. I'll look after Harry."

Without waiting for their replies or questions, Neville left by Floating Magic and was ready to ransack the castle. He had been in Hogsmeade many times before anyway and could technically go there whenever he wanted. Harry on the other hand needed Neville to return the Marauder's map before the boy could do the same. _It would certainly make his day. _

Somewhere along his way to search the Owlery, Neville finally spotted the messy-haired boy. Harry was currently standing outside a room door but talking to someone inside. " Hey Harry."

" Oh Neville? Where were you? We'd thought you went ahead to Hogsmeade yourself," Harry sounded surprised.

" Not anymore. I'm staying in the castle with you."

" You don't have to –"

Before Harry could get it set into his mind that Neville was pitying him, Neville explained, " McGonagall said I couldn't go today after she caught me carrying out a few experiments with a Dementor."

" I must say, Dementors are very dangerous Neville." Lupin's voice killed Neville's chitchat tone. Although many students took a liking to this new teacher, including Harry, Neville was still very put off by what happened during the Boggart lesson. " Especially after what happened with the Boggart."

_Oh yeah, sure, bring that up out in the open Lupin. But I have no qualms about Boggarts now!_

Neville let his lip curve up a little at one side, " I actually would like another chance at facing the thing. My experiment with the Dementor was actually an extension from the solution I found to deal with a Boggart."

" Really? That's excellent!" Lupin, model teacher, encouraged his student. " Actually, if you don't mind, would you like to have a cup of tea with me and chat a little about it. You two can also have a look at the Grindylow that was delivered today for our next lesson."

Harry asked a little about the Grindylow, a creature that Neville had no particular liking for after they almost drowned him during first year with his inexperience in using Gillyweeds. Lupin did explain how to deal with them now, which meant Neville could explore the Lake if he ever needed to. Harry went on to finally resolve his own misunderstand about Lupin underestimating him by not letting him handle a Boggart, Harry also revealing his Boggart form was probably a Dementor.

" You see Harry, I do think you could handle Boggarts quite easily if given the chance." Lupin turned to Neville as he poured more steaming tea for the boys. " But what about you Neville. Did you really find a way to deal with a Boggart without _Riddikulus_?"

" As you know, I have been taking lessons with Professor Snape on Occlumency. Using the skill, a Boggart would not be able to assume a proper shape if it can't get into your mind." Neville continued with his hypothesis, " Also, since both a Boggart and a Dementor attacks its prey mentally, along with my encounters with Dementors on the first night back to Hogwarts, I have reasons to believe Occlumency provides a resistance to that class of Dark Creatures. My experiment this morning shows rough proof that my thinking are correct."

" What? Really?" Harry looked ready to jump for joy and the boy even gave a quick glance towards the doorway. _He would probably sprint to Snape's dungeons right after and ask Snape to teach him Occlumency. Man – those two's relationship really changed from the books… Harry was as good as being ambidextrous now, being able to fire off spells with either hand, thanks to his many training sessions with Snape that Snape always took more priority than Neville's Occlumency ones. Of course, Harry was kept from knowing this arrangement._

" Ah yes, Occlumency. It isn't a skill that I've acquired but I do know a few things about it." Lupin explained as he took a sip from his tea in the gentleman way that would get young girls swooning. " Occlumency does give some resistance to these types of Dark Creatures, but you have to understand Neville that this would only apply if the user was an exceptional Occlumens. Not only that, but if surrounded by a group of Dementors, even Occlumency had its limitations to blocking out their effects. That is why Azkaban can still hold master Occlumens captive."

" I see," Neville was put in thoughts again. He had thought he only needed to concentrate more, but it seemed as if Occlumency could only be used for a few Dementors in a short time. _Then how do I deal with a hundred of them by the end of the year?_

Neville was just weighing up the pros and cons of asking Lupin for Patronus lessons when a knock came at the door. Snape came in with a goblet, probably Wolfsbane Potion, and his eyeballs almost popped out onto the ground at seeing the two students there. Harry gave him a smile but Snape looked ready to explode as his usually sallow skin colour deepened a shade.

" I am surprised to see you here Harry." Snape suppressed himself from screaming. He did not even try to conceal the blame he unfairly casted on Neville though as he hissed, " _Longbottom_."

_I know you want me to watch over Harry, but the kid was here before me!_

" Ah Severus, thank y –" Lupin got to here before Snape forced the steaming goblet onto Lupin's desk with a _plunck_. He would definitely have slammed it down if the goblet had an anti-spillage charm.

" Why are they here?" Snape demanded, blatant dislike and distrust shooting at Lupin. Not to mention putting himself right between Lupin and Harry.

" I was just showing them the Grindylows we would be learning in our lessons." Lupin answered unfazed.

" Lessons should be taught in a classroom and not on a weekend in your office," Snape said, refraining his voice from growling. " Harry, don't you have studying to do? Or practice spells with your left hand?"

" Ah, yes – but we are just having a cup of tea. I'll definitely get back to studying very soon." Harry quickly said, sensing his instructor's discontent.

" Oh? Are you teaching Harry something outside of Potions lessons Severus?" The Marauder deep inside Lupin threw Snape's previous accusation right back in his face.

" That is none of your business Lupin." Snape tried to hide his anxiety as his eyes darted between Lupin and Harry. " I was just thinking Harry, since you can't visit Hogsmeade, you should have plenty of free time on days like this. When it happens next time, you can come to my office for another lesson on Wand Magic. Of course, I'm only doing this not because I want to, but you had begged me to teach you and your progress is lacking – you be sure to keep that point in mind!"

Neville tried his best to keep a straight face. _I can't believe Snape is jealous of Lupin. To take a bigger step, he might even be scared of Lupin replacing his role as Harry's pseudo-uncle. After all, if Lupin was as good a friend as a brother to James Potter, he should be more deserving of being called Uncle Lupin by Harry. _

_ Then again, I'd never understood what's the deal with Lupin. Lupin really was a tragic character, and not even getting a good ending despite marrying Tonks. He is the last lonely Marauder left now – as far as Lupin was aware of at this point in time. James and Peter were supposedly dead and Sirius as good as dead for causing their deaths… Still, the most perplexing question was why Lupin never contacted Harry at all through the past decade or so since James's death. It could be argued that Lupin didn't adopt Harry because of his blood protection needs, but never once seeing how he was doing, even after Harry started Hogwarts, was a little perplexing. If it was out of shame for not being able to save the Potter seniors, then that should've been even more the reason for Lupin to have taken care of the Potter orphan to make up for it. _

" What's with that face Longbottom!" Snape directed his frustrations on the usual target. " If you have so much time ambling around the castle you should go take Harry outside for a game of Quidditch or something."

" Would you like to join us Severus? I've always got more tea," Lupin asked, probably innocently.

Snape could visibly be seen shaking and just blazed out of the room in a tantrum.

0

0

0

A/N: Grudgingly! Thank you!

Summerby replaced Cedric as Seeker in the fifth book. Nothing else is said apart from the fact that he sneezed and let Ginny win the match, so I went with it and called him Scott.

I feel I'm not giving Harry enough screen time, or even enough lines, but his personality is a quiet boy at this stage and there're no emergency situations for him to participate in at the mo. I guess I have to reiterate at this point that the main character in my story is Neville.

Also, I couldn't be bothered stating things like 'Harry didn't mention Lupin taking the potion Snape gave him cause he's not suspicious of Snape anymore' etc. As promised, things are deviating from the books and by this stage, I'm leaving it up to the readers to catch the differences on their own. Granted, if some differences shouldn't be there, that's some sort of plot hole or discrepancy and then I'd be glad for someone to tell me about it.


	53. Book 3 Chapter 10

Synopsis: The aftermath of the election shows there had been a holistic change out of Neville's controls. On the other hand, Halloween came along and he stumbled into Harry's chat with Lupin. He figured out Occlumency could help resist Dementors, but Patronus was still the important key. Snape was another one who stumbled in and Neville had a pretty amusing tea party – but he's forgetting something…

Chapter 52 – Sirius Black, sponsor of Hogwarts slumber party.

Neville and Harry spent the day after their visit with Lupin practising some battling spells. Harry had improved a lot in both fundamentals and battling techniques – his improvement was no doubt thanked partially to that jealous bat though.

" Thanks for the spar. Ron's been too into boxing lately to have duelling practice with me much." Harry said as he pointed at the sandbag hanging from a tree in their usual practice spot near the Lake. " I really shouldn't have transfigured that for him. I still don't see what's so appealing about punching a bag."

" It's the instincts of a man to ball up his fists at the face of an enemy," Neville said as he put on the best wise-old-man expression.

It was getting late and with the increased volume from the direction of the castle, many students had probably returned from Hogsmeade and waiting for the Halloween feast to begin. Harry suggested, " Let's go and see if Ron and Hermione are back."

Neville let a thought slip without thinking, " I hope they've had a good date."

Harry jumped, " Date? They're on a date?"

" Practically. Two people going out together to Hogsmeade on their own is the traditional Hogwarts date isn't it?" Neville asked, smiling warily at the ground.

Harry settled back and shared his two cents for once. " I mean, after what happened last year, I was pretty worried about them meeting each other again after summer and getting awkward. I guess in a way, Crookshanks and Scabbers made them argue like they always did… Too bad about Ron, but I think they could've made a nice couple."

_Though the books didn't say it, since J.K was next to useless at writing romance judging from the whole Cho scenario, Harry was probably the type that understands all that goes on with the relationships around him. Like that scene at the end of the Yule Ball – Harry probably knew about the mutual attraction between his two best friends ages ago but just kept quiet. Plus, who could he have discussed his best friends' relationship with in the books without the present Neville making up the fourth wheel in the group?_

" Of course, I still think Hermione would suite you better." Harry's sudden jab almost knocked Neville out as it had made him walk straight into a tree.

" What the hell was that?" Neville demanded, rubbing his sore nose.

" I'm just saying – because the both of you are smart." Harry suspiciously glanced sideways at Neville.

Luckily for Neville, he managed to make a quick diversion, " Hey! Isn't that Denis Creevey over there? I was just gonna ask him something about that newspaper he's helping Colin with…"

Harry did not continue with his earlier line of thought – probably had something to do with the star-struck first year and his friends – and they all arrived at the Great Hall together for the feast. Ron and Hermione brought back some souvenirs for Harry and Neville, and everyone had their share of fun at the feast.

Neville had spent a portion of time that whole evening studying Ron and Hermione. The awkward air between them this morning when they saw Neville near the front gates was as good as gone: Hermione was chiding Ron's tasteless jokes while Ron complained about Hermione being too uptight. Their red faces of excitement while telling Harry what the village was like, while trying to mind Harry's disappointment at being left out. Their laughter while recounting a funny joke the twins played in Hogsmeade's high street that turned Alicia's hair purple. Their 'gourmet critique' of their lunch at the Three Broomsticks while trying to steer clear of the early drunks…

Fun times always ended quicker than usual and not long after the ghosts finished their performances, the students headed back for bed after an exhausting day. Neville followed the Trio, Ron and Hermione still chatting animatedly regarding the tale about the Shrieking Shack, when someone elbowed Neville from behind.

" Move out the way Neville! I need to see what's going on up there." Since Percy caught Neville unawares, he actually got an uncharacteristic apology to that pompous attitude.

" Sorry. What's going on?" Neville asked but Percy was already pushing his way forwards to squeeze past the other Gryffindors packed in the corridor.

" Seems like no one can get into the common room," Harry pointed out as he stood on tip-toes trying to see over the heads of the other trapped Gryffindors. Neville just used Floating Magic to ascend to the corridor roof and saw the Fat Lady's portrait – torn.

_Sirius Black!_ Turing on his Occlumency and snapping to attention, Neville realised this was a time to act again. Without caring for the Trio on the ground, or Percy's threats of handing him over to the teachers, Neville swooped over the heads of the rowdy Gryffindors and down a secret passage. When he was sure he got far away enough for no one to be around, he pulled out the Map and found Black's name already on its way out of the castle.

_This I remembered – but damn me for daydreaming at the feast. I've got to hurry if I want to catch him… Well, not catch him like the Ministry – but just for a chat… Why do I still have this map? Meeting Lupin earlier made me forget about handing this back to Harry…_

Turning for the nearest stairway, Neville leapt over the banister and descended a good four floors before hitting another moving staircase. He had still to understand why Hogwarts was designed to be so hard to move around when it was of absolutely no convenience unless they expected to make Hogwarts into a stage for a RPG game. _Guess the founders didn't have a degree in Architecture. _

Neville finally saw a canine shape closing in on the Whomping Willow when he sped along the evening grass outdoors. Utilising the element of surprise to its fullest, Neville shot a Stunner at Black to keep him from disappearing into the tunnel. The Animagus was no pushover though and had managed to dodge the spell solely on a sense of danger he had cultivated from war experiences and being on the run. As intended though, the spell had delayed him enough and Neville caught up, floating with his wand ready opposite the fangs-baring dog.

" Easy there boy. Or rather, Black." Neville could make out Black crouching even lower in the faint light of the moon, probably ready to pounce at the next second. " I'm not here to catch you. I just want to talk."

Black did not relax, but growled something or other. _I'm an Occlumens damn it! I don't know Legilimency! Does Legilimency even work on animals?_

Hearing faint commotion in the castle, Neville was reminded that he had put his toe out of line from the authorities again by straying off from the crowd. Just when Dumbledore had grouped Neville onto his side, if relations between him and Neville went back to last year's state, Neville would have a lot of trouble fighting wars on two fronts. Neville knew he had to rejoin the crowd before he attracted any more suspicions for his actions now.

" As shown tonight Black, you can't just rush into things. You should've known about the portrait guarding Gryffindor tower with you having spent seven years here." Neville repeated, " We should talk."

The shape of the Grim's mouth began to morph in partial transformation. Black said croakily in a noise resembling human sound, " Talk is cheap."

" You just talked didn't you?" Neville grinned, wondering if this cheeky antic would perk the Marauder in Black.

" I need to go," Black gruffed as the Grim took a glance at the Whomping Willow behind him.

" Fine. We'll talk later at your place," Neville conceded. _I've never sneaked out to the Shrieking Shack this year yet because of him… Oh, my stash of magical artefacts to identify…_

The Grim made a noise that must have been condescending laughter, " We can talk if you can find me."

" Fine. You just stay in that 'noisy' place." Black was not the only one in a hurry, Neville propelled himself at top speed again back to the castle. He had just managed to catch onto the tail of a crowd of Ravenclaws currently being escorted into the Hall for their safety and tried his best to sneak himself back to the Gryffindor table and blend in – but he just had to be slotted between the Creevy brothers.

" Were you flying Neville?" Dennis Creevy, who was really just a Colin Creevy having time-travelled a year, asked with his big watery eyes.

" No, it's floatin –"

" I thought flying on your own isn't even possible with magic! How did you do it Neville? Huh?" Colin pursued.

" Oh, and this one's for the paper." Dennis continued the combo attack with a bright camera flash. _I see I shouldn't have authorised that school paper…_

" Neville! Where did you think you were going back there?" Percy, purposely puffing up his chest to flaunt that Head Boy badge on his proper black school robes, was attracted by the Creevys' commotion. _With everything going on, I've spoken to Penelope less lately. Seems like that made Percy forget I don't appreciate him throwing the little authority he has around. I would laugh if he really thinks being Head Boy means he trumps everyone in this school. _

" I happened to have left something in the office. Council business – I do not think it concerns the prefects." Neville shrugged and Percy scowled.

" Don't you know Blac – Anyway, you just stay put from now!" Percy waddled away and Neville rejoined the Trio.

" Where did you disappear off to?" Harry asked the moment Neville sat down. " Do you know Black was here and tried to get into the Gryffindor tower?"

" I know everything." Neville said, and paused. _Should I just tell Harry everything about Black? Sure, I had discussed Black's unjust case and how he was thrown into Azkaban without a trail – but Black was still an escaped convict in Harry's mind, an innocent one or not. This is not to mention the complicated matter between Black and the Potters, the Secret Keeper switch, and that annoying rat that's still to be uncovered. Should I just let this be? It'll just be like the Polyjuice Potion brewing last year. Should this be another trial for him? More importantly, how could I convince him what I tell him is the truth without evidence –_

" Whao?" Neville had dived too deep into his own musings that he had nearly tripped over when Dumbledore moved the house tables and conjured up rows of sleeping bags. Someone tapped at his shoulder.

Percy was back by Neville's side again and he muttered as if he had just been fed a plate of Murtlaps, " Well Neville? Start telling the others to get into their sleeping bags."

" What?" Neville asked. _I really should start paying more attention around me if I don't want people to think I'm an idiot._

Percy looked as if he already thought so. " You didn't even listen to the Headmaster? He said the Head Boy, Girl and the Council President are to be in charged here. We are to send him word with the ghosts if there're disturbances. Now go and get the junior students organised and into bed."

" Percy, Dumbledore meant disturbances involving Sirius Black, not the students." Neville pointed out, knowing Percy would start threatening with house points anyone who just wanted a bit of chat. " Let them be. They're living in this castle as well and they should know what's going on."

_They probably all do by now through the highly efficiently Hogwarts rumours mill._

" And start a mass panic? There's a convict loose somewhere in the castle!" Percy hissed, trying to keep his voice down despite his heated attitude.

" You're the only one who seems to be panicking. You've been here over six years and you don't know the gossip-appetite of the students here?" Neville pointed out, " Plus, Dumbledore had probably protected the Hall with numerous shields by now. Relax Percy – think of this as a field trip. Oh! Better still – a slumber party! Can we by any chance get the house elves to make up some snacks?"

" Stop messing around! I would've never voted you as the President if I had the chance." Percy completely ignored Neville's self-imposed brilliant idea and stalked off, yelling at a first year to get into a sleeping bag.

_Well at least I'm not going to ignore my own idea._

Getting the attention of the Hall with the Sonorous Charm, Neville announced, " Good evening all! Great Halloween feast we just had there! Think of this as an encore! This is as good as a slumber party right? So guys, if you have any crisps, chocolates, sweets et cetera, bring them out! And nothing's stopping you girls from the good old tradition – naked pillow fights!"

As if pouring an ice cold bucket of water over his head, the whole Hall very collectively found a sleeping bag and got in. The Head Girl, Nina Jones from Ravenclaw, patted Neville on the back. " That's pretty amazing! We would've never gotten everyone into their bags so easily."

Neville grumbled until Percy put out the candles and forced him to patrol in between the snoring brats, warning him not to do anything out of line again. If only Neville had stirred up some commotion and made this into a memorable party night, his earlier disappearance could have been overlooked very easily. _Now I just have to hope when Dumbledore gets back he doesn't give too much of a damn. Then again, he did put me in charge of this place so that's some sort of trust… Well, if he puts as much trust in Percy as he did in me, then I really should be worrying._

Neville had strolled into the Slytherin section of the Hall and he spotted many of them were still pretty awake. A few of them were staring up at him, their eyes following him walking past them as if they would trip him over if their legs could stick out of the sleeping bags. _Trust these Slytherins to be most alert in these extemporary situations. After all, it must always be kept in mind that Slytherins did not necessary stand next to an equal sign with Vodemort on the other side. Black was publically deemed to be Vodemort's trusted underling, but not that much about his attachment to purebloods. Who knew if Black would attack any normal student like themselves?_

Neville spotted two sleeping bags unusually close to each other and was on his way over before seeing an unmistakable head of Malfoy blonde from one of them. _Oh seriously Draco! Control your teenage hormones! I'm trusting you to not bat anything past first base! You and Pansy are in a Hall packed with a school of children damn it!_

Even if it was a little crowded on the floor, the sky the students saw in front of their eyes were shimmering from the enchanted ceiling. Although the main torches were out, the faint blue flames and the pale glow of the ghosts gave the usually familiar Hall an unusual new feel to it. Albeit the many drooling brats and tumbling sleeping bags cluttering about his feet, Neville made his way back to his house's camp. His eyes happened to stray towards a lump of messy brown hair, and the red mop beside it, but quickly turned away. He started counting the stars by himself and thought about scenarios involving this activity in numerous films. The romantic atmosphere was completely ruined though by a loud voice that echoed across the Hall, which would have woken anyone who happened to have fallen into dreamland to wake up again.

" You! Little girl sneaking around with the sleeping bag!" Neville turned to find a moving sleeping bag trying to indiscreetly make its way towards his direction like a snail. Percy had probably used a Levitation Charm on the sleeping bag and a frightened small first year girl was exposed underneath it. Percy had made his way over by now and demanded, " Where do you think you're going? You sleep on the spot your bag is assigned!"

" B-but…" The girl's eyes rapidly began to water as Percy's face paled at a similar rate. " I – I just want – want to sleep beside my – my sis…"

Finally the first year girl could not hold it anymore and starting bawling her eyes out in front of a now completely flustered Percy. Neville marched his way over but an older girl had already overtaken him on the way.

" Shush now. This is not very ladylike." The older girl, presumably the first year's sister, immediately gathered the shivering girl into her arms.

The younger sister sobbed, " I just wanted to find you sis! I don't want to sleep here alone in the dark!"

" It's fine now, okay? You put your sleeping bag next to mines, so don't cry now." Neville finally felt Percy went too far when he saw Percy taking a breath to start rebuke the sister's notion. _And I'd thought I saw a flicker of guilt when the grown man made an eleven year old girl cry!_

With a flick of his wand, Neville hammered Percy with the sleeping bag he had previously hovered in the air. The redhead just let out a stupor as he crashed landed with the hard stone floor. When Percy fumbled out from under the sleeping bag, he looked up to find Neville frowning down at him. " Percy. Don't pick on the first years."

" I – I'm not – but –" To Neville's dismay, Percy looked as if he actually wanted to protest. _Does he really want me to write to Mrs Weasley? It's just this sort of arrogant attitude, bred by himself, magnifying achievements like being the Head Boy, which turned him into the Percy in two years that viewed a high position in the Ministry meant it was worth being on a different side to his family!_

" Dumbledore did not leave any instructions for the students to sleep exactly where he had arranged the sleeping bags. There are also no significant security reasons for them to do so, and I see nothing wrong with family members being grouped together. Now if you would just stop brandishing your authority around at every little thing I think all of the students in the Hall would like some sleep." Percy was gaping like a goldfish but Neville had already raised his hands to summon the public's attention. "Okay everyone! Nothing to see here! Please just try and get back to sleep!"

Neville gave Percy one last condescending look and continued his patrol with a swish of Dracula's Cloak. The Hall also started returning to the quiet state that it was in. He could see Penelope hurrying over to a still unashamed Percy, shaking her hand off his shoulder and sulked his way round the Hall. Percy's voice was never heard again that night. Neville thought later may be he should have at least saved Percy some face, but thinking about Percy's own opinion on himself that had rallied him up in the first place, Neville just shook his head and hoped Percy had learnt a lesson.

0

0

0

It was the night after Halloween and Neville ignored the silly gossips about Sirius Black all around him as he had done the whole day while he munched on his burger.

" Ron, did you see any Screamypigs near The Shrieking Shack? I heard they lived around the area – no pun intended." Luna was one of those people who actually said 'no pun intended' literally, but Ron still seemed to pick up the humour. Luna had come over to the table to ask Neville something earlier about the Council, and decided to stay and have dinner with the Gyffindors. Neville was coincidentally in his own house's table since it had spaces closer to the door. _Plus, it's not like I can ever have sashimi again at the Slytherin table this year without glares as a side dish. _

In fact, there had been no Gryffindors sitting with the Slytherins ever since the election started, and vice-versa. Neville was just glad that at least Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were still relatively neutral.

Harry looked up from his thick Transfiguration book at this conversational pause and said, " By the way, you guys shouldn't expect to see me again tonight. The match is this weekend and there's no way practice will end early."

" But didn't you just have practice this morning? I guess I'll just head down to the Hoglake Club again…" Ron said, a hint of dejection in his voice. Ron had been in a helpless mood since his three best friends were all busy in the books nowadays. The original Harry might have been his skiving playmate, but now Harry was more often than not working on his Wand Magic or Lily's Research notes outside Quidditch. Neville had homework to catch up on after the Council, Hoglake Store, and Fashion Club duties. Then Hermione was always a book person, as Ron very clearly knew, along with the Time Turner classes this year that he did not know. If Ron had wanted to hang around them, his only option was really just to join the book club. He did in a way – but limited it to books on the physical-enhancement magic from his ex-underground Quidditch player-mentor from Egypt. " When did all my friends become bookworms?"

" You can check out a school book from the library every once in a while too Ron. It'll do you good." Hermione said typically.

" I'm done. I'll see you guys later." Neville was about to make his quick getaway. Most of the staff and teachers were here having dinner at this time and it was the best time to disappear.

" Where are you going President? We don't have a Council meeting do we?" Luna asked with bad timing and the Trio turned their heads to await a reply.

" The… um… practice." Neville gestured towards where he thought the direction of the Lake was. " Spell practice."

" Oh? No books tonight? Then I'll go with you and punch a few rounds with the sandbag!" Ron quickly fished out his boxing gloves from inside his school bag. _Damn it! _

" Actually now you mention it, I've got an essay to write for Runes!" Neville slapped his forehead as if he really had forgotten.

" What? What essay? You're joking right Neville?" Hermione jumped, as there were no essays for Runes. _When did I get intertwined so tightly into the web of these people?_

" I'll tell you when I get back… from the loo." Neville did not allow anyone to question him anymore and fled, glad he had the foresight to sit close to the door. _It's a lame excuse but if it worked for Liu Bei almost two millennia ago then it'll work for me!_

Gliding speedily to cut the time of his vulnerability, Neville kept his sights around him for Filch or any teachers while activating the Marauder's Map as fast as he could. _I might know all the secret passages now, but its function of locating people is indispensible. Then again, I really should've given this back to Harry yesterday – well, maybe I'll wait till the next Hogsmeade visit. He won't need it until then…_

Neville made it to the Whomping Willow without being spotted and then down the underground passageway towards the Shrieking Shack. The moment he opened the hatch and levitated up into the room though, he felt a hard knock in his midriff and was sent hurtling back into a wall. _Talk about karma… I promise I'll return the Map soon, okay?_

Under attack, Neville brandished his wand and slashed upward at the space in front of him. That seemed to make his attacker dodge, as he could faintly see a large shadow shifting sideways. Neville did not shoot off a spell with the first slash, but now that he had an idea where his target was, he sent off a Stunner at where the shadow was going to land. A sound of surprise, but the Stunner was avoided with expert agility, but the red light of the spell revealed who had tackled Neville.

" Black, why did you attack me?" Neville held his wand in front of him, guarded but not pointing at the Grim-like creature.

Unfortunately, the feeling was not mutual as the dog pounced again. Neville tried to jump left out of its path but Black's first movement was a fake and the dog kicked his hind legs, propelling his bared teeth towards Neville's throat. What Black did not count on was Neville's extra dexterity due to his Floating Magic, and Neville's dodge carried him just further left enough to avoid the fangs.

Black was no pushover though and with four legs beating off the vertical wall behind Neville, Black came around for another strike. If Neville had been a normal third year he was sure to have been ripped to shreds by now, but his reflexes and instincts told him to duck even without turning back and Black sailed over his head. Neville did not let this opportunity go that easily and shot off a Body-Bind curse at Black's stomach from beneath. The spell made contact and Black tumbled over the dusty floors like a wooden barrel on his landing.

Petrified and wandless as Black was, Neville was still cautious as he slowly approached, this time with his wand pointed directly at the canine face. The slits of Black's eyes were glaring at him as Neville shot some ropes out of his wand to bind him before releasing him from the former Body-Bind curse. " Black, I mean you no harm."

With the partial transformation same as last night, Black managed to speak to a certain degree, " Who are you?"

" I am Neville Longbottom, and I am here to help you." It was a bit strange to see a dog apparently thinking, but Black seemed to be trying to remember something from that name.

" Why do you have to help me? Frank Longbottom's son should be Harry Potter's age, and you could've killed Potter whenever you want if you've already infiltrated his dorm." Neville gapped at what Black was saying. _How could me coming into this world turn Black into a true Death Eater? That can't be! No matter how I changed the books, I couldn't change history. All that stuff with Black and the Potters happened before Neville was born!_

" So? Why do you want me to help you? Too scared to murder a little boy yourself and didn't want to get your hands all dirty? Give me a dose of your Polyjuice Potion and I'll do it myself!" Black growled wolfishly and struggled against his ropes.

_Polyjuice? Oh! I get it! Black thinks I'm a Death Eater! Since he knew everyone thought he was out to get Harry, my 'help' would mean helping to kill Harry. That's why he attacked me on sight, and even thinks I'm on Polyjuice because a typical boy my age would not be able to beat him down. Explains the Animagus transformation too, since he doesn't have a wand, that was his best choice of attack._

" You've misunderstood. For one, I know you're not out to get Harry." From the surprise Neville gathered from whatever he knew about canine expressions, his hypothesis was correct. He continued, " Two, I am really Neville Longbottom, thirteen years old classmate of Harry. Then lastly, though I should've said this first in hindsight, when I said help, I meant help you prove your innocence."

Black was of course speechless from the revelations. Neville gave him time and when he transformed back into his human form, Neville's magical ropes uselessly falling to the floor, Neville knew he had trusted what he heard to be true. _Otherwise, he could've waited and transformed when I had my back turned then ambush me. _Black could finally talk clearly now, though his pitch of tone was still hard on the ears, " You're really Frank and Alice's son?"

" Yes," Neville skipped over this part quickly. " I know you're innocent."

" How?" Black would never trust a stranger so easily of course. Neville raised his Occlumency to make sure his expression stayed the way he wanted instead of nervousness. He had not really thought this through and had to rely on his wits.

" Well… I read over your case records and history out of interest – after all, you were plastered everywhere during summer. I found out that you were thrown into Azkaban without a proper trail, despite you admitting you were guilty. I couldn't see motives for you betraying the Potters, when you've practically disowned yourself from the Black family, and was best friends with James Potter. Also, from all your time on the run after your escape, you had not killed anyone or committed any big crimes. This was backed up by last night, when you chose a time when no one would be around the Gryffindor common room to break in. You don't really want to kill Harry, I know that for certain, but I'm just not really clear on your objectives."

Of course Neville knew Black's objective was the rat, but that was a point where no matter how he said it he would not be able to find sources to backup. During this long explanation though, Black looked so shocked that he might not even be able to catch it even if Neville had said something about Peter. Black finally exclaimed, " I can't believe you're not on Polyjuice…"

_That makes me sound like I'm a drug addict…_

" I'm not." Neville got into business, " I want to know the full story. If you're a good guy, I'll help you. If not, I hand you over. I still have my wand pointed at you, you know."

" You just got lucky there kid. I might not have a wand, but you really think I can be taken down by a small boy like you?" Black sneered. Neville knew his hand though, and called his bluff.

" Yes I do. You're a convict on the run without any source of nourishment apart from maybe raiding someone's fridge once in a while. You've been in Azkaban for over a decade and look like a strong wind can topple you. Lastly," Neville smirked at this, " I'm confident with my wand."

Black stood motionless for a while, then burst out in a boisterous laugh, dumping his frail body into the nearest couch. A giant puff of dust shot out from it along with the sound of creaking springs, but it did not hinder the manliness of the action. _Black would do well playing a Bruce Willis double, laughing in the face of a gun for example._

" Well I have nothing to lose anyway! Sit down and listen to your Uncle Black tell a story about this old dog…"

Neville then listened patiently to Black's life-story, the whole part about the secret keeper and his present obsession with killing Peter. When Black was finished, Neville once again continued with his business here. " I guess you want to sneak into Hogwarts and kill Pettigrew right now right?"

" Of course! That bastard killed James and Lily! Betrayed all of us! That cowardly rat!" Black looked ready to erupt and would have if he had the strength. Neville regretted not taking something up from dinner earlier for the malnourished man.

" If he's killed just like this, you won't be able to clear up your name." Neville brought up one of the reasons why he had not kill Scabbers by now.

" I don't care about that!" Black slammed his fist into the couch's back and bellowed, " I've already been in Azkaban for this long, and I don't care even if I have to spend the rest of my life there if it meant I can kill the rat with my own hands!"

" You might not care, and think it's a good punishment to yourself for failing the Potters, but you're forgetting about Harry." Neville knew that would stop Black in his rage and continued to tell Black about Harry's vulnerabilities and weaknesses. _All I need is the actual Potter books and a group of children, then this 'dangerous' meeting is practically a 'Storybook Lady' reading session in a small bookstore round the corner._

" I – I never knew… How could he? Dumbledore! That senile old man! Just wait until I get my hands on those Dursleys!" Black slammed his fist again on the couch, which seemed to be his trademark gesture when he was in a bad mood. _Right after Snape comes Sirius – god bless Vernon Dursley. _" Harry… my godson… But…"

" Yes, he will forgive you. It's not your fault regarding the Potters. Harry would be thrilled to have a godfather that can take care of him." Neville cut it short, almost mercilessly. Then again, people at the height of their emotional tornado never notices these things and Black just lowered his head.

" How can I take care of little Harry? I can't even take care myself right now –" Neville almost jumped in joy at finally getting to the core of this matter.

" That's what I mean earlier! Clear your name, become an upstanding citizen, and get yourself back up on your feet with your Black fortune! Give Harry a real home to return to this summer!" Neville's motivational speech seemed to have worked and Black thumped his fist into the poor couch again, but this time the man stood up as well.

" That's it! I will clear my name! I will drag that rat out into the open if it's the last thing I do! Instead of killing him, I'll make him suffer for the rest of his puny life!" Black gritted his teeth as if he could see the day now.

Neville allowed the aspiring waves to carry them along, " How do you plan on doing that?"

" Not a clue!" Neville fell on the couch at Black's assertion. _Seriously! I was bagging on you having a plan so I don't have to lose any more brain cells on this matter!_ Black seemed to be embarrassed by this as well and tried to brush Neville off with, " I'll think about it. Give me a bit of time."

Neville dusted his robes and allowed Black his time, " I'll come back to see you from time to time okay? I've been here for quite a long while now, and if I don't return to the castle soon I'll attract suspicions."

This seemed to remind Black that the little boy in front of him really had his neck out for him. " What if someone finds you out Neville? They'll arrest you for helping an escaped convict!"

" Don't worry about me." It was Neville's turn to wave him off since Black did not understand Neville's abilities. _I would like to see how they could catch me in the act. After all, I had over two years' experience sneaking about Hogwarts like it was my backyard… Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm more familiar with Hogwarts than the garden in Longbottom Manor… _" I'll tell you more about myself next time, and Harry of course. You've just got to trust me."

Leaving the dust that fanned around Neville because of the Floating Magic, he was gone the next second through the trap door. At this point, Black also saw him as a similar version of Bruce Willis as Neville did just a while ago: someone who was helping an innocent fugitive for justice and friendship! Of course, Black might have had a different impression of him if Black had known he only hurried away because he could no longer stand the mutt's stench for not having showered for so long.

_I can't believe I managed to listen and talk for so long with him smelling worst than our dorm's toilet after Ron had some curry. _

Climbing out of the Whomping Willow, Neville glided back towards the castle. He spotted an open window a few floors up and took the detour. He had forgotten to activate the Map though and almost crashed into one of its creators round a corner. _Good thing he didn't round the corner when I came in from the window!_

Lupin had his usual smiles on and asked, " Good evening Neville. What are you doing here when it's almost curfew?"

" I'm just heading back to the dormitory now professor." Neville still did not like Lupin that much to be honest. Even after having tea with the professor, and being taught all that information about Dementors, Neville still thought he should completely hammer down a Boggart in front of Lupin just to prove himself.

" It is not safe to wander around the castle too late, assuming you know what happened last night." Neville could swear he saw a yellow glint inside Lupin's eyes for a moment. _It _is _near the time of the full moon…_

" I won't. Goodnight." Neville hightailed it out of there.

" Goodnight Neville." Lupin called out and Neville just threw him a wave without looking back.

Compared to Black, who was pretty much more of a man's man than pale pretty-boy here, Neville would not like to deal with Lupin if he did not have to. Even Lupin thought Black was really the Secret Keeper at this point and Lupin would be a tough opponent for Neville indeed.

0

0

0

A/N: If you guys can't remember the whole thing about Sirius and Peter in PoA, I suggest re-reading because, as you can see, I don't want to rephrase or copy the whole thing. It was actually really well-woven and I had to re-read it to understand the thing again as well. I'm not 100% sure that Black was hiding in the Shack or in a cave around there, but he is in the Shack now in my story.

I apologise for not updating last week, but I was busy with various things. By the way, once again an Easter egg in this chapter that really not many people will spot.


	54. Book 3 Chapter 11

Synopsis: Black tried to get into the Gryffindor dorms as he did in the books, and the school had to spend the night at the Great Hall. As Neville patrolled the Hall instead of looking up at the enchanted ceiling with his fellow Gryffindors, he had pretty much left Percy without the dignity of a Head Boy without caring. The night after, he managed to sneak out and talk to Black, and the two came to a mutual understanding. Though still, they were without a plan to both prove Black's innocence and kill Scabbers at the same time.

Chapter 53 – Quidditch matches are way overrated at Hogwarts.

" Harry's probably held up by Wood again." Ron whispered beside Neville in Defence Against the Dark Arts. " Wood's been going crazy because of the team changes."

" I foresee some drama when he gets here," Neville whispered back under Snape's watchful eyes.

At that moment, the door to the classroom burst open, " Sorry I'm late Professor Lupin, I –"

" Sit down Harry. You're late. Three points from Gryffindor." Snape almost groaned at Harry's entrance. Even if Snape was given this chance to undermine Lupin's teaching abilities, he was not on the best terms with Harry at the moment to enjoy it too much. Neville was surprised Snape even called Harry by his first name in class nowadays, probably because Snape wanted to detach any part of Potter associated with the boy and only leave the Lily parts.

" Where's Professor Lupin?" Harry demanded in a tone quite a lot closer to how he addressed Snape back in first year.

" He's ill." Snape added quickly in hopes of someone picking it up, " so he says. Now sit down Harry."

Harry had grudgingly sat down but was still staring at Snape. Of course, it was only Neville who could tell how uneasy Snape was feeling for what the Slytherin head had done.

" Professor Lupin did not leave a very good record of what you have covered – abysmal organisation skills if I must say so myself." Snape went on with his rant of Lupin, his eyes looking at anyone but Harry.

" Lupin's the best Defence teacher we've ever had," Dean foolishly spoke up, practically transfiguring himself into Snape's stress ball immediately.

" Redcaps and Grindylows! He's hardly raising you to the normal level of standards – not that I am very sure you all could even reach that. He has no clue just what he should be doing as a teacher!"

" Professor Snape, do teachers just let their student fake injuries to get off from something?" Harry's abrupt strike made Snape fumble.

" I take it you are referring to the team changes for the match tomorrow Harry." Snape clear his throat, " I'll have you, and everyone know, young Mr Malfoy is suffering from an injury to his arm and is not fit to –"

" First his pug of a girlfriend and now him! Is faking injuries the Slytherins' new hobby?" Harry growled. From the slight changes in Snape's face Neville knew Harry's impulsive outburst had landed him in a bad spot again.

" You should watch your tongue young man or else you'll find yourself scrubbing bedpans in detention!" Snape bellowed. The two glared at each other for a full minute before Harry picked up his things again and tried to storm out of the class. Snape stepped into his path of course and demanded, " Where do you think you're going?"

" I feel sick as well! I'm going to the Hospital Wing!" Harry bumped Snape out of the way, who was opening and closing his mouth in frustration, and stormed out of the classroom.

" Hold on tight cause this is going to be one hell of a class." Neville whispered to Ron, expecting Snape to be in the worst of moods. _Harry expects being closer to Snape means Snape will just drop his Slytherin personality? Come on! Of course the bat's still going to protect his own house's best interests at every chance. Actually, especially now after Snape had seen Harry with Lupin having tea at Halloween. Whether it was out of jealousy of Lupin, or a (foolish) plan to warn Harry to stay closer to himself. Snape had really made the wrong choice in punishing Harry this way though._

Not only Harry, but Neville was also pretty disappointed about this team change. This happened in the books of course, but Neville was disappointed at the present Draco. Neville had a suspicion as to who told Draco to fake the arm injury and when he came into the Great Hall after Snape had given them three-parchments worth of homework, he saw her hag-like smirk.

Shaking his head as he walked towards the Slytherin couple who were feeding each other spoonfuls of soup from the same bowl, Neville called out, " Draco."

Many in the Slytherin table, all of those immediately close to Pansy in fact, turned to glare at Neville even if he was here to save them from the sickeningly sweet display. Draco slowly turned around, looking as if he had just woken up, and waved with his bandaged arm, " Hey Neville! What's up?"

" Can we talk outside for a bit?" Neville was prepared to sacrifice his lunch time, for once, just to get to the bottom of this.

Pansy growled, snaking her arms around Draco's neck, " What do you want Longbottom?"

" This relates to the Student Council," Neville used the same old excuse.

" Fine!" It seemed as if Pansy had finally gotten the idea that arguing with Neville would do no good. She instead turned round to her boyfriend and gave him a kiss that Neville had to turn away from in disgust from the clearly visible tongues. He only turned back when he heard Pansy say, " Come back soon Draco."

" I will," Draco finally followed Neville out the Hall, but not before looking back once and blowing a kiss. When they were finally alone in the empty corridor, Draco asked as if nothing was wrong, " Is this about the proposal to Dumbledore about the Festival? Did you come up with an idea and plan to change something?"

The Council was planning to run a sort of Culture Festival at Hogwarts this year. There were still some kinks to work out, especially with the extra security, but it had been concepted since the summer camp. It's kind of a Muggle thing from Japan, where the school was opened to the public for one day and the students would run a variety of stalls to raise money and whatnot. Mostly the stalls were split by classes and years, but Neville stated that each club or society should make up their own attraction. For normal students, they would be delighted of course since it gave them an extra chance to make income for their clubs outside of the yearly budget.

The main reason was, of course, the purebloods. Neville could not be sure, but if the purebloods did pass some orders down to their children, the participation rates of the Slytherins would be close to zero – which would render the event forfeit. If attractions were split into clubs however, the pureblood children might as well quite all club activities for the remainder of their school career if they did not plan to help out their club. Why? Because the success of the attractions would be ranked according to its popularity to the visitors. These rankings would be brought to next year's annual clubs budget meeting, and the most successful club would be given very lenient terms on their club's finances.

No club would want a member not pulling their own weight for the club, and the purebloods there might as well quite. For Slytherin-major clubs, if they did not participate, they might as well disband for next year. If they planned on making any new clubs themselves for only purebloods, then Neville would never allow such a club to be established. It was possibly a little cruel, but Neville saw it as forcing a kid to eat his broccoli – eventually, some adults grow to like and eat them.

" No Draco, you knew it was just an excuse to get you out here." Neville got back to the current business at hand. " What's with the arm trick?"

" Well… Pansy gave me the idea…" Draco moved his bandaged arm as if Neville had wanted that confirmation.

Neville ignored Draco's gestures and went in from another route, " Why did you run away from a match with Harry? Sure, the weather may be bad, but you two would've been under the same circumstances. Even if you do have better weather conditions, or even if Slytherin does win the House Cup, is that really the sort of victory you'll settle for?"

" I understand Neville," Draco patted his shoulder to his utter surprise. _I thought it'd take more than this… I mean, I'm not here telling him to just go on with the original match or anything – I just wanted him to know he shouldn't do disgraceful stuffs like this anymore._ " I know you're angry because the Gryffindors would have a much harder time this way –"

Neville scoffed in frustration that Draco had misunderstood, " When have I _ever_ been interested about the House Cup or the Quidditch Cup? I just didn't think you would do something like this anymore."

" Oh… That is true… Well, you see, it was Pansy who told me that's how you probably feel about this whole thing." Neville would have slapped the boy if he had not, finally, started speaking some sense after that. "Look, I wasn't that thrilled about this to begin with. Even if we did win, everyone will be reminding us we only won because of this trick, and that'd just be a pain. But now, watching Potter get all worked up over it is pretty fun."

_I'm pretty sure Harry's more worked up because of Snape._ Neville realised this was a lost cause and moved back for the bigger picture. " I know you don't like me talking about this, but Pansy really is a bad influence on you."

Draco's face immediately darkened, " What's your problem with her anyway? She's just trying to get our house to win and have my best interests in mind."

" Okay, maybe we give her that, but is this really _your_ way of doing things? If it wasn't her that came up with this idea – but Crabbe for example – would you still do it?" Neville desperately took Draco's shoulder and just managed to stop himself from shaking the silly blonde. " I'm scared Pansy is making you do these things and you're just going along with it without thinking them through."

" I _am_ thinking them through!" Draco shook Neville off and it was just a matter of opinion if Draco was glaring back or not. " If you'd just stop thinking Pansy is evil reincarnated, then you'll see she's a nice girl –"

" You're scaring me Draco," Neville held up his hand. " Didn't you tell me you just want to try this relationship thing for a little while? What happened to the whole playboy thing from summer?"

" People grow up Neville," Draco exasperatedly put his arm around Neville's shoulder as if Neville was the one who needed some counselling. " You'll know when you get a girlfriend – and I think you really should."

" This has nothing to do with it." Neville replied, deadpan.

" Oh! I get it!" Draco jumped and bumped his hand with his fist. " You're just scared I'll leave you behind because of Pansy! Don't worry, I won't forget my friends just because of a girl!"

" Draco, please." Neville stopped for the dramatic pause, and said, " You make sure you're not turning into Pansy's puppet."

" Hey, we can even go on a double date!" Draco had apparently twisted the main purpose of Neville being here already.

" Stop it. I believe you're above tricks like faking a dead arm, so don't fail me by doing exactly this." Neville laid it on the table in all his seriousness.

" No really, who do you want a date with?" Draco did not seem to catch on though and once again put his hand on Neville's shoulder. " I know you went through a phrase with the little Weasley last year, but you can do way better! Any purebloods from my house and I can ask –"

Neville parried Draco's arm away forcefully and shouted, " I'm serious Draco! Don't have your mind poisoned by queen bitch and her cheap tricks or that pureblood crap! You're not eleven anymore and you don't need an ego boost from some fabricated pureblood superiority shit! Haven't you noticed how you're changing ever since you got infected by Pansy? Your election stance is a prime example! Don't you know if you'd have just went on with however you'd planned it yourself, concentrating on how hard you've worked for the Council, there's a huge chance you would've won instead –"

" Don't get me started on the elections again Neville Longbottom!" As if having knocked over a lid, Draco sneered like a released rattlesnake out of a long-kept basket. " I would've won if you hadn't butted in on the last day! Pansy said you've been planning that stunt since the beginning because you just wanted to catch your main opponent – me – off guard! I didn't believe it until recently but it was just so conveniently for you to have let Weasley and I fight each other on the Hagrid issue, undermining the both of us so you can get the final high ground! You really can't make me believe those other four girls had the brains to orchestrate all that."

_Here came that residue resentment. Pansy Parkinson! You've made yourself a sworn enemy._ Neville tried to calm himself down but it came out as a growl through his gritted teeth, " I've told you before, and I'll say it just one more time. I had no idea about the others entering me into the election at all. I understand the circumstances around it were suspicious, but you've had conformation from all of them. I do not want to bring this up again because I know, if you just think about it all rationally, you do believe I am telling the truth. You are believing me right now with that face of yours no longer scrunched up like a baby Mandrake."

Draco indeed did calm down and apologised, " Sorry. Pansy's just been trying to convince me otherwise ever since and I wavered a bit. I know you won't do something trivial like that. This time I really promise I believe you and won't bring this up again."

" See?" Neville was just glad he could take a small breath now this throne is finally picked, even if it had to involve a good degree of screaming.

" Okay! Now! Back to the double date!" Draco just had to go back to that petty annoyance. " How about Tracey Davis? She's Pansy good friend you know."

" I'm not going anywhere with them." Neville uttered.

" Look, give her a chance. If you spend some time with Pansy, you might know how you've mistaken. We're all purebloods after all –"

" What did you say?" Neville took a step back and Draco looked as if his fake moustache had just fallen down.

" Alright fine, I'm sorry. I know you pity the weak and all that, so pick whoever you like. I just want you to get to know Pansy and how wonderful she –"

" If I can help it I won't mind never seeing her mug ever again."

A pause.

" If you _really_, don't even want to _try_, and make an _effort_ to liking my _girlfriend_ – then fine with me!"

Draco stormed off with Neville taking a really long deep breath.

_With the way this is going, Draco's going to be pulled back into being one asshole of a pureblood!_ _He's going to be used by Voldemort for a stupid baseless cause! _

Neville leaned into the wall for support and touched the Wand Armband on his arm. _I don't want to fight you Draco._

0

0

0

Neville did not even bother showing up to the unimportant Quidditch game. It was heavy with rain, and his mood was equally as dark after arguing with Draco. Neville knew he was thinking too much, and partially it was due to Neville's own tampering that led Draco into dating Pansy now, straying from the books, but all his hard work into trying to change Draco were falling into pieces at this sensitive time with the purebloods. If Draco was somehow lured to the purebloods' side against Neville…

_What are you thinking? Draco isn't just an ally or my Vice! Draco is my friend! Did acting like an adult again during summer make me paranoid of little kids as well? I don't know about the purebloods outside, but these kids are only thirteen – they can't ruin the Council and something the students have all worked for since First Year. _

" Neville, are you alright?" Hermione voice woke Neville from his thoughts and he just nodded. Without the typical startlement a normal person would give because of his Occlumency, Hermione let it slide as she picked up the vase next to Harry's bedside. " I'm just going to put this in a vase."

Neville had missed it, but the Dementors came into the stadium and Harry fell from his broom just as in the books. Harry had a steady stream of visitors today, and the flowers were from Parvati, who had just left with Lavender. Hermione, Ron and him had been with Harry since the accident, and Ron stood up after Hermione, " I'll take a breath of fresh air as well."

Frankly, it really was a pretty heavy atmosphere around the Hospital Wing. Harry looked absolutely horrible with the bags under his eyes, the messier than usual hair, and his hurt gaze at the broken pieces of the Nimbus Two Thousand. Neville had also been spacing out for the past days and was hardly lighting up the mood with any silly antics. After Ron and Hermione were gone though, probably after a great length of mental consideration, Harry confessed something to Neville.

" Don't tell Ron and Hermione about this, because Ron will just panic and Hermione will just scoff." Harry took a deep breath to braced himself, " You were the first one to tell me about the Grim, and I know you lean closer to Hermione, but – but… I think… I saw a Grim before falling out of my broomstick…"

Neville cursed Black for coming out to play and put up a strong face for the boy. " You know what I think about these things, but I know you're wanting an unbiased look at this. Have you ever heard about psychology?"

" Yes, something that Muggles learn about brains and how we think." Harry managed to string together.

" Think for yourself if this is a possible explanation. You've been studying Divination. With all that stuff Trelawney had been spewing, and you writing essays about them, the notion of the Grim representing the idea of death could have been imprinted onto your brain. Dementors are creatures that could effect you even at a distance. If, say, you are especially sensitive to the Dementors – don't give me that look! I know you are and there's nothing wrong with it! – it might be possible that your brain picked up on some of the Dementor's presence before you saw them. Your brain gets scared of what's going to happen, and the best way to represent that is possibly by making you see a Grim because of the time you've spent in that class."

Harry stayed silent after Neville's made-up, but plausible, explanation. Harry did not managed to comment on it even if he had wanted to because Hermione returned quite quickly with the vase.

" Neville Longbottom?" Madam Pomfrey ducked in and spotted him. " Good, you're still here. The headmaster had sent word for you."

" Dumbledore?" Neville asked and searched his friends for ideas, but they were equally clueless.

Neville was quite baffled about this unexpected call, but he left for the Headmaster's Office anyway. When he got to the gargoyle, it moved aside automatically and he rode the stone escalator upwards without a hitch. He knocked on Dumbledore's door and the door swung open by itself. _I would've been convinced I'm on Star Ship Enterprise if all this were made of metal instead._

" Neville, good to see you," Dumbledore gestured to the chairs in front of him. Neville could not find anything in his tone and expression to warrant a guess at the old fox's intentions. " I take it you know what happened at the match – even if you weren't there."

" I didn't let the Dementors in Dumbledore." Neville was not in a mood to play silkily with his suspicions today.

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head, " I am not suspecting you Neville. I know the Dementors have been getting restless. I have always told the Minister this was a bad idea."

" What is the purpose of this meeting?" Neville cut to the chase. Dumbledore's dislikes for Dementors were well-known even with the press.

" I heard from Professor McGonagall you came into close contact with one of them last week –"

" I'm not persuading them to rebel against wizard-kind." Neville cut him off impatiently.

Dumbledore sighed this time with a shake of his head. He reinforced, " I am not suspecting you Neville. Do you remember our talk after you were elected? I am calling for your help."

" Help on what?" Neville asked. _I'm pretty much not having a good time on my front old fox, what can I possibly help _you_ with?_

" After exerting some pressure at the right places, I have arranged for a chance to confront the Minister about our Dementor problem in front of the public eyes." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his own eyes.

" Is this going to be some sort of press conference thing?" Neville's interests were perked. _Oh Dumbledore really _is_ pissed off now. Maybe I should've gone to the game to see how 'angry' he was said to be by everyone._

" It is similar. The Ministry will collectively decide in finality whether Dementors are really suitable as guards at Hogwarts. It will be hosted at the Ministry of Magic Headquarters in London, and the press would of course be notified, with admission of public audiences."

" Where do I come in?"

" You will represent Hogwarts, as the Junior Student Council President. Another words, you will be conveying the views of students on the Dementors. You may be questioned by members of the panel, regarding your own, your school mates', or the students' general experience with the Dementors. A precise time for the event has yet to be confirmed but it would most likely be before Christmas. I suggest for you to make preparations for it by consulting with your peers and gathering their opinions on the Dementors."

" I am sure, the day right after they've been terrorised at a Quidditch match, this would be the best time to do so?" Neville almost laughed, getting his Eton Ear ready. " I don't see my statements being that significant in the general scheme of things though."

" Oh but it is. After all, the only people the Dementors are affecting are the people living here in this castle." Dumbledore gave Neville his view of the big picture, " Even if the Minister does manage to keep the Dementors at Hogwarts, which would probably be the case, I am certain their activities will be more heavily regulated compared to now. Also, this gives exposures to the parents and many parts of the wizarding world about their effects here, relatively first-hand. I have kept Hogwarts firmly closed behind its castle walls for many years from the press but this is a time when I feel the school should be made more 'transparent' for the public to see what's really going on and support the right notions."

_Am I even changing this old fox with my meddling in this world as well? I remember the press was pretty harsh on how Dumbledore was almost running his own country inside Hogwarts, and that's got to be due to the business inside the castle being kept a secret. It was done, of course, with good intentions since it allowed the children to concentrate on their studies – but it gives an attacking platform for others. Making the school transparent is good, in a way, since it gathers support from the public at circumstances like now. Fudge can desperately pull some strings and keep the Dementors around, but only if the public did not scream in the streets for the dark creatures to get away from their children. On another look, if something like the Basilisk attacks were to happen again, then Dumbledore would be out of here before he could unwrap his Sherbet Lemon._

" Fine, I accept. Does this mean I get permission to leave the Hogwarts grounds as I please?" Neville asked cheekily.

Dumbledore paused for a bit, then smiled like Father Christmas, " Since there might be more instances like this from now on, then I would grant you that permission. Your magic signature will be imprinted into the front gates by next week."

Neville was taken apart inside, but returned an artificially innocent smile, " Wow, thanks headmaster."

_To explain the transaction here: Dumbledore really thought I wanted something in return for helping with the Dementor business and granted the request because he figured I had the abilities to sneak out if I'd really wanted to anyway. But this also meant that if something like this came up again, I really have no say in whether I want to attend or not as the Hogwarts poster boy._

" Despite this I guess I did get something out of it." Neville said to himself after he heard the gargoyles behind him returning to place downstairs. " After all, if the Dementors really do withdraw – unlikely as that is with Fudge around – then the attack of a hundred Dementors can't occur. That's definitely a good thing since I still can't summon a corporeal Patronus... As good as my Occlumency was now that even the old fox couldn't read me without putting his butt on the line, I doubt it could stand long enough for me to ward off a hundred Dementors."

" What're you muttering about?" Someone gave him a slight slap on the back.

_Oh yeah! I'm just that good at Occlumency that I don't even jump at being startled. Go me!_ With a slightly better mood, and hence forgiving her abrupt entrance, Neville greeted, " Hello Cho."

" You should've panicked! Go red in the face! Then tell me that I shouldn't scare you like that while being embarrassed that you screamed like a little girl!" Cho gestured wildly with her hands.

" You're sure in a good mood." Neville observed.

" That's because your team lost! Next to the Gryffindors, our house has the strongest team this year!" Cho was completely insensitive to Harry's feelings. _Another man's loss is another's victory. Yep, I'm going with that. _

" You shouldn't say that in front of Harry if you want any chances with him." Neville gave off the free advice.

" You still think I'm interested in him, don't you?" Cho rolled her eyes, but her pupils remained on the top right corner. " You know, he is turning into quite a cutie. At least he's got some meat on his bones nowadays."

Finding it quite refreshing to talk about Harry, but not of his tragic past or future, Neville entertained her for a while. " I'll ask him what his three measurements are if you want to know."

" Do you want to know mines?" Cho asked with a wink.

" Sometimes I really think you're trying to flirt with me." Neville knew what flirting was, even without Ms Rosier's help back during summer_. This was just a feeble attempt, or a joke at max. Girls her age just doesn't know how to _flirt_ properly in my own opinion._ " By the way, I already know your sizes. Thirty, twenty-two, thirty-one."

Cho's face immediately glowed red as if it had been heated under a fire and just stammered, " H-how – how did you –"

" You left some designs lying around the club room and it was made to your measurements." Neville explained simply, " How are the new line's designs coming along? Did you think about the changes I suggested? Hoglake robes really shouldn't have too many frills."

Cho hit Neville on the arm in her chagrin, but still sported a badly suppressed smile, " I've made the changes you stupid boss."

" Alright, let's go take a look." Neville had not even though to ask Cho about what she thought about the Dementors as they talked about the designs that whole afternoon. He did so during dinner though, and even managed to ask some of the Slytherin with a bit of help from Millicent. It was probably a task to be separated into different sessions though.

0

0

0

A/N: Don't know much about the scale of measurements so I just made Cho's up – tell me if they're completely unrealistic. Been a hectic week.


	55. Book 3 Chapter 12

Synopsis: Pansy's influence made Draco fake an injury, which damaged both Snape's relationship with Harry and Neville's friendship with Draco. More sinisterly, Neville realised Draco's starting to return onto the wrong path. Dumbledore enlists Neville with a presidential task as the old man was getting impatient with the Dementors.

Chapter 54 – Another batch of grass lit by the stray embers. 

It was his last class on Monday and Neville was in a relatively better mood. For one, Harry got a promise of Patronus lessons from Lupin and actually stopped looking like a Dementor himself. During breakfast this morning, Dumbledore announced that the Board of Governors decided to officially retain Hagrid as professor after about a month of eventless lessons, and Hagrid got off with a slap on the wrist. It was a moral victory after the Slytherin's gloating about Gryffindor's Quidditch loss. Being the bearer of good news today, Dumbledore also announced the Council's cultural event – the Hogwarts Festival – and its implications, urging all the students to participate while keeping his eyes obstinately away from the shell-shocked Slytherin table.

Hermione was busy highlighting things with her wand from her textbook beside him while Neville was busy in his parchment as well. Not listening to the lesson of course, but finally coming round to write an obligatory reply to Elena in his 'free time' that was the History of Magic lesson.

_Dear Elena,_

_ I know you're going to be screaming at me for not replying for weeks but I've been busy and Trevor is too fat to fly to Europe all the time though you won't listen to reason ergo let's just end the sentence here. I heard the Hoglake business is going really well in Bulgaria from my great uncle, with Dracula finally succumbing to asking help from your mother, and losing ten Galleons for that bet. I know you don't feel much for it, but thank you for spreading the game at Beauxbatons as well. I also received a letter from your mother about a trial Student Council that was set up there as she asked me for some advice. I don't know if you'll take part but let me warn you it'll inevitably drain your time, which may be a bit of a hindrance after you told me of your decision to go down the Potion Mistress career path. Still, I congratulate you on the sound choice, since the Potions Master here at Hogwarts doesn't have a very good personality, and that might be a perquisite you naturally had for the job. That was a joke, please do not send anything poisonous along with your next letter like last time. It cost me a Bezoar and I know you did it to make me admit I'm not as good in Potions as you, and we all know about my Herbology talents. Few interesting things happen here at Hogwarts, as oppose to you Beauxbaton students watering outlandish flowers in your lavish greenhouses, and taking epic walks with your extraordinary poodles. _

_ Oh, and this is the paragraphing you were demanding in your last letter._

_Cousin of sorts,_

_Neville Longbottom._

Elena complained about the length of Neville's letters, and also added a criticism to the lack of paragraphing as well during their last exchange. Of course Neville could write a few chapters about what had happened to him lately, but with all the background information, it would really make a very heavy letter for Trevor.

Professor Binns finally woke the class up with a 'Class dismissed' and the students all lazily stumbled out of the classroom door. Hermione was one of the last to be ready to go, as the others had not even taken out their stuffs from their bags since the start of the lesson, and the Golden Gryffindors waited for her. She beamed up at Neville and commented, " You were actually taking notes in class! That's brilliant!"

At the two other boys' shocked horror, Neville whispered, " She couldn't see what I was scribbling. It's a special quill. I'll show it to you guys later."

_Another skiving artefact from Filch's drawer, something identified in the Shrieking Shack before. Actually the next time I see Black, I'm gonna recruit his expertise on this long term project. I'll pay him with good food and wine – courtesy of Hogwarts kitchens. Playing with prank items will also keep him busy for a bit, and distract him from revenge or snooping around too much. _

Neville and the Trio had only turned down a flight of stairs before they saw Hannah panting as she ran up towards them. The pigtails girl gasped between breaths, " Neville! I'm so glad I found you! It's horrible! I don't know why they would do something like this!"

" Calm down. What's wrong?" Neville placed a hand on the girl's shoulder but her face seemed to be getting redder.

" The office. The prefects are at the office!" Hannah was still not making sense but was darting glances at Ron.

" Percy?" Neville chanced a guess and Hannah nodded vigorously.

" They want to stop the Culture Festival!" Hannah eventually got to the point and Neville jumped off the stairs at those words. The girls still screamed in spite of themselves even after they had seen Neville survive many falls from great heights by now using his Floating Magic.

" Neville! I thought I told you to stop doing that!" Neville ignored Hermione's scolding and rammed against the wind that should not be felt in the corridors if he had not been travelling at speed.

Neville made it to the office pretty soon and narrowed his eyes at the scene. Draco was standing as tall as he could with Alan Harper and Scott Summerby also behind him. The girls were not here yet while there were about a dozen prefects posing on the other side of the office. Neville took note that the leader of the pack seemed to be Percy, but many of those behind him were Slytherins. He was glad the Head Girl and Penelope were not caught up with this childish riot.

Neville considered this childish because he could guess the reason for this upraising from Percy's expression that begged to be punched. From the many times before that Neville had caused Percy some petty troubles, the gunpowder was accumulated and that Halloween night was the ignition spark. At a time where Percy was getting his ego stroked by being in command of the school's students, Neville had told him off for scaring a first year by his equalled authority. Never had he thought that a Weasley would actually get in his way – even Percy. _That Head Boy position this year really… If only I'd known and could've changed McGonagall's mind last year._

" I never thought you really do hate the twins." Neville's unexpected opening made Percy falter, since the git had probably prepared some smart-assed explanation to why the prefects were here.

" What?" Now that was all Percy could counter with.

" If you harbour a grudge towards me for the things I did to you, then you must despise your brothers' almost constant pranks." Neville saw the red-faced git was going to blast off with his mouth and cut him off with a flutter of Dracula's Cloak. " Enough with the pleasantries. What are your grounds for halting the Council's event?"

Percy's face was growing magenta in colour now, but he knew the opportunity had passed to defend his motives for hindering Neville. Neville had already taken entire command of the office's atmosphere on entry and even Percy knew it was better to keep his side's reasons succinct as not to allow Neville to interrupt and put a dent on his side's morale any more than it already had.

" On the grounds of security!" Percy did his best to draw up his height advantage and puffed out his chest to show off the gleam on his well-polished Head Boy badge. " The reason why we have Dementors guarding the gates is for the students' safety! If we open the school to the public with this festival of yours, who knows if Sirius Black can just sneak in amongst the visitors! There's also the feasibility of your proposition. How are you going to attract visitors to the school and how would you transport them? Do you plan on asking the headmaster to make constant trips with the Hogwarts Express? Do you even know how much it costs for school to run that train journey? Then there's the matter with money as well! You want our students to make money out of this function of yours? There is no academic credit in such an activity and what would the public think? Parents didn't send their kids to Hogwarts for learning how to peddle goods or serve food like house elves! You'll completely ruin the school!"

Percy was now panting because of the long speech, but with a smirk radiating falsely-placed confidence. Neville shook his head at the unpreparedness of the attack, and wondered if Percy had recruited all his present support with thrown-together speeches just like the one he made here.

" First point. If you've forgotten already, Sirius Black had already sneaked into the school last week. The Dementors are guarding the gates to keep it safe – and with them around as a seal of approval, even the Ministry would have no problems with Hogwarts' security. If you think otherwise, you can consult the Ministry yourself on how to improve the security of Azkaban, which entrance is also guarded by these creatures.

" Next. Hogwarts presently has many supporters, funders of the school, or old Alumni. The parents of students would of course want to see how their children are doing, and see where they live. For decades Hogwarts had been very much closed off from the public, though I think you'll have to ask someone else to understand this reference, it was like Wonka's chocolate factory. The chance to see inside the school itself would attract enough visitors. As for transport, I happen to be a good friend of Phileas Gamp, head of Department of Magical Transportation, and we had already exchanged letters about his heavy support for the arrangements.

" Lastly, there is nothing wrong with making a little profit for the hard work the students would put into the event. One, it would increase the school clubs and societies' operating budget. Two, it would make younger students appreciate how difficult it is to earn money. Three, it would keep order at the event in case someone abuses the school's hospitality. As for the school's image, many families have a hand in business. Just like the Burke family – yes, you standing there behind Percy – your family deals a heavy hand in the portraits and antique business. No pureblood family, in fact, doesn't accumulate their wealth by touching upon entrepreneurship. Since Hogwarts had never commonly provided any education in the business field, this little experience would no doubt be invaluable to the students and be accepted, possibly appreciated, by the parents."

Percy's was now visibly shaking with rage and Neville had to keep his hand out ready for his wand just in case. It was one thing to interrupt him during his rant, but to collectively pick up and rebuke every 'valid' point Percy prepared was equally as humiliating. From the look in Percy's eyes, it was also clear that he had no ammo left. Neville had never felt really threatened by this little opposition, since he knew he had strong support behind him. Fudge, for one, would jump at the extra chance to come into Dumbledore's Hogwarts and possibly even saw it as a chance to lure Black out from hiding. Dumbledore also saw this event as a very wise move to pit against the recently stirring purebloods and bring the Council's work into the eyes of the general public.

" By the way," Neville cleared his throat and lashed out his own counter attack, " Have you guys talked to Dumbledore about this? Percy, don't tell me you just happened to round up a group of people 'supporting' you, and stormed our office telling us to stop doing our job. That is quite a boorish way of doing things, isn't it?"

One of the dumber prefects stepped out from the group and shouted, " We're prefects Longbottom! If we see a problem with you or what you're doing, we can stop you however we want!"

" Quite contrary." Neville narrowed his eyes, " We are the Junior Student Council. None of you are, or can, become a member. Our work is directly under the headmaster and are not under sanctions of the prefects. If you are discontent about any of the Council's arrangements, you are required to first notify, and explain your concerns with the headmaster."

" W-what? How dare a shrimp like you talk to a prefect like this?" The idiot continued and even pulled his wand, causing Summerby behind Neville to jump. " I don't know if you're taking the rumour about your measly Council getting your own carriage on the Hogwarts Express next year to be true, but you've got another think coming if you think you're equal to us prefects!"

Neville shook his head at Percy for not stopping one of his goons, if they were even such, since this was definitely not helping them with their original case here. Neville did not even look the idiot prefect in the eye, but said to Percy, " Do you have any other business here Mr Head Boy? Or are you done wasting space in my office when you obviously have nothing left to say here anymore."

Percy pointed a shaking finger at Neville and growled, " I – I'll remember this!"

Neville was actually a little hurt by the comment, since it was from a Weasley. " Mrs Weasley would be disappointed in you for this."

" PERCY!" Ginny burst into the door at that moment, followed by the rest of the female Council members. " Are you out of your mind? What in the world are you thinking you bloody git!"

" Stay out of this Ginny! You should resign from all this Council business if you know what's good for you!" Percy did not wait for Ginny to rip him a new one and fled with his entourage. As Ginny blew off her stream by wrecking whatever was on her desk as the others tried to calm her down, Neville thought about this surprising assault out of nowhere.

_There's nothing these silly prefects can do under a leader like Percy. I'm not underestimating him but Percy's still to mature enough. Plus, from this poorly planned attempt to get us to stop just by a raid at our office, this did not seem to be something meticulously plotted for long. Without even the full numbers of the prefects involved, the most they could do was cause some hassles when it came to event arrangements and possibly every day hindrances. They won't get the support from the rest of the school since the other students were elated at the news this morning. What I am scared of, from the many Slytherin prefects involved, was that Percy is being manipulated by someone. Not to mention that 'rumour' about Council benefits on next year's Hogwarts Express rivalling the prefects. I concede I may be a bit at fault for undermining the Head Boy, and that could've exposed a weakness in Percy that others could exploit._

" What do you plan to do about this?" Draco spoke to Neville, possibly for the first time since their last argument.

Neville was not scared of hassle – but just the build-up of a pile of them. With a helpless smile, Neville answered, " There is nothing we can do. They're prefects after all, and everyone has a right to express what they think about things."

" I don't agree on that defensive solution." The others, even Ginny, in the Council quickly turned their gaze over at the Vice President who openly opposed the decision. " We should strike back. Get their prefect positions taken off them for causing a row at our office. That boy who got out his wand? We should tell Dumbledore he tried to attack us."

Neville remained silent at this. No matter how much he changed Draco, he knew Draco was a Slytherin to the bone. All he did was try to disassociate Draco to Voldemort and the pureblood ideals. Draco had kept it to a minimum with underhanded tricks before, probably in consideration to Neville's own way of doing things, but Neville guessed it was an end to times like that.

" We can't do that Draco. He didn't attack us." Hannah was the first to speak up, and Draco dropped the point when the other members agreed.

" Fine. But if the prefects know what's good for them, they'll just keep their mouths shut." Draco scoffed and motioned to leave the room. When he got to the door though, he turned back and threw at Neville, " By the way, before you come out and say you think Pansy is a princess from hell, I'll save you the hassle of finding out Pansy had a small chat with Percy earlier. I believe she has nothing to do with this, and it was just a coincidence – but you'll no doubt think otherwise. Good bye Neville."

" Pansy Parkinson. Again." Neville's eyes flashed and did not defend himself from Draco's accusation. _She's the source of everything this year. The purebloods, Draco, this… and I have a feeling many more things to come…_

0

0

0

Sirius, having bathed and fed, took a swig from his bottle of ale and laughed up at the ceiling. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of a demo Hoglake robe design and said, " I can't believe Arthur's raised a kid like that Percy brat. He's just a bigheaded idiot that doesn't know his own weight!"

A small portion of the prefects did give the Council and the event planning some rough looks these days. It were just little things like pulling them up for using magic in the corridors or wasting more time while arranging storage locations. Penelope was trying to get Percy to stop while Mrs Weasley had already sent two angry letters. No matter how defiant Percy was, Neville estimated he could not stand the twin's daily pranks much longer.

" He's not a big problem anyway." Taking a drink from his own bottle of ale, Neville said, " I can't believe I've told you so many things, and you can't even give me a single advice."

" What can an escaped convict do?" Sirius irresponsibly forged innocence.

" You could at least _think_ of a way to repay me for the stuffs I brought you." Neville had to admit that Sirius looked a lot better when he was done up by Neville's supplies. Since Sirius will probably be living here for the foreseeable future, they had at least made one room of the Shrieking Shack habitable with magic.

" You were the one that outright said I stunk! I didn't actually want to transfigure anything here in case it arose suspicions if ever seen from the outside, but now look at this play room! I even have a wizard's wireless that picks up foreign pirate stations!"

" These things are all mine. I stole them from Filch and got detention for it in first year," Neville reminded, without a tone of shame in his voice. Sirius had very gladly accepted the job of identifying the stash of confiscated items from mischievous students that had been lying around, finding some very interesting and useful artefacts in the process. _Who can forget the night we painted the left wall with that paint-ball gun which shot out posters of nude witches? …Just a tasteless guy thing that was better at the time after a couple of beers._

" You can't be too stingy Neville. By the way, did you enter that order for Harry's Firebolt?" Sirius patted Crookshank's head next to him on the sofa and the cat gave a purr of delight.

" Yes, I did." Neville growled.

" I know what you're thinking, but I'm still on the run and shouldn't use that much money anyway!" Black laughed and waved him off casually, " I'll get you something good when my name's cleared up, I promise! Now tell me more about Harry! Has he been training for the Quidditch Cup? That kid looks so much like James when he was younger!"

" I must repeat again I wasn't amused with you going to the last game. You really must _not_ do that again. And yes, Harry's still busy training with Wood, back to his crazy self. Not to mention about continuing the Transfiguration research."

" Ah, yes. That…" Sirius looked ready to storm up to the castle himself when he found out Snape had actually been teaching Harry anything. The mood of the room immediately cooled and he scoffed, " I still can't believe that Snape's helping with that research of Lily's out of his own black heart. She's been working on that since school, and James helped her with it a lot too. Kind of ironic that such a prestigious research couldn't be completed without all three from that love triangle getting involved."

" I know you don't like Snape but –" Neville was effectively cut off.

" But what? He's just a smarmy bastard that would surely betray Harry when he gets the chance. I'm definitely not happy about him being anywhere near Harry or that research!" Sirius and Snape would probably kill each other on sight, and Neville just pitied the future Harry when that happened. Harry had calmed down from the team-switching incident now, and Snape's behaviour was practically on parole, even if Harry was starting to understand with that incident how Slytherins had their own way of doing things. The few Occlumency lessons with Snape were more of the old bat's rant sessions than actual practice. " What is that Moony doing anyway? If he's there in that castle, why couldn't he do anything to help little Harry?"

" Lupin has enough problems already as it is, I guess, with the werewolf thing and all." Neville did not surprise Sirius with this slip.

" I'm not surprised a sharp kid like you caught on about his furry little problem. Then again, you awed me too much already so far…" Sirius joked, " Are you sure you're not under Polyjuice, or even Ageing Potions? Frank would be proud."

Neville was not open enough, even with Sirius's rogue-like nature, to let him know about his dimensionally-travelled entity. He was probably not going to tell anyone for the rest of his life.

" Let's not make this trip a complete waste – tell me you've got a lead on Draco," Neville said as he drained his own bottle of ale, looking up at the wizarding disco-ball on the ceiling.

" I've looked it up and tried my best to recall the good old days when I used those tricks," Black chuckled and his eyes were thin as a line. " One time Sarah Jackson drank one sip of my experimental potion on the same night as I tried out this rare Turkish enchantment on Lisa Paolo – that was one hell of a night I tell ya."

" I'm really not convinced that's legal." Neville pushed that aside, and tried to get Sirius to get back on topic. " Well? Did you remember anything that matches Draco's symptoms on Pansy?"

" Not from what you've described. This category of enchantments can't mix thought manipulation with adoration without some side-effects. Don't think I haven't fallen for one of those mistakes when I was young! Jasmine Benedict almost got me if James hadn't noticed me drooling more than usual in History of Magic." Sirius was off topic again, which happened pretty often while he recounted his 'heroics'.

Neville had thought Draco's feelings for Pansy was just a lapse of judgement at the start, and just blamed it on the typical teenage hormones afterwards. It had crossed his mind that Pansy might be using the Dark Arts to make Draco fall in love with her, but manipulation on someone's thoughts and actions was on the ranks of the Imperius Curse – the Unforgivable Spell that Neville considered was the hardest of the three to control, and he was sure about Pansy's inabilities.

After all, Neville was a one hundred percent average student outside his areas of expertise – especially compared to how Hermione could not fall asleep going through tomes and tomes for research on an uninteresting subject. It would be Apocalypse before Neville asked Snape for help with love potions after what happened to a brave Lee Jordan for cracking a joke about it last Valentine's Day. In the end, he had revealed his woes to Sirius, who was surprisingly an infamous world leader on the subject.

" I'm still suggesting you give me a sample of that lollipop the boy keeps sucking on," Sirius could not keep a straight face during the wordplay.

" I told you I can't. You may as well ask Draco for his head on a silver platter. I did taste it a few months back when he felt generosity but I didn't feel anything at all." Neville sighed and added another task to his to-do list. " I'm going to go now, it's getting late."

" Take out the trash would ya?" Sirius threw his empty bottle in the bin as well. " Can't be spotted in public and all."

Neville pointed at the bin and it was vanished instantly. " Stop milking your convict status! You're a wizard and you can't even empty the bin! What've you learnt magic for?"

" Hey! I don't have a wand!" Sirius's immature protest was left unheard since Neville was already on his way back into the school grounds. _That place might as well be a guy's college dorm room…_

Neville went to hang out with Sirius for a good drinking session again tonight after another tense meeting at the Council. Draco was standing a lot firmer about his viewpoints, which were deviating further and further from Neville's nowadays. There were no volatile arguments, but the time spent in debate between the two commanding towers of the Council had certainly decreased the efficiency whereby things get sorted. This was not to mention how they greeted each other with little more than a nod outside the Council, since Pansy would be with him at every one of those times.

Neville shook his head as he concentrated on his jump through an opened window into the castle's corridor. When he hit the floor of the empty corridor, he heard something not far away from echoing down the hallway. The whole school had started its initial stages of preparing for the Culture Festival now, and it was not unusual for anything strange to spontaneously attack the students' senses. The most common of all were loud explosions that deafen half the school with whatever the Weasley twins were preparing for their own stall in the Festival.

In respects to the students who did not join a club or society, or if they just had ideas of their own, they were allowed to register for a separate performance – which led to the risky case of the twins. Still, Neville had inspected some of the ideas going around, and was pleased with the diversity.

Most students did not prepare this late into the evening though and Neville decided to work a bit overtime today with the inspections – just in case_._ The more he listened though, the more Neville seemed to recognise the voice that chained through a faint melody. He followed it towards where he knew an empty classroom was and thought about knocking on the door, but decided against it.

_After all, who can forget how Su just walked right into a bunch of guys changing into demo costumes the other day… It would be an honest mistake if this girl inside was somehow in a state of undress right now by case law…_

When Neville cracked opened the door with an evil smile on his face, it turned out he had actually seen the girl naked before in the past. After he recovered from the mild surprise though, he silently closed the door behind him and leaned onto the wall, watching the unawares Ginny with a light smile.

She did not notice his entrance and continued to sing for an invisible audience. Neville remembered the song but did not really fathom how Ginny knew so much Muggle music – to a point where she could enchant a nearby wizard's wireless to play the accompaniment of 'Say you love me'. Though Ginny sang well enough to win the lead actress last year, she was of course not as good as Patti Austin. Still, if Voldemort were to make a full on assault at Hogwarts right now in the name of destroying everything enjoyable in life, then Neville would stop at nothing to protect her from finishing her song.

It was not just the sensation to his ears, but the image and the harmonizing back-story that suited Ginny's performance. The lovelorn girl in a vacated classroom, searching outside the window towards where her love was (_Harry, Gryffindor common room_), under the gentle shine of the moon, as per any typical future MVs Neville had seen for love ballads. It was just as well he had that sort of mass media exposure and the mental age wall, or else any young innocent boy waltzing in would be dazzled by this little redheaded enchantress, and fall in love at first sight.

The song finished not long after, since he only came in half way, and his clapping had made Ginny jump almost out of her thin skin. At one look at who it was though, Ginny puffed up her cheeks and a shower of girly punches rained on Neville's arms.

" You could've said something when you came in!" Ginny growled as she put her arms in front of herself, " You were probably thinking you would walk into someone changing like Su did, didn't you?"

" Of course not!" Neville vehemently protested.

" Yeah right…" The kid harrumphed and turned her face away. Neville was about to ask, and tease, her a little about her singing talents but somehow found Ginny's silence a little odd.

" Is something bothering you?" Neville asked. " If you like, I can take pictures of Harry in the showers for you?"

" Wah! Why do you always go and pick on me?" Before Neville could complain it was mostly the other way round, Ginny cleared her throat and blushed. " I… I just wanted to say sorry about Percy."

Ginny sighed and sat down on a nearby stool, cupping her cheeks with her small hands. Neville was a little surprised at the girl, who he had seen as a brat, handing out a mature gesture on her own initiative. _Maybe running around with the Council could make up her mental maturity after all, even having skipped past the Diary incident._

He leaned on the work bench next to her and said, " It isn't your fault so you don't have to say sorry. Let me guess: you had a row with Percy, and then came into this classroom to sulk, but then thought about how Harry would come to the rescue eventually, and then started singing your love for him?"

" Fine! I'm in love with Harry Potter and everyone knows it! Happy?" Ginny looked ready to bite him on the arm before shaking her head. " But you pretty much got it right. Percy – that big idiot! He told me to quit the Council again…"

Seeing the short girl's frown, which really did not suit her, Neville suggested, " You should think about it."

" What?" Ginny immediately snapped her head round at those words, her gaze laced a little with hurt.

" After all, he is your family." Neville looked down for a second and continued, " The choice is yours after all. Though for one thing, I really don't want you to leave. Since you and the other second years came to help out, it's really made our job a lot easier."

Ginny harrumphed, but sneaked out a smile nonetheless, " That's better. For a moment I thought you'd wanted me gone."

" Certainly not! I've said before, I think you're the best candidate for president after our year's gone."

" Don't speak like you're going to die or something."

" I hope this is not what they call in literature – foreshadowing…"

0

0

0

A/N: Percy may seem a bit OOC retarded (possibly I've wrongly portrayed him this way since the start) and I do recognise that he has talents in organising or some stuffs. Even J.K. said he actually got somewhere high up at the Ministry eventually in some interview. The thing is: Percy instigated this show-up raid because 1) He was proud and lost face to Neville during Halloween and 2) Pansy was good at manipulating him and chose a good time to do so 3) He didn't have time to think it through since the news of the Festival was only announced that day's morning 4) Build-up of his negativity towards Neville through the years. Though Percy may become something great eventually, he was still to mature through the whole Second War thing at this stage.

Lots of people had said the Draco thing is obvious and so I've added a bit to try and explain Neville's predicament. Neville was the one who told Harry that he needed evidences for everything after all.


	56. Book 3 Chapter 13

Synopsis: Things are not going well in the Council as Draco was slowly being dragged to the purebloods' side and their friendship is continually being damaged by Pansy. Pansy, the person who was probably the ring leader of Neville's oppositions this year, even manipulated Percy to storm the Council's office to try and stop their event after its announcement. Neville had become drinking buddies with Sirius, who is living in a much better condition with his help, and the school life continues towards Christmas as preparations for the Hogwarts Festival gets underway.

Chapter 55 – Things happens outside of Hogwarts you know.

Neville yawned and stretched his arms as he finally left the meeting room. He had been pretty charmed by the busy Ministry HQ when he first came in, but now he just sluggishly ducked under another one of their signature flying memo aeroplanes. After all, he had just sat through almost three hours worth of incessant droning that actually got nowhere. Dementors were still going to be stationed at Hogwarts from Fudge's desperate attempts to show the public he was actually doing something, _anything_, which looks remotely like a good idea. Dumbledore did get his wish of exposing the media to the daily implications of Demenotors at the school, and from Neville's speech at least, the negative feelings all the students harboured for their presence – especially bringing the famous Boy-Who-Lived's exclusive opinions into the matter. It was also Neville's debut as Student Council President of Hogwarts – but he realised after just one session that this 'business trip' out of the school was not as entertaining as he had imagined.

_I did make an impression and displayed the influence of the Council to the public… But what happened to the business-class flights and luxurious dinners paid for by the company? Huh? HUH? _

" Though you may find it demeaning, I must applaud you at your composed performance out there earlier. Most students your age shudder even at the thought of giving a presentation in class." Dumbledore was walking right by his side, meaning Neville could not slip away and have a joy ride around London if he had wanted to. Then again, his magic signature was now on the Hogwarts front gates now and he could, on paper only, come and go as he pleased.

" I was bored half to sleep before they called me up. That might've been a reason." Neville could not suppress another yawn that brought tears to his eyes. _And they don't even have hot OLs in tight business skirts! How can they even call this place an office?_

Dumbledore chuckled lightly and shared his bit of woe, " If you thought that was monotonous, you should sit in on some meetings with the International Confederation of Wizards."

" Mr Longbottom." Their insipid conversation was interrupted by a smarmy voice in a tone forged to sound warm. It had an opposite effect and Neville hated the man who called out his name on sight. Simply because his mug reminded him of Pansy. " What a confident and emotive speech back there in the meeting. I don't believe we've properly met. I am Rowley Parkinson, a pleasure to finally meet the… most talked-about thirteen year-old recently."

_I see. No wonder his eyes had that mutated inbred look._

Having no patience with anyone related to Pansy, Neville did not even humour the man with the green tie with a smile. " Hello Mr Parkinson. I apologise but I must return to Hogwarts immediately. After all, I am a student."

Before Neville could belt out that 'good bye', Parkinson senior stopped him with a 'hearty' laugh – loud enough to interrupt him. " Oh but I thought you were the Hogwarts Student President! Your responsibilities should warrant you a bit of leeway with your Headmaster here."

" I did not take the job for 'leeways' like some corrupted individuals in high positions." Neville uttered, not that he expected Dumbledore to help him out here. The old man could just sit and watch, it should not be long.

" I see! You don't like causing a stir with your position huh?" True to Neville's expectations, Parkinson's good-natured mask faded as the towering man leaned into Neville's ear with a pat on the back as disguise. He hissed with this stinky breath, " But you're doing the complete opposite boy. I'll have you know you've already upset a few people you could not offer to upset. If you know what's good for you, you'll step down and cease the stupid notions in your head before you find out just what sort of punishments is installed for you already."

" Yes I _do_ know your daughter. Inherited some of your looks actually. Her face is some sort of punishment indeed." Neville returned loudly with a laugh, as if in jest.

Parkinson straightened up and harrumphed, " You are a pureblood Longbottom, and very young. We have all seen your talents in making money, and I do hope you don't ruin your future by making the wrong decisions."

Before the situations ascended, or Dumbledore stepped in at that pseudo-threat, a surprising pacifier came along to cut through the ice. " Neville! Rowley! How pleasant to have run into you two."

" Hello Lucius. What brings you to the Ministry today?" Dumbledore, though not sounding it, was quite weary of the old Malfoy's appearance since he was not part of the earlier meeting. _Considering what happened last year with him bullying the Board…_

" Just some paperwork, nothing important." Lucius turned to Neville very quickly. " I hear it was your first outside exposure as Junior Student Council President. Congratulations Neville! I haven't seen you since summer, how is Draco doing? You haven't been too busy with the work Albus dropped onto you to tend to the Hoglake business? I heard you have a new line of Hoglake robes ready for launch this holiday season?"

It was as if he had been sucked into a tornado and in the process of fending off many relentless questions, Neville hardly realised he had already been escorted to the fireplaces. Lucius made another failed offer to purchase a few Hoglake Shop shares as a goodbye and Neville stumbled into the fireplace for Hogsmeade. Parkinson senior had already disappeared into another green flame with a colour-matching sour face. When Dumbledore came out of the Floo not long after Neville, still brushing the soot off his robes, he was looking questioningly at the boy.

" I understand you and Draco are friends, but I still must remind you to take care when associating with Lucius. He is an influential man." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the last sentence. _Malfoy acting like a familiar uncle to me would've set anyone's suspicion off – let alone Dumbledore._

" He is somehow overly warm to me." Neville knew Lucius was just faking a front, remembering how the father had told Draco to try and befriend Harry Potter back in the original books._ I'm more concerned about him still having his eyes on my business! _

" I am glad you seem to be aware of his character." Dumbledore nodded. _Frankly, I'm a little shocked at how Dumbledore's really turned quite mellow with me this year. Compared to how he was before… I wonder what the old fox would think if I told him he was just marginally lower on my shielding list than Lucius Malfoy._

Dumbledore and Neville arrived back to the front gates of Hogwarts, where Neville opened the gates with a simple tap of his wand. Neville was observing the Dementors standing guard, his Occlumency now safely protecting his mind, as the dark creatures looked to be offended by Dumbledore and turned away. Dumbledore regarded them with equal contempt of course, and bid Neville goodbye as he made quick work of the distance between the Dementors and himself.

Neville looked up at the early raise of the winter moon and was just wondering if he would give old Sirius a visit when a stray Quaffle wandered into his view. Soon after, he saw Su flying towards him to retrieve it on her broom. " Hey Su! What's up?"

" Hey Neville! Had fun going out of the school? What's the Ministry HQ like? I've never been there," Su sped up to him and asked a torrent of questions.

" Hi Neville, hope you had a good trip." As Neville was answering Su, Cho had also flown along to join them. " Su and I were just having a throw about out in the grounds."

" Oh yeah, you guys are the favourites for this year right now." Neville was reminded of Ron's long Quidditch talk the other day.

" Oh no! Stop putting pressure on me!" Su messed up her short hair with both hands in a maniac fashion. " It's my first year on the team and I'm already expected to score at least three goals each match by this she-devil here!"

" Hey! I'm not a she-devil!" Cho protested quickly with a pout for Neville's help. " I just wanted her to realise her potential."

" I can see that with how you dragged her out here to play Quidditch even if it isn't your team's training night," Neville laughed causally.

" She was the one who asked me to!" Cho complained. " I was planning to owl the manufacturer of our new line of robe designs before she knocked down my room's door."

" Oh yeah, there're just a few more things to tidy up before they're put in production. Your very own line of robes will be on sale in time for the Christmas holidays, how do you feel?" Neville asked who was probably going to be his chief designer in the future.

" A little less happy than I'd imagined. Excited and nervous, yes, but I still can't rest easy until I see their reception." Cho analysed like a true Ravenclaw.

" I still prefer Quidditch to Hoglake," Su piped up, doing a loop in the air, the light Quidditch robes she was wearing blowing with her speed.

" No need to send you anything from my shop for Christmas then," Neville joked.

" You trying to back out of giving me a Christmas present?" Su threatened with a raised fist. " It's the least you can do for making me run around the whole castle on a regular basis! The schedule for Quidditch practice is busy, but sometimes it's nothing compared to your lists of errands for the Council."

The three of them continued to joke around for a bit more until Neville spotted a suspicious character that reminded him he was not someone who could enjoy the simple Hogwarts student life. He did not mean exceptions like visiting Cho's Fashion Club for Hoglake business or sneaking off to drink with Sirius. He meant the fact that he needed to keep an eye out for Harry Potter's development. The suspicious Harry was swiftly running across the Hogwarts grounds, and probably would have used his Invisibility Cloak if it was after curfew.

" Harry!" Neville had snatched Su's broom in spite of her protest to catch up with the boy at top speed. " What're you doing out here alone?"

" Oh! Neville! Hey!" Harry's unfocused glances gave away how bad he would be at Occlumency already. He layered it by stuttering, " H – how was the Ministry?"

Ignoring the boy trying to make artificial chitchat, Neville instead looked towards the direction he came from and could not see anything apart from a few ruffled bushes that led to a pack of trees. Neville played along, eyeing the way he was fiddling with that strange necklace form his late mother he had been wearing since summer, " Yeah it was a boring meeting. You were just going somewhere?"

" Just heading back to the castle, you know." Harry choked out a few laughs but actually choked when he saw the two girls approaching.

" Hey! Don't steal my broomstick! Just you wait until the next time you ask me to teach you a set of Kenpo." Su snatched her broom back in a huff, while Neville was still sitting on it. Falling not very gracefully onto the grass, Neville still felt relatively dignified compared with Harry's innocently beet red face at the sight of Cho.

" Hi – hi Co –" Harry tried his best not to swallow his tongue in the process.

" Hello Harry. Um, it's Cho." Cho corrected, very poised in front of the overheating boy.

" Ah! I know! I know! That's what I meant! Sorry!" Harry bowed and made an excuse to hightail it, " I have to go and – and shower! Now – bye! N – nice seeing you Cho!"

Watching the teenage boy flee, Neville wondered if it would ever be possible to teach him how to properly interact with girls he liked. _That is an aspect of Harry Potter that I really have to work hard to improve._

" He could've at least noticed me!" Su harrumphed. " That's what happens whenever I'm with you Cho. Those boys just fall over themselves for you."

" What are you talking about Su? I think you're cute," Cho gave back the compliment.

" If a boy were to stutter and blush like that in front of me, I personally won't have a clue what to do! You're a natural at this." Su shook her head.

" You're more of the tom-boyish type, that's why. Boys don't stutter in front of you," Neville pointed out.

" I wonder if I can take that as a compliment," Su muttered.

Neville looked back in the direction of the bushes Harry came from again before the three of them headed back to the castle, but still could not see anything unusual. _Meh, maybe he was desperate for a toilet and couldn't make it back to the castle in time._

0

0

0

" By the way, merry Christmas Harry. Your present from me is early this year." Neville said as he handed over, after a sigh, something that was rightfully Harry's to begin with.

" I was just about to complain about why Harry was the only one with an early present," Ron said, eyeing the tattered piece of parchment in Harry's uncertain hands. " But not anymore."

" This is a powerful magical artefact I'd traded with your brothers." Neville activated the Map with a harder than necessary tap and explained, " It's a map of the school. It shows all the hidden passageways, their passwords, and even the positions of those random moving staircases. Most importantly, it shows the location of castle residences, all in real-time."

" That's amazing! Fred and George had this and didn't even tell me?" Ron gaped as his eyes wandered the Map with a complete one-eighty attitude.

" Where did they get this?" Hermione asked dubiously, probably worried for its safety. After all, this was just as mysterious as an artefact as the diary was last year.

Neville reassured her, " From Filch's confiscated items years ago. It's safe, don't worry. The twins used it for years and I've had it since first year." _Not to mention that I knew its origins and creators._

" Since first year? And you never told us?" Harry's widened eyes were also flying around the Map, mainly at the tunnels leading away from it.

" It's technically stolen goods so the less people know about it the better." Neville used an excuse and diverted their attention, " I was going to give this to Harry for the last Hogsmeade visit, but we were pulled up by Lupin and I forgot. Better late than never – Oh Harry, that passage is blocked. These four are guarded by Dementors so I suggest the one behind the hag statue in this room if you're heading into Hogsmeade. It leads to the cellars of Honeydukes by the way, but you can probably make it out unnoticed when the shop is packed with Hogwarts students."

" That's brilliant!" Ron threw his arms up in the air. " You've got to let me borrow this some time!"

" I can't believe you've been hiding something like this since first year, but I can even kiss you right now!" Harry gave Neville a great slap on the back, his dream of visiting Hogsmeade realised.

" No thanks Harry… But if you are considering kissing as a repayment, may I interest you in starting a kissing booth for the Festival…"

" No. Just no." Harry's deadpan reply killed Neville's sure-fire business idea.

" You should wait a bit before making your way to Hogsmeade. Catch the crowd, you know? Anyway, we'll see you out there!" Neville, Ron and Hermione exited the common room and left the castle the normal way past Filch. McGonagall's punishment was one-time only.

" Isn't it great Harry can finally join us?" Ron jumped for joy, literally, as they walked the dirt path down towards the little village.

" I'm surprised you didn't say anything about Harry's safety, sneaking out of the castle and all. You okay?" Neville asked Hermione beside him, who shook her head very quickly.

Hermione replied in a rush, probably as not to worry Neville. " I'm fine. Just a bit tired. Maybe I just need another ride on the Time Turner to catch up on some sleep."

It was just as well Ron did not hear about the Time Turner because he had already dashed ahead to greet some people from the Hoglake Club. Neville frowned but did not call up on Hermione's atypical carelessness since she did look a bit out of it. A little pale as well, but that might have something to do with the bad weather. " You should sleep more. Or better still, just drop a class."

" No way!" Hermione actually looked offended at the notion and started to lecture Neville about his lax attitude but somehow thought better of it and stopped quite awkwardly.

" Is something wrong Hermione?" Neville impulsively reached over and put his hand over her forehead.

" I – I'm fine." Hermione shook her head.

" Here take this," Neville pulled out a capsule of Pepper-up Potion from his pocket. _Yes, I still use that potion encapsulation espresso machine from first year. Just so convenient._ " It should make you feel better under this stupid rain cloud."

" Thanks," Neville felt the brush of her fingers as she took the capsule from him and quickly ate it. Hermione's face went red, along with the smoke out of her ears, from the side-effects of the potion.

They got to Honeydukes and while Hermione went to look at the Sugar Quills, Ron pulled Neville in front of a cabinet with several dozen different flavours of gobstoppers. As Neville was contemplating which one to try this time, Ron's voice asked lightly beside him, " No wonder you didn't seem that excited about coming to Hogsmeade this year. You've probably been here since you had that Map right?"

" I don't get to come here very often. After all, this shop closes at the normal hours. The pubs on the other hand are on the need-to-see basis, but the Three Broomsticks is way over-rated. If you really want to experiment with the heavy stuffs you'll have to go to the Hog's Head…"

Before Ron could say yes to the idea of trying various brands of scotch, Harry put his arm around the both of them and laughed, " Fancy seeing you guys here!"

" You should really play it down Harry," Hermione pointed out as she had apparently found Harry before the boys. " I think I just saw Malfoy's group over there."

" Well, if it isn't… the Gryffindors." At Pansy voice, Ron and Hermione quickly hid Harry behind their backs while Neville glared at the way she said 'Gryffindors' as if it was the synonym of slime.

" What is it that you want?" Neville wearily glanced at Draco beside her, who had been helplessly dragged over somehow. They had spawned an unspoken agreement to never touch upon any subject relating to Draco's poor choice of companion, let alone greeting each other when she was present.

" Just here to give you an early notice on what your friend Hagrid will be getting for Christmas." Her hag-like laughter meant Hagrid's present was not going to be anything as pleasant as the Marauder's Map. " I've been talking to daddy about that rotten Hippogriff that injured me at the start of term, and how the school was doing absolutely _nothing_ to give me justice. Even the Student Council, ruled with an iron fist by a certain somebody, won't stand up for a violated student."

" The only person who'd violate an ugly pug like you would be that ungrateful lollipop-sucking git next to you!" Ron burst out and Draco had to restrain Crabbe and Goyle from making a mess of the candy store.

With a significantly crueller tone Pansy said, " As I was saying before the crass weasel sprouted crap, the Hippogriff that should've been burnt like a turkey and served on a platter by now, will be brought to court. Just a delay of the inevitable really. Your dear friend Hagrid should get a letter of summons before Christmas I believe."

The Trio gasped in shock but Pansy's sadism was not satisfied by Neville, who uttered, " Are you so pathetic as to go after a bird after you failed to get rid of Hagrid?"

" Don't think you'll win forever Longbottom! Just because you made the press with your little speech about Dementors as Council President, my father said you looked every bit as ridiculous as a clown. He said Dumbledore was going senile bringing a thirteen year old into an official Ministry meeting, and is expressing serious concerns in his running of Hogwarts."

" I do not believe your father or family has the kind of influence to question the Ministry or Hogwarts, Parkinson." Neville seemed to have struck a weak spot and Pansy left with a growl. Neville gave Draco a look of disappointment, which Draco recently started to take without flinching and regarded Neville back with a sparing glance before going after his lunatic of a girlfriend.

" I can't believe that hag! Doing something so spiteful to Hagrid!" Harry looked as if he would slam his fist somewhere if he was not trying to stay undercover.

" Okay guys, be careful not to get Harry spotted today," Neville waved goodbye, " I'm going back."

" See you back at the castle," Hermione could tell Neville was in a bad mood because of the evident rip between Draco and him. Whether she approved of Draco in the first place or not, her eyes still steamed up a little for Neville's predicament. _This girl is always so quick to well up… _

Ruffling her hair to stop his urge to graze his hand upon her cheek, Neville corrected her misinterpretation to divert his own attention, " I meant I'm going back home. After all, today might as well be a holiday to start off with even if the train goes back tomorrow. You guys know I can Apparate and even have permission to leave Hogwarts whenever now. Seeing I'm already out of the castle walls, there isn't much point in making that windy and chilly trip back."

" It's just one more night," Hermione gave Neville's sleeve a short pull and then quickly lowered her arm again. " Come with us to the Three Broomsticks for a warm butterbeer. I'm sure that'll make you feel better."

" No." Neville struggled with his refusal and lied, " I've already told my Gran I'd go back today. It saves me the long train journey, and her trip to pick me up at King's Cross. Bye guys, have a good Christmas."

Neville pushed his way out of the crowd inside Honeydukes and stumbled out its doors. A gust of wind and rain impaled him and drowned his sigh to the clouded skies. _I really need to get back to the Hoglake Store for a recharge… Even purposely throw myself in the presence of Ms Rosier's mature and jaded looks again. Damn it! I hate this mental to physical age discrepancy! I'm sure those teenage hormones have declared war inside my body by now! Come on Occlumency!_

With these muddled thoughts, Neville Apparated with an imperfectly loud crack.

0

0

0

A/N: The HP Wiki and HPL both had no info on Parkinson seniors. I'm just going to use them anyway since I have no recollection of them ever being mentioned in the books.

The Kenpo I mentioned is just general and doesn't mean that American Kenpo Karate thing. Wiki if in doubt.

Short chapter, but there'll definitely be more chapters this year than the last two…


	57. Book 3 Chapter 14

Synopsis: Neville went to the Ministry as Council President, unable to make Fudge withdraw the Dementors but met Parkinson senior, who was equally as disgusting as Pansy. He did not dwell upon Harry running around the castle grounds suspiciously and finally returned the Marauder's Map to him. The Trio and him are finally at Hogsmeade together, but Pansy had to come along with the bad news to cut it short.

Chapter 56 – Christmas holiday was pretty short this year.

" Good work guys, thanks for today. You may all go home now. For those who're somehow giving up this opportunity for triple-time pay, see you after the holidays and Merry Christmas!" Neville announced and dimmed the lights in the Hoglake Shop with a flick of his wand.

His employees replied a 'Merry Christmas' or 'Goodnight Neville' and went back to their families after a busy day of work. Christmas was always a busy time, both for shoppers and business owners working in the public sector. Neville had dived into explaining 'which Hoglake Board set was best suited for a ten year old', or saying 'no, those Hoglake robes doesn't make your ass look fat Ms Rosier', ever since he got back from Hogwarts. It had, as he expected, taken his mind off many things at Hogwarts. Maybe it was the Ageing Potions but his mind frame had once again returned to that of a busy businessman.

" I still can't get used to you like… _This_!" Cho had apparently been waiting for Neville as he closed the shop's front doors. Since the new line of Winter Season Hoglake robes was launched, Cho was here to see the customers' responses and conduct market research for the future. Neville had been monitoring the sales, and from the way things were looking, Cho could be responsible for quite a few new design lines if she so wished. Of course, there was a whole department set up internally, and expanding, to help out with this sector of business.

" What do you mean? You mean with the Ageing Potion?" Neville asked with a last look at the Hoglake Shop. Unlike summer, Neville knew Gran would never allow him to live at the shop through the festive season.

" Of course! I have to actually look up when I speak to you now! Not only that! But you act so much like the owner when you work at the shop!" Cho exclaimed as they headed for the Leaky Cauldron. This section of Diagon Alley around them was beginning to quiet down since it was past even the late shopping hours. Then again, the torches in Knockturn Alley and Rose Lane were still blazing brightly under the blanket of warm magical snow. The magical snow was really just a festive thing – kind of like the Christmas tree and Christmas music in your local mall.

" That's because I _do_ own the shop Cho," Neville had been feeling quite relaxed despite the long and hard working hours. It was like summer again, temporary managing problems with nothing but a price tag attached. _Or maybe Cho has that sort of effect. When I go to the Fashion Club during term time, I can forget about the latest unproductive squabble back in the Council._

The pear scented shampoo that was now Cho's signature drifted to his nose even stronger now because of the new height difference. Cho said as she leaned in closer, " I won't be able to come here from now on – family time and all. How does the boss plan to treat his employee for making a hit with the new robes?"

" Are you asking for extra pay? Who else would hire a Hogwarts student and let them handle an entire fashion line?" Neville calmly stated the facts as he fixed his cashmere scarf to the winter temperature. Although the snow was fake, this was still the outdoors really, and he was not wearing Dracula's Cloak today. It had intimidated some random kid – especially after he made a joke of sucking out his blood.

With the sparse shoppers passing them, some of which stopping by the display windows, frosted at the edges, Neville stretched lazily and looked up to the dusky winter skies. The black street lamps, like those seventeenth century ones that were lit manually, glowed faintly and illuminated small circles that he walked into at distinct intervals. _It was all very classical._

" You're such a scrooge," Cho pouted behind her own cloud of mist. Neville could not count the amount of times he heard the customers in his shop mention how cute Cho was – even amongst the uniformed beauties he hired at the shop. " You could buy me a good Christmas present or do something to thank me personally."

" I did give you a present… From the shop, yes, but that's where all my Christmas presents are from this year. If you don't like it, then I'll treat you to dinner now – I'm starved having missed lunch." Neville waved to a customer he knew who worked at the Ministry – not a pureblood though. A lot of the hardcore pureblood families that visited the shop during summer had 'strangely' been missing during this busy time. Neville was not worried, since Hoglake had been well established as an intellectual sport. Plus, the market had opened up by now and did not need to rely on the upper class anymore – like golf.

Due to the distractions in his head, Neville did not notice that Cho had stopped making those crunching sounds as they had done stepping over the snow covered main street of the Alley. When he looked back, Cho had an impish smile over her lips, " Is that really the proper way to ask a girl out to dinner Mr Longbottom?"

Neville noticed he really did just ask Cho out to dinner just there, and chided himself for not thinking enough under the lack of food. Neville cleared his throat and defended himself, " Well you were just saying you didn't think my proposed Christmas gift would be good enough for you. Don't you actually know? In Muggle law somewhere, there is something that states the value of gifts exchanged between co-workers can not exceed a certain amount."

" Alright already! I'm a Muggle-born remember?" Cho exasperatedly rolled her eyes and brushed past Neville on her way towards the Leaky Cauldron, leaving a trail of imaginary pears. " Now that's enough with the bantering, let's go to dinner. I'm just as hungry as you are with how busy the shop was today."

Neville caught up and walked alongside Cho again, " Where to?"

" I don't know…" Cho thought for a moment then pointed upwards at a though. " I know! Let's go to a Muggle place! I can show you what they're like!"

" I don't think you need to show me, I've been in some before. Not that much different to wizarding ones except none of the dishes you choose can jump into your mouth." Neville had some Muggle cash with him as well, since he harboured the guilty pleasure of drinking alone at Muggle bars some nights. _A night cap before sleeping – Gran would flip if I got my own mini-bar in the Manor._

" You're different from most wizarding children. You don't find any Muggle things strange at all!" Cho pointed out as they passed through the portal that led them into the filthy back alley, which Neville skipped through to enter the Leaky Cauldron as quickly as possible. _I really have no idea why the wizards made the entrance to their most important shopping street from the Muggle world like this. If they wanted to keep people away, they could've just placed some Muggle repelling charms. What a bad first impression they're setting. _

" Where do you want to eat?" Neville asked. He might have some knowledge of London bars, but he really did not eat very often in the Muggle world. Since he was always alone in his ventures out there, he mostly made do with fast food. " You won't let me get away with KFC right?"

" Of course not! As someone who'll be raking in all the galleons for my hard design work, I demand at least something that's French or Italian!" Cho probably had a grudge against Neville's wallet.

" Alright fine… I think I went past a French place the other day," Neville tried to remember the best he could as they stepped outside to the busy London streets. Without magic, the weather really was quite chilly, but luckily there were no rain this evening. It was quite a lot more crowded out here with young people running amuck from the hype of Christmas, and Cho was looking around to check if she could hail a taxi.

" I think I've got it, come with me." Neville took hold of Cho's arm and pulled her into a side street. Checking left and right, he had missed the surprised expression on Cho's red face at his action, and had already Apparated with her when he checked no passersby were watching.

Sliding out of a different side street as if they had just stepped through a rift in space-time, Neville smiled as he spotted the Aubergine on the other side of the street. He passed this restaurant the other day and its little brown curtains, the French windows, completed with the green shrubs outside, reminded him a lot of those Parisian cafés.

" Neville!" He looked back down to find Cho's red face pouting up at him. " That's underage Apparating!"

" Do I look underage right now?" Neville joked and let go of her arm.

" Well… Apparating without a licence…" Cho said in a quiet voice as she stared down at her arm.

Neville shrugged, " Let's go. I hope we don't have to wait for a table."

Crossing the street, and pushing the amusingly-shaped door handle, Neville set his eyes on the faintly coloured room inside. The smell of delicious food ensnared him as his stare scouted the various dishes around the tables as if he was on a safari trip. When his eyes fell upon a particular table though, his attention was amazingly grabbed away from the steaming plates.

" Table for two please," Cho spoke softly to the waiter Neville had failed to notice and she nudged him with her elbow. Cho whispered, " Stop drooling out here Neville. Are you really _that_ hungry?"

The waiter led them through the busy main dinner hall, and instead of their own table, Neville's brow rose upwards at their adjacent table. That table had two patrons, one of which was a man Neville would guess to be around twenty years old. He was wearing a suit that was either passed down from his grandfather or he was trying overly hard for that mature feel. He sported a blonde moustache and had smaller than average eyes for a Caucasian, carrying a stare in a natural angle that made him look downwards on people. He also had thin gold-rimmed glasses and, as Neville walked closer, a posh and foreign ascent complaining about how the wine was a disappointment compared to his own country.

The girl on the other side of the white square table was a number of years younger, but looked ravishingly radiant in a long red dress that complimented her eyes. She was just grazing back one of the elaborate princess curls from the side of her smiling features, her wrist donning a familiar silver bracelet. It seemed as if the girl caught on to someone staring at their table quite quickly, and turned to be surprised at who she saw.

" Cho… was it?" The girl asked with a doubtful tone that Neville would never have pinned her to be using.

" Oh, you are Neville's cousin! From last year. Elena, if I remember right?" Cho gave a polite smile anyway to the girl that hexed her at their first meeting.

" Yes, nice to see you again," Elena Drakul was acting quite out of character as she stood and shook hands with Cho with proper etiquette. She gave an enquiring glance at Neville, laced with puzzlement but clearly not recognising him.

Cho and Neville exchanged a look before it dawned on him that Elena had never actually seen him with the Ageing Potion. In their letter exchanges, she had written to him saying she would be on some sort of Potions internship during the holidays, and would not even spend much time at home with the Drakuls this year. Neville had thought a Christmas visit to the Drakul couple would not be hindered with just Elena missing but Gran had not sprung any unforeseen trips on Neville at all. He was satisfied with the time he could otherwise put into his research on Arcane Magic though without dealing with his fireball of a relative here.

_And then I run into her in London, having a candle-lit dinner with a date. Dracula's definitely gonna cry when he finds out his little girl is all grown-up._

Elena gave Cho an appreciative nod, " I am really sorry about last year. It was rash of me and I just thought you were that poor girl, Millicent, who Neville was fraternizing with at the time. I see you have chosen to date a real man, and did not succumb to whatever intentions my pig of a cousin had with you."

_I can't believe she's this gullible to still believe Millicent is some sort of head cheerleader at Hogwarts._

Cho laboriously kept herself from sniggering, and Neville was sure Elena's personality did not grow any milder from the letters they exchanged. He did however see Elena glancing at the man she was with, and figured she was just trying to act civil and grown-up in front of him while kicking Neville down a notch in front of Cho. Brushing past Elena, quite taken back by his rude gesture of bypassing her, Neville offered a hand out to the man still seated and watching on amusedly.

" Hello, I do not believe we have met. I am Elena's pig of a cousin, Neville Longbottom." Neville could hear Elena gasp, and Cho finally coughing up a laugh before painfully choking them back again.

Her plans completely backfired, Elena grabbed hold of Neville's collar and swung him to face her before the surprised man could react. She hissed, " You… you can't… but – Oh no… You're on the Ageing Potion…"

" Yes, nice to see you again too." Neville spiked, " I thought you were supposed to be on an internship at a prestigious Potions lab. Once in a life-time thing that means you can't even be with your parents much for Christmas. What brings you to London?"

" Ah yes, that would be my fault." The man stood up as well now and shook Neville's hand. " Je m'appelle Philippe Martinez, a pleasure to meet you Neville Longbottom. We were just in Angleterre today to acquire some rare Potion ingredients. It was really my stubbornness when I insisted on having dinner here before heading back to France. Elena had been working tres hard at the Potions lab, and had been a grande help to me."

Elena gave Neville a look as if to say, _that is how a gentleman should act_, after being saved from the embarrassment Neville tried to tag her with. It must be said that Neville held the man in front of him in a higher regard than the first impression. Neville had heard of Philippe Martinez as a prodigy French potioneer from Elena, and from his mannerism and fair English, albeit the small inserts of French, Neville was quite sure Elena was not just exaggerating.

" What about _you_ Neville? Are you on a… _date_ with Cho?" Elena's face went red and harrumphed, crossing her arms in front of her bosom. " You shouldn't leave your Gran at the manor by herself during Christmas time, and come out fooling around on your own. Didn't you say you were going to be oh-so-busy with the Hoglake Shop?"

" Actually we had just closed up the store for today – Cho is one of my employees. Philippe, this is Cho Chang, who designed this season's new Hoglake robes." Neville introduced the young Chinese girl and Philippe kissed her on the back of her hand.

It seemed as if Philippe had also heard of Neville's Hoglake business and turned back to Neville after some pleasantries, " So vous are the young entrepreneur who invented Hoglake. I hear the game is starting to gather international interests, especially after Elena's father opened up a branch in Bulgaria. I must say I am tres interested by it."

The waiter, seeing they knew each other, suggested, " If you would like, we could join the two tables for you."

" Yes, please do so." Philippe mumbled quickly and dismissed the waiter, turning his attention back to Neville again and asking him about Hoglake.

" Yes, Hoglake is beginning to take an official shape now here in England." Neville was considering the possibilities of setting up a branch in France, or other countries, with the apparent interest Philippe showed to the game. " Funny enough, it all started with my great uncle. He started having matches with his friends, and small sums were exchanged as bets. It had somehow built up through a snowball effect, and the Ministry had taken notice of the heavy cash flow amongst the ever-growing number of matches now. According to him, the Ministry proposed notions to set up an individual section in the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

" Oh? Does this mean England would begin a league for Hoglake? Like the English Quidditch League?" Philippe caught on quickly, and Neville nodded as they took their seats at the table.

" Here is the menu sir, would you like anything to drink?" The waiter had come back and asked. Neville and Cho deftly replied but Philippe was shaking his head after the waiter.

" The English," Philippe blew air out of his nose. " In France the waiter would never have dreamt of interrupting our conversation." It seemed as if Philippe was the type that really would be arrogant to people he did not find worthy to respect. _Then again, I guess he did have the qualifications to be arrogant, as he became the youngest potions master when he was at the age of twelve._

Neville and Philippe hit it off pretty well, socialising about the growth of Hoglake and Philippe sharing tidbits of the French wizarding world. According to Philippe, his current research was to invent a Potion to 'stopper death'. Neville would have questioned more about it, since he knew this was different from what Snape meant from his first classroom speech, but he knew he would not understand even if Philippe tried to explain from his lack of potion talents. After all, Neville was almost as plain as Ron when it came to other non-wand associated branches of magic.

Cho and Elena had their short strings of conversation, and Cho also conversed with Philippe here and there. Elena on the other hand had become increasingly mute as the dinner continued. Neville could only place it as her embarrassment from the way they met tonight as he dug into his main course.

0

0

0

Neville's dinner group was once again on the streets of London again after the meal. Though uniquely, the destination of their after-dinner stroll was an empty side alley for Apparition, but the atmosphere was still pretty amicable.

" Do owl me when you can – You simply must visit Paris when you have the time." Philippe shook hands with Neville as they got ready to leave, " I can show you around the fabuleux restaurants we have over there on the continent."

" Of course, thank you for your offer. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you." Neville then turned to the quiet Elena beside him while Philippe said goodbye to Cho.

" You don't have to act all ladylike just because we're in front of your potions instructor," Neville shook his head at the part-vampire. " This is probably the least I've heard you speak in the span of an hour in your presence."

" Whatever," Elena harrumphed and crossed her arms. She said while looking sideways, " You seemed to have hit it off with Philippe pretty well through dinner."

" The guy's an internationally respected expert in Potions! He's as close to a wizard celebrity slash boy genius as anything – and he picked up the bill for dinner. That in itself makes him very likable." Neville laughed shamelessly.

" Even with the Ageing Potion you're nothing but an immature idiot!" Elena stomped her foot on the ground and marched towards her ride.

" Merry Christmas to you too," Neville muttered after the fireball.

" Well, au revoir Neville Longbottom, and you too Miss Chang. I hope we can meet again – and Joyeux Noël." Philippe put his arm on Elena's shoulder and they Apparated from the empty alley.

" It seems like you got out of treating me to dinner this time," Cho wagged her finger in front of him. " But that just means you still owe me a meal."

Neville groaned. " Hold onto me, I'll take you home."

" Not even buying dinner first before asking me to take your arm?" Cho joked but held onto Neville's elbow anyway. The squeezing sensation was momentary and the two of them arrived outside the suburban home of the Changs. Neville had Apparated here before to take Cho home after work – she insisted it was employee privileges, and Neville had a faint idea of it in Muggle law. Cho took a few moments before she was coordinated again and muttered, " I'm _so_ not looking forward to learning Apparition."

" You sure get used to how handy it is though." Neville gestured for the door and took a step back, ready to go again. " Enjoy the rest of your holidays and I'll see you back at Hogwarts. Merry Christmas."

" What? No goodnight kiss? This wasn't a very good date at all Mr Longbottom." Cho mocked with a bell-like laugh.

Neville remembered how his hairs stood on ends when she first started teasing him like this. He guessed he had just gotten used to it by now as a way she speaks. Neville good-naturedly shook his head, " I'd always thought the girl was the one who gave out the kisses."

" Really?" Neville's hairs stood on ends at the way Cho stared at him at that moment. _Well… maybe not completely used to it._

" Anyway, see you back at Hogwarts. Once again, Merry Christmas," Neville waved quickly before Apparating.

Neville reappeared outside Longbottom Manor but with an additional quizzical expression when he saw who was waiting for him there. He looked around them to make sure he did not Apparate wrongly to the Portkey Office instead. Before he could say anything, Elena had already dug her claws into his scarf and was choking him, whether it was her intention or not.

" What was _that_ all about? Going on a date with Cho just because I wasn't visiting this year!" Elena had completely got the wrong point. _First, it wasn't a date and second, you visiting or not I still had to eat!_

" Okay mother, now weren't you and Philippe supposed to catch a Portkey back to France – like now?" Neville cleverly did a short distance Apparation to escape Elena. _Good thing my practices do make perfect._ Frankly, he was a little frustrated with his cousin's behaviour tonight, " You're like the anti-Santa Claus aren't you? Santa comes bearing gifts every Christmas while I see you every year causing me trouble."

" Well I'm sorry to show myself in your presence, interrupting your precious date, when you've fully been excited about me being out of your hair this year!" Elena screamed out of control, and her shrill voice seemed to have had an opposite effect on Neville as he tried to defuse the ascending argument that, according to him, started for no reason. _Like… in a crowded room. If you speak louder because the people around you are speaking loudly, the room just gets collectively louder for everyone._

" It wasn't a date Elena. We closed up the store and wanted something to eat." Neville decided the following point was what Elena was really angry about, " And I wasn't happy about not seeing you. I mean, we've been spending Christmases together for the past two years, and it feels something was different without the anti-Santa Claus. It was surprising to see you there at the restaurant, and I'd just thought we could carry on the way we always have, but you were the one who clammed up with that sour look on your –"

Neville stopped himself before he let his frustrations get to him again. There had been a lot of changes this year so far at Hogwarts, and maybe without the consistency that was the Drakul Christmas, Neville was feeling a little unbalanced this holiday. He had indeed been put in that impish mood when he saw Elena at the restaurant, which led him to that harmless prank at the start.

After a few moments of silence, with Elena looking at the ground, she muttered, " I did not have a sour look at dinner."

" Did too."

" Did not."

" Did too."

" I said I did not!" Elena stomp the ground and growled, " Even if I did, you seemed to be having the time of your life chatting to who should've appeared to be my date!"

" There were no reasons I shouldn't like the guy – and I thought Philippe said it wasn't a date." Neville did not see any problems with talking to Philippe even if he was Elena's date really, but she just harrumphed to signal the end of this topic.

The two stood outside the manor in silence again, Elena glaring at the direction of the sea while Neville frowned lightly up at the sky. _I just want to get back inside the manor! It's cold and I'm tired from work. If it isn't for this nuisance of a cousin I could be in the shower by now and – Hey! It's snowing!_

The ever growing sparkles of white powder drifted down towards them as Neville breathed in the smell of the snowy night by the sea. He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the wind and waves, which were not available to him when he lived in the city during his past life. When he opened his eyes again, Elena was still grumpily in her own world, grinding her teeth together and unaware of the snow that had fallen to the top of her head.

" W-Whao! What are you doing?" Elena waved her arms frantically in front of her as she backed away, leaving Neville's hand hanging somewhat clumsily in midair.

" Snow was gathering on top of your head and I was going to brush it off." Neville told her, who seemed to have just noticed the snow.

" Y-yeah, you win this time!" Elena huffed and roughly shook her head as if she was some small furry animal. _Again – win what?_ " I've got a Portkey to catch and Philippe must've waited for me long enough. I'm going!"

With that, Elena stomped away off in a random direction, probably forgetting the fact that she could have just Apparate on the spot. Neville shook his head with a light sigh and called out, " Hey!"

Elena swished back around and asked impatiently, " What now dumbo?"

" Merry Christmas," Neville offered with a smile. Frankly, it had made him feel better to see his distant-cousin, really still the way she always was, when he did not expect to this year.

Elena's bit her lower lip, baring one of her long fang teeth, as she turned away with a blush, " Yeah. Merry Christmas to you too. See you next year – maybe."

" Yeah, take care." Neville finally got the first smile from Elena this year, but it was gone in the darkness with the sound of her Apparition.

0

0

0

A/N: The Aubergine is a real restaurant and I actually found it while digging restaurants up online. Never been myself though but if they want to pay me for this free advertising then I won't complain.

And Philippe Martinez is just a random French sounding name I made up, not related to anything in reality.

I know a lot of readers like Elena, and I can't remember what motivated me to create her, but I promise more of her later. Some say Neville will end up with her? But I'm still undecided on who Neville will end up with so my plan is to run a poll(s) when it gets to that stage.


	58. Book 3 Chapter 15

Synopsis: Out of school for Christmas, Neville buried himself with work involving the Hoglake business again to get back his older mind frame. Cho's new line of Hoglake robes was a success and he agreed to treat her to dinner for her hard work but unexpectedly meets the cousin he always met during Christmas.

Chapter 57 – Short holiday for some, not for others.

Neville momentarily stopped on the path in front of Hogwart's iron front gates and stared at the guarding Dementors in the distance. He did not even feel their magical chills anymore after his work on Occlumency, as even Voldemort would probably have a hard time cracking his brain at his current skill level. _My defence is steady, but what about the attack? It's not like I can use Occlumency to make their head explode._

Facing a problem yet to be solved even before setting foot inside the castle grounds, Neville sighed. Despite this, he still took brave steps towards the castle. Then in a case of irony, just as he was about to take his first step back into the castle, Dumbledore's shadow loomed over him.

" Hello Neville, I hope you've had a pleasant holiday," Dumbledore greeted affably.

" And I see the holiday is over," Neville's nod of acknowledgement at the head of this castle was almost unnoticeable as he brushed past the old wizard and continued onto where he knew an empty classroom was. " You're as welcoming as those Dementors out there."

" That was quite a harsh comment considering you know of my dislikes for our current guards," Dumbledore followed the boy, not knowing Neville was really just half joking. " Speaking of Dementors, your performance in your last Ministry Meeting representing the school as Student Council President was well-received."

" I'm sure the article in that Prophet the next day would not take up so much space otherwise." Neville stared pointedly at the old man as he sat on one of the desks in the empty classroom.

Dumbledore nodded and closed the door, revealing the purpose of this private meeting. " It seems your assistance must be called upon again in the near future. This time, it is a hearing in which you must assist our friend Hagrid for the defence of Buckbeak."

" Ah yes, I heard about this." Neville thought back to what Pansy had said before Christmas. " Parkinson wants it executed."

" Yes, you will be permitted to leave the school again as both witness and Student Council President for the hearing." Dumbledore looked over his half-moon spectacles at the boy, " I apologise for delegating you with a task the moment you come back, but Hagrid had been horribly worried ever since he received the letter before Christmas. I foresee you will require as much time as possible for researching the wizarding laws and past cases."

" I'm sure the Trio will help with the case and research," Neville said. " Anyway, I understand how Hagrid is. I just hope he doesn't get so worried that he forgets to feed Norbert – then the school really might suffer a valid law suite."

Dumbledore chuckled, " I see the holidays really did have a refreshing effect on you. Very well, I will keep you no longer from your dormitory and friends. Have a pleasant night's sleep before classes tomorrow Neville."

Neville left Dumbledore and headed up the quiet staircases, contemplating about his ignorance in fighting a legal charge. He had not really been bothered with whether Buckbeak died or not while reading the books, but it was actually quite crucial to him now since it was the key to Sirius's escape as this book's original climax. The haughty Sir Cadogan was still there in replacement of the Fat Lady after Halloween as Neville entered the Gryffindor Common room, still to find a reasonable solution to the current predicament.

" Neville mate! Good to see you again!" Ron waved him over to the guys.

" How was your holiday Neville?" Harry asked. " Oh, and thanks for the Christmas presents. We have been playing a good bit of Hoglake during the holidays."

" To get his mind off things," Ron whispered sideways to Neville. _What now? Don't tell me Sirius the Grime came up to the Hogwarts kitchen for a bone._

Neville acted his part, pretending he had not heard anything, " Yeah, I was busy at the shop during the holidays. Glad the presents are appreciated here."

" Talking about presents, do you know Harry's got a Firebolt for Christmas?" Seamus exclaimed.

" And you know what else?" Ron looked as if Seamus's stomped on his tail at the mention, " He's only had it for a few hours before McGonagall took it off him."

" Where's Hermione?" Neville asked, opening his memory's bookmark and flipping to the right page.

" Funny you should ask," Ron scoffed. " She ratted us out to McGonagall, saying Sirius Black could've sent it to Harry."

" That's just ridiculous! How could Black send Harry the most expensive broom in the world while he was on the run?" Dean joined in the cohort. _These guys fell out with her again? Haven't they matured since first year?_

Neville's look considerably darkened, " Ron. At the start of the year, didn't you say you'll treat her better?"

Ron vigorously shook his head, " Hey! I never said that! I said I'll try my best to not argue with her so much! But this is a Firebolt Neville! You know what it is! It's her fault the best broom in the world is getting striped down, right now!"

" Forget it," Neville could not restrain a scowl towards Ron, who looked surprisingly offended. _I know this phase will come to pass… I'll just try and spend more time with Hermione until then…_

" You should be careful not to say misleading things like that outside of this common room Neville," Seamus winked at Ron, whose incessant rant about how great the Firebolt was halted prematurely to expectations.

" What's this all about?" Neville immediately asked Harry.

" Ron's got a girlfriend now." Harry went on without Neville needing to pose the next question, " It's Luna Lovegood, believe it or not."

" What do you mean 'believe it or not' you git? What's wrong with Luna?" Ron asked defensively.

" Do you really need a list?" Seamus laughed.

" Love is blind," Dean quite timely joined in again. " Now for the list…"

Neville was indeed quite stunned as he thought about this revelation while the boys listed off without mercy all the atypical things that represented Luna.

_In the books, Luna did think Ron was funny – and only later did she say that he was too mean. On the other hand, Ron thought Luna was weird at the start, but then she started growing on him after a while. It was really just that meticulous timing – and Ron's submerged feelings for Hermione – that did not make it happen. Also in this reality, considering how I had made Hermione fall for Ron first, Ron's reciprocating feelings for Hermione could have been hindered due to the knowledge that he was already wanted… Considering the case with Lavender in sixth year as well, Ron kind of just went along with Lavender's advances – let alone now when he was years younger… _

" Neville, what're you thinking about?" Ron pulled Neville out of his ruminations, and probably to try and change the subject from the boy's teasing.

" Not much. So… Luna…" Neville thought about all the times Luna had been around Ron this year, " When was it? The Hoglake Club?"

" Yeah, there weren't many of us left during the holidays and, then you… err… Let's talk about something else!" Ron bluntly stirred the topic away again. " So –"

" I have somewhere I have to check out," Neville decided it was better to excuse himself from whatever thirteen years old boys had to discuss in favour of finding Hermione and see how she was coping. If this news had stunned him, he wondered if Hermione, coupled with the Firebolt incident, had been crying herself to sleep every night.

Neville knew she might well be in her dormitory by this time, but with the inconvenience from having returned the Marauder's Map, all he could do was search over the castle manually. He met Colin Creevy and some other students he knew along the way, which had greatly hindered his tour around the Library, the Great Hall, Hagrid's Hut, the Lakeside and finally the Chamber.

When the doors to Norbert's home finally opened after Neville's abysmal mimic of Parseltongue, he once again saw that mischievous rascal speeding up to him with open arms. _Of course it isn't Hermione – but Norbert with those sharp claws!_ " Norbert!" On Hermione's command, Norbert flew up into the rooftops of the chamber, leaving Neville to grumble on the ground.

" Seriously! Why does he have to do that every time I come in?" Neville marched over to Hermione's usual seat, still rambling, " Remember that time you didn't tell him to stop – and he really didn't? His fat – and who knows how much he weighs now – several tonnes of mass just walloped into me and sent me flying! And Hagrid just told me he was as well as tamed!"

" I think it's just you Neville." Hermione tried to contain the pearls of laughter behind her hand futilely. She quickly recovered though and said, " Well, I guess… welcome back!"

Neville then remembered the reason for this mad goose chase around the castle and was started to worry about her good-humoured mood. _Shouldn't she be heart-broken and sobbing about how Ron chose the nutcase, who believes there's a thing called Psdling that exists to clean toilets, over herself as his girlfriend? This may be more serious than I'd thought…_

" You seem to be in a good mood," Neville tested the waters as he sat down next to her on the stone bench.

" I feel okay…" Hermione said in a quieter voice as Neville eyed the pillars of books stacked around them. Some of which were related to the academic curriculum but many others were about magical laws. Hagrid had just been trying to cause a mini-flood earlier inside his hut at the mention of Buckbeak's case.

" I see you've started working on helping Hagrid then?" Neville picked up one of the books randomly.

" Yes – but it's not looking all that great." Hermione messed up her hair even more as she roughly reached for the quill quipped onto the back of her ear. " For the past centuries, not a single magical creature was found innocent when involved in the harm of a wizard."

Instead of thinking about all that 'Magic is Might' and racial superiority problem that lasted throughout wizarding history, Neville picked up a rather trivial detail with a frown. " You've been reading all the cases from the past centuries during Christmas?"

Hermione lowered her head in chagrin from Neville's incredulous tone, " Don't be silly… Well, not _all_ the cases."

" You were trying to keep yourself busy, right?" Neville quickly tried to make a save from his fumble, " B – because the blockheads are all blaming you for taking away their Firebolt?"

If possible, Neville did not want to suddenly bring up the sensitive topic involving Ron's relationship status – especially when Neville himself wanted the mistake involving the chocolates to forever bury underneath them. Hermione was probably trying to play along as she said, "Yeah… I only did it for their own good. By the way, whatever you do, just don't mention Sirius Black in front of Harry."

Hermione proceeded to remind Neville about how the Trio overheard that Black had, allegedly, betrayed Harry's parents after Neville had left them in Hogsmeade before Christmas. Neville did not notice much of a difference in Harry earlier at the mention of Black – or he had just gotten better at hiding his moods than the books. Instead of thinking of a way to clear up Harry's misunderstanding though, Neville was just marvelling at how Hermione could still take the people who are currently mad at her to heart.

" I got it Hermione. I won't stir up Harry by saying the wrong things." Neville nodded as she finished, staring into her eyes to search for any sadness in them that he could help with.

His intent gaze probably gave him away as she resigned to her reasoning of why her best friend had search her out this late on his first night back. " I guess you're here because of Ron and Luna?"

" I'm worried about you, after what Hagrid's said. He thinks it's just the silly Firebolt business but you shouldn't keep alone to yourself too much. People are back now from the holidays too so you should try and make more friends – at least, friends that are not made of paper and bound by leather."

" I'm fine, really." Hermione shook her head like a matured woman and reassured Neville as she put a hand on his shoulder. " Now why don't you stop worrying about me? I'm the one using the Time Turner but you seem to be the one who aged ten years with your life-lessons and rants all the time."

Neville just sighed, believing Hermione just wanted to make him feel less awkward. _There was no way she got over Ron – the books said she liked him almost all through Hogwarts for crying out loud!_

" The guys were just listing strange things about Luna upstairs actually," Neville forced out a laugh. " She might be in the Council, but hell will have to freeze over before I let her decorate anything herself."

Hermione shook her head, heedless of Neville's feeble attempt to make her feel better by putting down her opponent. " Boys are mean."

" Luna wouldn't think anything of it. She's someone who does what she wants and not ashamed of it…" Neville did not see any change in expression on Hermione's face, but decided to change the focus anyway. " I was just thinking, you need to know more people. Why don't you come inspect the stalls with me for the Festival?"

Hermione's brows flickered and she looked towards Norbert, still flying about above their heads. " I don't know, I'm not part of the Council you know. Plus, I'm busy enough as it is…"

Neville waved her off, " It's fine! You don't have to be shy about it, there is always plenty of food! Quite a few clubs are setting up food stalls, or themed cafes and restaurants…"

Hermione looked as if she was contemplating something for a moment, then shook her head. Her lips tugged upwards involuntarily and said, " Seriously, one day, someone's going to trap you under a box with just a doughnut."

It was of course met by Neville's vehement protests.

0

0

0

" The prefects are starting to bug me," Draco drawled as the final notion to their regular meeting.

" They've been bugging you since they stormed our office," Ginny pointed out.

" Before that actually," Su complemented.

" Then all the more reason for us to do something about them." Draco turned to the President and said, " I don't believe you're happy with that pesky lot getting in the way of us organising things either. The situation seemed to have worsened after Christmas, and it's not going to get better until we do something."

" Percy alone can't stir up too much. Nina Jones is still not part of his small group and they will never be able to boycott the event now." Neville really did not want to attack Percy if he did not need to, considering the face of Ron and Mrs Weasley.

" Fine, do as you see fit. Don't regret not listening to me." Though Draco did not even slam the door on his way out, his curt exit expressed his frustration all too well.

" Dismissed," Neville said, but it sounded closer to a sigh. Su was almost as quick as Draco out the door, but that was only because she was undergoing hellish practices before the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin game. She had more than once been too busy for Council work, but it was understandable to Neville.

" I'm sure Draco will… well, snap out of it soon," Hannah tried to cheer up Neville, braving a quick, light pat on his shoulder. The others were all leaving the office as well, stretching their arms after the long meeting. " You guys have been friends since first year right?"

" I'm sure we'll be just fine after Pansy disappear," Neville shook his head as he magically cleaned up the room. Papers flew back into their cabinets and the torches flicked shut as the two walked to the door. Neville did not want Hannah to get involved with the purebloods business too much, since he remembered her mother died in a Death Eater attack in the original future. He said, " Thanks anyway Hannah. I know you've been pretty busy, picking up Draco's and Su's work while pulling along the younger four."

" You did as well," Hannah stopped when she seemed to have seen something surprising outside. After Neville locked the door and turned around, he also found the scene to be somewhat particular.

" You have a lot more Briselén around your head than usual today, Mr President." Luna was the only one who was acting normal, relatively in her case, since Ron was also blushing from his friend seeing him picking up his girlfriend.

" Hey Neville. Good meeting?" Ron made embarrassed small-talk as a boy his age would at such a situation.

Neville spotted Hannah was playing around with the ends of her pigtails and timely offered, " Allow me to pose the question in behalf of Hannah. So what's the blow to blow of how you two started dating anyway?"

Ron was of course bashfully spluttering as Luna matter-of-flatly replied, " Oh, it was during Christmas holidays. Only us two were left in the Hoglake Club and we were playing one-on-one with the semiautomatic pieces. You know, I'd always just assumed you were hiding tiny fairies inside them before you returned my letter saying it was just bewitching charms –"

" Luna? You're doing it again," Neville reminded as per usual ever since Luna joined the Council meetings.

" Oh yes, sorry President. Anyway, Ron made a joke and I found it funny. That happened a lot since I've known him, and so I said I liked him for that. He asked me if I was asking him out. Then I remembered the other day seeing Sarah Layton confessing to John Allen and it was something like that, so figured I was. Ron said okay after that, which is really about it." Luna had really cut the story short this time.

_Wait a minute… Can you even say they've started dating? Well, from the books, they could have a mutual liking at some point… but that wasn't how kids started dating! Or is this just a typical Luna thing? _

" Okay I think it's time I walk you back to your dorm see you guys later." Ron tug the waving Luna along with a trail of smoke as he escaped Neville's raised eyebrow. Neville noted that Ron was not holding onto Luna's hand in their escape, but refused to think in a biased direction. _Maybe… I should stay out of those two's business?_

" Well… Still, I never really expected that." Hannah comment, trying to shake the puzzlement from her face.

" It has some basis – but with Ron being a vir – never-dated boy…" Neville cleared his throat. He quickly changed the topic to their latest Herbology assignment, and Hannah was more than willing to turn on her Veela-mode (the bird form) and blow fire at Neville for still not having finished his part. He protested, " But I did finish my part! Twice! You just said it wasn't up to your standards!"

" Neville! The first time you used your cheating quill to copy and reword part of Harry's and part of Ron's essay. Then the second time, you missed out the re-potting and spelt the name of the plant wrong all through!" If Neville were to have a camera right now, and take a picture of the red-faced and agitated Hannah, he was sure he could sell it to Colin and make up an article about dual personalities. _Then again, some might find her cute – in that angry Piplup way. _Neville was thinking of a way to get out of this when Hannah was interrupted. " …how difficult is it to do _something_ right – Isn't that Harry?"

Neville followed Hannah's gaze and indeed did see Harry. _If that boy is really aiming to be an Auror, then someone'd better tell him that when trying to look inconspicuous, the worst thing to do is to look inconspicuous._ Seeing Hannah was just going to call out to him, Neville swiftly put a hand over her mouth, the other arm across her waist, and pulled her behind a pot of dancing shrub. Neville lowered his head and whispered by Hannah's ear, " I knew something was wrong with that boy! I saw him sneaking about before Christmas once. Just stay quiet and we'll tail him."

Neville did not hear any replies from Hannah but just felt his hand's temperature increasing gradually. Not only that, but with every second that went by, he recognised one more point of contact between their bodies: whether it was her toe against his leg, or her hair brushing his face, or his heartbeat starting to race behind her back. Neville finally realised he had forcefully pulled her into quite a compromising position, and immediately pushed her away as if she was a hot potato. Then again, with the colour on Hannah's cheeks as she stared at the ground, he could only assume her cheeks were really just out of a pile of autumn leaves.

" Okay…" Hannah's voice was just audible and looking at her tugging at the sleeves of her robes, which was now styled into something more like a trimmed dress she wore to Summer camp before, Neville was once again reminded on how fast (and early) girls grow up. _I'm pretty sure Hannah's made the mark on a lot of guy's stereotype – that submissive, docile, shy type that fits into the 'cute' tier. Not that she couldn't be classed as 'hot' in a few years – I mean, she was pretty soft to hug earlier…_

" Damn teenage hormones." Neville growled and shook his head.

Hannah jumped at hearing him growl, " What?"

" Nothing. Let's follow Harry," Neville tried his best to focus back at the job on-hand as best as he could as he activated his Floating Magic.

" Harry's going into the kitchen," Hannah pointed out as Harry entered into the kitchens through the fruit painting. Despite still red in the face and breathing heavily, it seemed like Hannah had more or less recovered from before and was trying to act normal again as well.

" What's he doing in the kitchen? Is he here to find Dobby for something?" Neville asked out loud. _It's still containable if he's on his own, but with a free (more like rogue) house elf following his every whim, I might need to call upon Peeves if this is serious._

" Who's Dobby?" Hannah asked curiously.

Neville turned to her to explain, but the moment she met his eyes she lowered hers again. He coughed once and went on anyway, " Long story short, Dobby is a free house elf who is friends with Harry from before, who recently started working at Hogwarts. They had a 'tearful', one-sided, reunion one day when we went for a late snack."

Neville had seen Dobby in Hogwarts ever since he came back this year, but did not tell Harry. Harry was not that thrilled at seeing the house elf who almost got him expelled several times last year either, but just happened to get a warm welcome when they got to the kitchen while he tested the Marauder's Map. _Speaking of the Map…_

" Hannah, we have to go." Neville ignored the blatant jump he felt when he put his hand on her shoulder and pointed down the hall, even if she avoided looking in his direction with chagrin. " There's an empty classroom over there, quick."

Again ignoring whatever out-of-this-realm imagination that must have been going on inside Hannah's head, Neville pushed her towards that direction while throwing some sort of white sludge onto the floor outside the exit of the kitchen. The sludge smacked onto the stone floor, and gradually morphed in colour like a chameleon to suit its surroundings. _Conducting first test of the Tracker Sludge. I sure hope Sirius was right about it or else Harry's Marauder's Map and Hallow combo will hide him under any radar here…_

Closing the door, Neville turned back to see a pair of watery eyes staring back at him. Neville resigned, knowing he should not tell anyone more about the Map, " I – I'm really sorry to have just dragged you into this Hannah. We're just hiding from Harry here for a bit, okay?"

Hannah just nodded, evoking a 'moe' from any stereotypical otaku, if any were nearby. After a while of silent nothingness that Neville spent wishing away the seconds before Harry came out of the kitchens, he just made out Hannah's mumble, " Can I ask you about something?"

Neville knew Hannah was not going to ask about the Map, because after working together in the Council for so long, she knew Neville would not keep anything she could know away from her purposely. For things she did not need to know, she knew better than to bug him into telling her when the moment was not right. He nodded and asked, " Sure, what is it?"

" On the Festival day… I was wondering… do we… you know – get time free?" Hannah blurted out the last part in a hurry.

Neville burst out laughing, regardless of the poor girl's blush, and pretended to think for a moment. " You know we Council members have to patrol the Festival in case any emergencies happened right? Thinking about slacking off and have fun somewhere already? Don't think I didn't see your eyes sparkle when we inspected the Chocolate Frog Card Society's gaming booth."

" T – that's not wh – what I meant!" Hannah fumbled with her sleeves helplessly.

Unable to bear the guilt of torturing the girl any longer, Neville revealed, " Don't worry. Of course I've made sure the Council members could have fun and enjoy the Festival as well. My plan was really just a simple rotation thing thus each member could take turns to go about the stalls as they wish."

Hannah looked up in alarm and stuttered, " B – but then we can't – I mean, I won't be able to see special events. I mean, the musical performances all have their own time slot at the Great Hall…"

" True that… But still, it won't work if all the members get a break at the same time…" Neville sighed, " You know what, since I'm the President, I think it's kind of my duty to give out the fun. I guess I'll volunteer to be on patrol for the whole day then, and some of you guys can just help out here and there for a short while."

" What? But you can't! We c – I mean, it won't be fair on you!" Hannah protested. _Bless her good heart._

" Yeah, and who was it that pushed me onto this Presidential spot even when I didn't want to stand in the first place?" Neville still held that grudge quite dear actually. Having counted the seconds since he heard some footsteps passing by from the corridors outside, he figured it was no good to pull Hannah any further into this spy mission on Harry. " Anyway, I think Harry's gone now, so I'm off to follow him. I'll see you later then?"

" Um… okay…" Neville disappeared out of the door without glancing back. When he was alone in the corridor again, he pulled out from his robes a pair of sunglasses. He murmured the incantation Black had taught him and when he put the enchanted pair of shades again, he looked towards where he threw the Tracker Sludge earlier. A pale trail of sludge that one could have guessed was left from a very giant snail led out of the castle. Neville took a capsule of Invisibility Potion and followed it outside.

_Let's just hope Harry saw me and Hannah on the Map and thought we were just discussing Council business. Stalking people really just isn't an act one could put on the table…_

Despite feeling a little ashamed for the dirty act, Neville's curiosity was perked when the trail led him towards the direction of the Greenhouses, somewhere near the Whomping Willow actually. There was the chance that Harry could notice Neville following him, but when Neville saw the boy crouching near some bushes with his Invisibility Cloak off, he knew Harry's attention was no longer on the Map. What he was really surprised about was the 'dog' that Harry was currently feeding a bone to, explaining why he made a detour into the kitchen earlier.

It seemed Black was a lot more alert than Harry though, and despite not being able to see the Tracker Sludge on Harry's heels or coattails, Black was the one who identified its uses. The Sludge might not give off any smells, but Black definitely smelled Neville's approach and swiftly disappeared despite Harry's confused calls after him.

It was not long before Neville made it to the Shrieking Shack and Sirius was waiting on the sofa with a bottle of beer in his hand.

" You look like someone waiting for a beating," Neville very impolitely grumbled.

" I know what you're going to say Neville –" Sirius was cut off effectively.

" Well you should! I told you not to run up to the school on a whim after that Quidditch match last time!" Neville shouted. He should have known his warning was just like a dare for Black.

" I was bored! It wasn't my fault that he saw me after one of his late Quidditch practices, and I was so adorable in my dog form. Harry is my godson Neville! Most importantly, he doesn't know me as anything more than a wandering mutt! It's all good!" Sirius irresponsibly waved him off in that boyish way of his.

_The books were so right! Lupin was so right! This guy really is just a big kid and hassle during daily life!_

" This is already a cross on Harry's books; how he didn't even think of the issue that no ordinary stray dog could just wander into Hogwarts!" Neville hope Harry's act was just his Saviour Mode taking over his rationale again from the sight of a lost animal. " Plus, do you know he heard the whole thing about your relationship with his parents at Hogsmeade?"

" Actually yes – he tells me almost everything." Sirius was actually proud of this. _Well, maybe just about being the trusted confidant part…_ " It was a good thing I was there for him to talk to! You should've seen the look on his face when came back from Hogsmeade after hearing the lies! I thought he had a run in with Voldemort again!"

" But haven't you stopped to think what would happen if he found out Sirius Black had been tricking him all along, disguised as a stray dog?" Neville desperately tried to make him see some sense.

Black heedlessly waved his logic away, " Well it's only a matter of time before he does find out – but that's hopefully after my innocence gets proven."

" Well have you thought of how to do that yet?" Neville screamed, almost pulling at his hair.

" Still not a clue!" Black yelled back as if he had just gotten off a roller-coaster ride of euphoria after being with his godson. " I'm actually quite glad you found us out, since now I don't have to worry about you keeping Harry away from me."

_I really am not used to being in this role of being led by the nose…_ Neville thought as he frothed at the mouth.

0

0

0

A/N: If you've seen Pokémon (the season with Dawn/Hikari) then you'll know what I mean by angry Piplup.

I think it's high time I reveal the results of the poll. I don't really know why people think I'm Swedish since I haven't hinted it at all in the story – though I have lived there. I understand the Japanese guesses because of my anime Easter eggs, but I'm completely stumped about being how I come across Russian. The answer is I'm Chinese, so kudos to the two who got it right.

I don't think the romance sub-category is really doing justice so far, but that was because of the age thing. I think it's about time to start developing that area though, but I've really got no direction with the romance side after this year really. I thought about getting a poll on it, but I'm not so sure anymore. Instead, I'm just gonna copy the numerous Jump mangas and run a character popularity poll including anyone I could develop and/or worth mentioning.


	59. Book 3 Chapter 16

Synopsis: It was a short holiday for Neville, but many changes went on over the holiday; including Ron now dating Luna, prefects still not giving up on hindering the Council, and Harry knowing about Black's relations to the Potters. Worst still, Black's reckless personality led him to become friends with Harry as a stray dog – and there's nothing Neville could do about it.

Chapter 58 – Picking up speed and spinning out of control.

Snape growled, " That's all for today."

Neville sometimes reminisced the 'now get out of here' which followed this statement during his first Occlumency lessons. Snape objective of finding out how he saw the actor Lily inside Neville's head was pretty much impossible to complete now, since Snape's Legilimency level was lower than Dumbledore, and even the old fox could no longer break into Neville's mind. _Why else would I be comfortable taking these lessons while I knew about Sirius?_

Then again, practice was practice. Plus, these lessons and their frequency let him know how Snape was feeling about Harry_. And at the moment, it was helplessness._

As if talking to himself, but still not dismissing Neville, Snape said as he stalked over to the other side of the room, " I've even given him an A for his potions essay last week – and nothing. Where was he during the last Hogsmeade visit instead of visiting me? He couldn't have left the castle, and I was sure Lupin kept his paws to himself – but to think now the man's roped him into whatever Dementor lessons."

" And that's why you have the free time this Thursday for one of our rare Occlumency lessons this year." Neville pointed out with a short sarcastic laugh to himself. _Just be glad you don't know about Harry's new pet dog. At least I convinced Sirius not to move into our dorm – which really was what that idiot had wanted to do! _

" Tell me Neville, did Harry recently show signs of lethargy, absentmindedness, or docility?" Snape asked as he took out a tomato pie from of the oven, which would probably be Neville's payment for his information this evening.

" No, he's not under any curses and bewitchment as far as I could tell," Neville had been quite surprised at Snape's cooking skills after he had 'come out of the closet' since the soup incident before Christmas. It might even be Neville's main reason for coming to these interrogation sessions.

" I just feel Harry's been neglecting his mother's research in favour of Lupin too much as of late." Snape asked, sitting down on the opposite side of that old table he reserved for visitors. It had amusingly been decorated with a table cloth now after his many lost battles to Sinistra's tears. " You don't think it's that… teenage rebellious phrase, I think that's what they called it. You know, after the Quidditch fixture incident last term."

" Na, Harry's probably forgotten all about that now," Neville waved him off as he greedily ate his slice of pie. " You don't have to go round this long a way to say you're scared of Lupin stealing your position as Harry's uncle figure."

" That is preposterous Longbottom! I just don't want the child of an old friend to get sidetracked or harmed!" Neville saw through Snape's scowl, which would have intimidated any babies to cry for a whole night straight. Snape knew it too and just asked, without looking at Neville, " What would you propose for a teacher to do in order to pull a student back onto the straight path again?"

" You mean what ideas I have for Harry to spend more time with you?" Snape glowered in warning, and Neville stopped pushing the line – as entertaining as it was. " Well, you are his Potions teacher. Somehow get him to do potions stuff?"

" Pathetic Longbottom. To think the people outside give you such a good name for creativity of this calibre." Snape did gradually change to a great degree through the last year, after the Sinistra incident being dug up again and Harry. _But that scathing mouth of his will probably never change…_

Neville was not one of those scared little Gryffindors in his Potions class and he joked, " The boy's under high security watch right now. You want to just take him out to the park and play catch? Or visit the local zoo and buy him a tiger mask souvenir?"

" Intriguing…" Neville was taken aback by Snape's response to his mocking, the man apparently deep in thought. " You are dismissed."

" Hey! hey! You don't really plan on bringing him out to some theme park do you? Think of the consequences if you snuck him out of Hogwarts!" Neville, probably the least qualified person to say this, was a little scared that Snape's overblown worry of Lupin taking over his uncle role would really drive the bat to do something this insane.

" Dismissed Longbottom." Snape bellowed and pointed at his dungeon door.

" All I get for helping an ungrateful git is some food and insults…" Neville grumbled to himself as he walked through the castle corridors, kicking a piece of parchment someone had dropped. As he pushed opened a trap door concealed as a big mirror, he heard a group of boys coming round a corner towards him.

" So! Big decision this weekend Ron!" Neville recognised the voice belonged to one of Ron's friends as they rounded the corner. They were probably heading back to the dorms after preparing for the Festival as the Hoglake Club. Though Neville was the supplier of all their club equipment, and even held the empty position of consultant, he really did not have a hand in the club at all.

" Shut it!" Ron lightly shoved the guy who teased him, but the guy continued.

" It's your first Hogsmeade weekend since dating Luna, and you know she can't go with you."

" Oh yeah? Well I can –" Unsure if Ron was going to reveal a secret that involved Harry and the group's secrecy, Neville quickly interrupted.

" Hey Ron! How goes?" Neville acted dumb and called out to signal his presence.

The other guys, a group of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw mix, greeted the President and parted ways with the duo while the Gryffindors headed up to their tower. Neville checked that the boys were out of earshot before asking, " Don't tell me you planned on telling them Luna and you would be _out_ on a date this weekend."

Neville knew Ron was not really as dumb as most readers thought he was after getting to know him personally. _He's just a little like Sirius… acting before thinking about the consequences behind sneaking in/out of the school_.

Ron understood what Neville was hinting at without putting the matter into the glaring spotlight and protested, " I wasn't going to tell them about the Marauder's Map or the secret passages or anything!"

" But they will certainly pick up on something if Luna mysteriously disappears this weekend after a prognosis from you." Ron looked slightly put out when he figured Neville was completely against his idea of an out-of-school date. " Harry sneaking out is already risky enough, but please don't carry on with that high from the Quidditch win – that really should've dimmed down after a whole week."

" Gryffindor has every chance of winning the Cup this year again! I'm surprised I'm not even _more_ psyched!" Ron exclaimed.

Neville gave up on the issue with boys and Quidditch, knowing it was a lost cause. There were some points he was not prepared to give up though. " Your head's already hot enough to do that to Hermione at the celebration party last week. You should really at least talk to her by now – even Harry's got his Firebolt back."

" Yeah, after weeks and weeks! We were lucky McGonagall finally caved just before the match!" Ron frowned and clearly did not take his suggestion to mind, grumbling " You're replacing her well enough, nagging on me like this."

Neville was an only child as well in his past life, but had never wished for siblings – especially no younger brothers. " I may not be always right, but I want to look out for you guys as best as I think I can. Hermione was your good friend, if nothing else, and isn't it just a shame to end this way after knowing each other for over two years?"

Ron made some disgruntled noises, which Neville took it as him considering the notion. After all, Neville was pretty sure he was missing Hermione by now – and her absence from him in the books had always made him realise how he should hold onto her.

Neville added, " You know I won't be here for Hogsmeade this weekend because of Buckbeak's trial, so I want you to watch out for Harry if he wants to sneak out again. I know it's partially my fault that he can, and I don't think it'll be dangerous even if he did, but you should be the responsible one this time as to –"

Neville had thought showing his trust in Ron by giving him a sense of duty would be another layer of insurance in case anything did happen in his absence, but Ron just sighed loudly. " Alright, alright. I won't sneak Luna out with us, you don't have to put a guilt trip on me."

_Though I was a kid once, and technically a teenager when I first came here… I admit I really did hate kids. Mostly because I just can't fathom out their way of thinking anymore after all these years. _

" Password?" The Fat Lady was back in place again after her portrait was fixed, and with the addition of two guard trolls beside her picture frame in case anyone else did not know of the Gryffindor common room's whereabouts. Sir Cardigan was fun for a bit, but he started to get pretty tedious even before the Christmas.

"Antidisestablishmentarianism – Seriously, who let Percy pick the password!" Ron grumbled.

" I have a few choice remarks regarding your brother myself, but they all involve foul language and insults his reproductive organ," Neville gritted out through his teeth.

Percy had bridged Draco and Neville's relationship a little, in that dark humour sort of way since the two Council members had spent a great deal of time discussing how to cause the Head Boy worlds of pain. Just the other day, Neville had to drag Professor Sprout reluctantly out of her greenhouse for the fifth time in an hour to permit some second years to put up a tent in the exact documented spot allocated. Neville had tried to intimidate Percy with the usual methods, Penelope and Ginny, but the haughty hircine seemed to be as determined this time as a stubborn goat with a cloth.

" Hey Ron, want a game of chess?" A familiar girl with glasses came along again to drag Ron away. She was a bland seventh year who had vowed to defeat Ron in chess before she graduated.

" Whatever," Ron shrugged and followed her over to the chessboard. Neville could feel the gaze of a pair of brown eyes though, and headed towards the girl who failed miserably at covering her gaze with a book.

_Here we go again… The only reason they haven't made up, without the original Scabbers faking death incident, was probably Ron going out with Luna._

" Good evening, little Miss." Neville promptly swiped the book out of the poor girl's hands as he sat down.

Hermione put on a quick smile. " You're going to court tomorrow Neville! You organised all the information yet?"

Neville restrained a sigh that his same old inhibitions did not allow them to end this pointless fight. He said in a neutral tone, " Yes. I am ready for the case tomorrow. It should go okay."

" Great! You know it's getting kind of late, I should head to bed now." Hermione yawned as she gathered her quills and self-flipping notebooks.

" The Buckbeak case and academics are all you talk about these days Hermione – sit down." Neville placed his hands on the little girl's shoulders and sat her back down regardless of her feeble resistance. " At least spend some time in the evening to relax. How about we have a game of Exploding Snaps?"

" I do spend time off – I visit Norbert and everything, ask Hagrid." Hermione went on without taking a breath, " You should see how much more he eats these days! He just gobbles them down like Ron with meatloaf. Either way, I just remembered I haven't tidied my drawer in ages and I really should –"

Neville shook his head and put his finger on Hermione's lips. _She's trying to escape again after mentioning Ron unconsciously… _" I do hear from Hagrid you visit Norbert a lot. How about we go over to his hut for a bit? I know it's winter but I can lend you Dracula's Cloak while we're out… Hey, are you listening to me?"

Hermione shook her head and her lips left his finger, parting to protest, " I really don't want to go out in this cold, and it won't be that long until curfew."

" There is no way I can nag as much as you just by the fact that I don't regard those meaningless rules to the letter."

" Well you should. Hey wait! The school rules are not meaningless!"

" You look like McGonagall whenever you frown like that… I have a feeling you're going to look very old very fast."

" Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione tried to slap Neville on the arm but it was expertly dodged.

" Try again after you've trained for a couple of years," Neville taunted like any shonen manga character.

" Wait 'til I catch you!"

It was a good few minutes before she did, and that was only because Neville had crashed into an unsuspecting Harry who happened to have just entered the portrait hole.

" Hey Hermione," Harry greeted a little sheepishly since he had not called out her name for a while.

Hermione's mouth hung opened for a bit as if she had just been caught sleeping in class before weakly replying, " H – hi Harry."

Neville grinned and put an arm around Harry and Hermione, making the young girl jump. " What'd you two say to breaking out my private stash of butterbeer?"

" I just remembered I've got to give Crookshanks a bath. I'll see you later Harry," Hermione fumbled out a quick excuse, and fled even before Neville could think of a way to stop her this time.

Harry turned back to Neville with his hands opened, " It's not just our side, she isn't that keen on talking to us too it seems."

" She's a girl Harry, be more gentlemanly and apologise first," Neville said.

0

0

0

" I'm so glad yeh were here Neville," Hagrid wiped his sweaty forehead and drenched his oversized handkerchief. " Dunno what woulda happened without ya."

" Parkinson isn't as influential as Lucius Malfoy. He couldn't just intimidate the committee to do what he wants using social status or money." Neville stated solemnly. Just having to endure a court session in the same room as a Parkinson was even harder work than a sparring session with Su.

" Am just glad Buckbeak's cleared of charges now! The little guy's gonna be thrilled not being tied down no more!" Hagrid beamed as Ministry workers naturally cleared a path for the conspicuous half-giant. " We have ter thank Hermione. If it wasn't fer her notes we probably won't have gotten as far."

" That is true, maybe even a celebration? She's really stressing out as the year goes on with all those classes and Ron being…" Neville trailed off as a dog waddled up towards him. _Oh wait, it's just pug-face's fat father._

" Just a moment the two of you!" The man barked and stood in their path.

" What do you want?" Neville demanded from the sore loser. Parkinson's face was quite livid back in the courtroom, but it unsettled Neville a little that the mutt's tone of voice carried less defeat than he had expected.

" Who are you to butt in to adults' conversations boy?" It seemed that according to him, there were no longer needs to act friendly to Neville after this courtroom incident. _Then again, I did compare Parkinson's likeness to a rabid Inuyasha in the court._

" What der ya want Parkinson?" Hagrid growled.

" I have just challenged the results of the case with the Minister and the Elders! _This_ is the appeal documents for the execution of your blasted Hippogriff!" Parkinson blew a puff of arrogant air out of his nose as Hagrid's jaws dropped. Parkinson said as he tossed the parchments towards Hagrid, " So don't you even _think_ about letting that beast walk a metre out of your sorry sight!"

" An appeal? From the prosecution?" Neville frantically tried to recall the wizarding law books he had read through the past month. _Was there even such an unfair thing?_ " But we just won the case for the Hippogriff's freedom mere minutes ago!"

" Ha! What do brats like you know about the grown-ups' world?" Parkinson smirked and loomed down towards Neville and said with his dog breath, " I'll also tell you this appeal 'trial' will take place at Hogwarts – accompanied by an executioner! It's really just a matter of paperwork – _boy_! You really think we purebloods can't take down a single Hippogriff if we really wanted to? Welcome to the real world kid!"

Neville would have punched the phony aristocrat if it was not for his Occlumency's control. _I'd thought without Malfoy's influences, winning the case really would have been fair and square. No wonder the wizarding government was this useless against Voldemort's take over and has no public pull during the war! But to get these documents right after we walked out of the courtroom… There should be no way for Parkinson to have such power…_

Back at Hogwarts, Neville's first destination was Dumbledore's office. Grumbling the password for the gargoyle to move, Neville just restrained himself enough to knock on Dumbledore's door before entering.

_It seems like the old fox has company._

Dumbledore asked as if they had just happened to meet on the streets outside, regardless of Lupin's presence. " Ah Neville, how was the trial?"

Neville glanced in Lupin's direction, who after a spilt second's contemplative stare excused himself, " I just thought you should know Albus, but that is all. It's nice seeing you Neville, and don't forget about the vampire essay for class."

" Of course, Professor Lupin." Neville caught Lupin's sideward glance again as Lupin's tattered robes brushed past his Dracula's Cloak. Neville fought down his curiosity and instead frowned at Dumbledore, " Did you expect such an outcome since the start?"

"I was actually counting on you to notify me on the outcome. I am assuming the trial did not go well?" Dumbledore did an excellent Tai-Chi move there. He just took the opponent's force and transferred it right back at him like a u-tube. " I had high expectations for you, you know."

" We won the case. But then Parkinson applied for an appeal the moment we left the courtroom – and got one!" Neville slammed his hands onto Dumbledore's desk, threatening to shatter whatever delicate instruments that were currently humming away on it. " It's going to be at Hogwarts! We both know how that's going to turn out, and this is as good as an execution pass! I don't know how they did it, but you must know something Dumbledore! What was your point in wasting my time and sending me out there if you knew this will be the result!"

" Neville, sit down." Dumbledore's calm expression told Neville the old man was about to talk business and he complied, for the moment. " This was your first court case, was it not? It probably won't be your last either, as President of the Student Council or otherwise. You know, some wizards completely freeze on their first appearance in court. Those high chairs and black robes really –"

When a person understood something, the expression to use was 'it clicked'. For Neville in this instance, 'it snapped'.

" You used this as some sort of learning experience?" Neville actually laughed, quite contrary on how he was actually feeling inside.

He recalled the long evenings reading rolls of parchment regarding the nature of magical beasts. He recalled trying to find the case of 1926 about the Cockatrice for the fifth time because of the amount of cases he had to memorise. He recalled waking up in a piles of parchment that were his court notes to find that he was missing a few, and had to ask Hermione for help again to rewrite them.

" As I've said when you were elected the President this year Neville, I have decided to place my full trust in you. If the Student Council were to continue reifying its goals, it will face more and more pressure from the outside world in the near future, maybe even the Ministry under Fudge's rule. I understand you must feel defeated right now even after you've won the case –"

Neville put a hand up to stop the old man's routine involuntarily. It was not just because what the old fox was saying irritated him, but he needed the pause to concentrate his magical powers into his Occlumency if he was not to go on a rampage in the headmaster's office.

" Let's stop here. I'm not Harry. You can skip that grandfather routine. You gave me the case in order to train me for the future when you really need me to represent the school for whatever cause you have against the purebloods or the Ministry."

Neville did not get a confirmation from Dumbledore of course, but the old man started to make an excuse, " Neville, I am sure you understand this experience had given you a view of…"

_Just like how he's treating Harry. _Tricking_ him into growing stronger. I'm starting to empathise with those Dumbledore-bashing fics. Is _this_ what he meant by trusting me? Grouping me into his arsenal and shaping me into whatever type of ammo he needed? The worst thing is, my mature logically mind understands where the old fox's coming from, and it was invaluable that I was woken up to the fact that the Ministry really was made out of paper… Ouch, my head…_

" I'm going." Neville stood to leave Dumbledore's office without another word. The Headmaster did not stop him either and he was at least glad for that.

Instead, the old man frowned and asked, " Are you alright Neville?"

" Do I look alright Dumbledore?" Neville asked calmly as if he was asking if there was dust on his shoulder.

" Strangely. Completely without a fault to the normal eye." Dumbledore replied to the neutral face of Neville Longbottom. Frankly, even the old wizard had expected a more violent action than a few rounds of shouting from the young man.

" Then I am alright." Neville grazed his cheek with his fingers, as if it was just to make sure. " By your leave, headmaster."

Only when Neville heard the gargoyle close behind him did he start to let his severely strained Occlumency shield down slowly. For someone who knew the past, present, and future from the books, he had been feeling his grip of control sliding further and further away from him. The Basilisk last year had shaken him up a lot more than he would admit to himself, and since then, it just felt to him as if he was in a skidding car on an icy road. The massive pureblood shadow over the wizarding world today had struck him hard and all that involving Draco, Pansy, and even Percy were haunting him like ghosts in corporal form all of a sudden. It was just a list of unsolved problems that the books never provided answers for.

He reached out his hand to support his weight on the stone wall of the castle, as he continued to decrease his concentration on his Occlumency shields. He had used all his magical might to restrain himself in the Ministry, and then inside Dumbledore's office, in order to not flick out his wand and destroy anything in his moment of fury. His rationale knew destroying random things would not help any situation, and Occlumency was the bane of such instincts.

The more he let his focus slip by however, the heavier he leaned onto the cold stone wall. His breathing increased and through his blurred vision, he saw drops of sweat falling onto the hard floor that was closer to him than he had expected. He had hardly realised that he was now kneeling on the ground because an invisible pressure had somehow settled on his shoulders. It did not feel like something had dropped on top of him, but instead, it was as if a force was pulling his body downwards into his shadow.

" Mister President?"

A crisp voice cut through the hazy scramble in his ears and Neville immediately took a deep breath to reposition his Occlumency shields. Within half a second of his magic channelling back to his head like usual, Neville was fine to converse even for the press right now.

He smiled when he saw the head of delightful blonde hair that he had always liked. " Hello, how are you Luna?"

Luna eyed up and down Neville's body as if he was one of her strange paintings of imaginary creatures, " I am fine thank you. I would ask you the same question but I know you are not feeling well."

" How so?" Neville decided to humour his Council member for a bit, ignoring the thumping he heard in his head.

" My mother told me before that everyone has an aura. It was something very unique and colourful, but changes all the time. If someone was angry for example, their aura would glow with a red lining. It was said to be the red of a Devil Raptor actually. I have still to see one of those with my eyes, but I heard they have very red nipples like –"

" Luna, you're doing it again." Neville was not really listening, but was instead adjusting the level of his Occlumency shields. _I probably just tried to drop its levels too quickly there and made myself feel nauseated._

" Sorry President. Anyway. When I saw you a moment ago, I think I saw something coiling all around your body. It was like dark smoke but I can't really be sure. They seeped out of your head like a Chimney-Cat. After I called to you though, the smoke seemed to be sucked right back inside your limbs though like a Vacuum Possum."

Neville had no idea what the girl was talking about, even after being in the Council together for almost half the year. He was pretty sure Luna, though spiritual, could not sense auras – since there were no such things. At least he never came across them in his researches up to now. Plus, Luna's feed of knowledge was different from a typical Ravenclaws – ninety-nine percent of them were false.

Neville had recovered completely by this point, and he brushed his wet hair back from his forehead naturally, bringing a spectacular swoosh from Dracula's Cloak. " Luna, thank you for caring about me. I'm possibly just feeling a little sick after going to the Ministry – smelly place that."

" Yes, I don't like the Ministry HQ much either. My dad always says they're hiding a lot of things from us, and that's where they hid them. I heard it stinks because they caged a Durian Zorilla in the basement there, supposedly the smelliest animal ever."

" Luna?" The two of them looked round to see Ron and Harry walk towards them. " Neville! Why are you here? I thought you were at the trial!"

" I was, I just got back." Neville's eyes were not really sharp, but he noticed Harry's look immediately. _It's the emo look that he has whenever his parents are involved…_

" How was Hogsmeade Ron?" Luna asked. _I'm just glad he took my advice and didn't take her along._

" It was fine…" Ron muttered, switching his gaze between Luna and Neville.

" Neville, there's something I want to talk to you about," Harry spoke up uncharacteristically.

" Alright. I'll see you two later then?" Neville said to the couple.

" Of course. Good bye Mister President." Luna even waved.

Before Harry and Neville were out of earshot though, Neville could hear Ron ask, " Why do you call him President anyway?"

" Because he is." Luna answered simply.

" We should leave them for a bit," Harry proceeded to explain why he dragged Neville away, regardless of the conversation behind them. " They had a small fight this morning."

" Luna? Fight?" Neville asked with serious doubt.

" Well… I guess you can just say it was Ron arguing with thin air, and Luna obliviously egging him on." Harry scratched his head, " It was really just because Ron had tried convincing Luna to go to Hogsmeade with us."

" I though he won't!" _I thought wrong about him!_

" Well, Luna didn't go. She heard you thought it was dangerous, and agreed that it wasn't worth it." Harry sighed, " If I could choose again then I wouldn't have gone either."

" I'm guessing something not very pleasant happened." Neville asked almost in stupidity.

" It was really just my fault…" Harry sighed again. _Seriously, for a protagonist he's becoming too pessimistic._ " Ron and I were outside the Shrieking Shack, but we ran into Malfoy's group. I was under the Invisibility Cloak, so I thought I'd teach Malfoy a lesson by trying to scare him with Snuffles."

" Snuffles came out of the Shack?" Neville growled. _Yes, Snuffles was ironically the name given to Harry's canine friend. What was Sirius thinking? He shouldn't be that dumb to appear out of his hiding place!_

" No, Snuffles was with Ron and me since the start," Harry explained to Neville's relief. " The thing is, when Snuffles tried to lunge at Pansy, he caught onto my Invisibility Cloak and my head was shown… We managed to scare them off, but by the time I got back to the school, Snape had almost caught me climbing out of the hag's statue."

Neville memory was faintly coming back now, but his mind was still a little more preoccupied about Draco being so immature again. Nevertheless, he asked about an important detail, " Have you still got the Invisibility Cloak?"

" No, I left it at the bottom of the Hag's statue. I didn't have time," Harry answered.

" Get it back. Now." Neville saw Harry's worries and reinforced, " It isn't as dangerous as you think. I can stand guard… Anyway, Snape shouldn't have been too hard on you, right?"

" Well… We kind of had an argument." Harry said with a lowered head. Neville noticed Harry had just called him Snape without the Professor title. " He was just scolding me about being reckless, and not worrying about my own safety at first, but then he asked me about Snuffles. Somehow he started to get very agitated, and asked if it was Snuffles who led me out of the castle. I decided it was best not to tell him the truth, but then he found the Marauder's Map on me. He tried to activate it, but words came out and insulted Snape instead, which made him go furious… That's probably how he got out of control, and started saying some bad things about my father – I'm sure it can't be true! It was just that Snape was angry at the time…"

Neville tried to digest what Harry had described while he tried to comfort the boy. To be frank, James did save Snape's life, but James was definitely not the saint Harry envisioned him as. " Harry, it may sound harsh, but it's true that you didn't know anything about your father from school. Your father couldn't have been a bad person, but he might not be what you wanted him to be. For all you know, he could be grumpy like Filch or a prankster like the twins."

" I don't know…" Harry furrowed his brows, which to Neville was the most satisfactory expression because it meant he was using his brains to think for himself.

Neville then remembered Dumbledore's visitor earlier and the candid line Lupin threw at Harry in the book regarding this incident. He asked, " Then what happened after that?"

" Well, here's the strange thing. Professor Snape called Professor Lupin through the fireplace. They asked each other some strange things, Professor Snape somehow deducting I got the Map from the manufacturers. Professor Lupin at the end managed to cover for me after Ron rushed back to the castle though, but what he said was right… I really shouldn't have risked my life just to go to Hogsmeade…"

Neville nodded to himself and asked just in case, " Lupin didn't ask you anything else?"

" Actually, he asked me where I got the Map." Neville froze at the divergence from the books again.

" What did you say?"

Harry replied with a stutter, trying to look away from Neville, " Well… Professor Lupin knew it was supposed to be confiscated by Filch somehow… And… Well… he somehow guessed, first time, that it was you and… and then I nodded…"

0

0

0

A/N: The thing about skipping time in a story is that I'm scared some things aren't conveyed or picked up by the readers. But if I go there, I'll just ruin some parts of the story again, so the last sentence here was really just a waste of space…

By the way, the goat with a cloth reference comes from 'How I met your mother' again.


	60. Book 3 Chapter 17

Synopsis: Neville won Hagrid the case with Buckbeak at the Ministry, but found out it was just a crash course in just how corrupted the wizarding world really was. His new ally for the year, Dumbledore, arranged for it like a puppet master. The thing is, Neville was just unable fault him for it because a part of him agrees. Snape's heart was into reconciling with Harry after their little falling out last term, but after the incident involving Hogsmeade and the Marauder's Map, that hope was good as gone. Not only that, but Lupin seemed to have sniffed out something Neville wished he would keep his nose out of.

Chapter 59 – Let the curtains rise on the Hogwarts Festival.

" Yeah, it's just been busy busy busy. But at least the plans are coming along here and we can contact the providers about the materials soon." Neville finished his cup of tea and got up from the stool by the design table, ready to leave after discussing some Hoglake robes business with Cho.

" I know, it's the same way with Su." Cho said, walking Neville to the door. " She's had to miss Quidditch practices because she says it's almost the Festival and there are a number of last minute things to sort out."

" Practice? I thought the Ravenclaws were out of the cup?" Neville asked.

Cho's look considerably darkened, " Thanks to you guys. If we don't practicing now, how are we going to beat you Gryffindors next year?"

" Not my fault if Harry out-flew you," Neville commented.

" He had a Firebolt!" Neville was expecting Cho to harrumph and act cute for him to pacify her, but instead her gaze went a little astray. She then asked, " You know, I won't mind trying it out once."

" You want me to ask if you can borrow Harry's broom again like last time?" Neville vividly remembered how they went flying together – almost plunging into the Lake.

" Well… If you can!" Cho giggled a lot like a fan girl and added, " I won't mind it if you could borrow Harry along with the Firebolt this time too."

" Oh?" Neville picked this up and leaned on at the clubroom door frame. He turned to study Cho's face, which turned slightly redder.

" Oh what? You were the one who kept saying I'm interested in him. After flying against him at the match… I guess, maybe he can be a little interesting after all." Cho said cautiously, peering from under her fringe at Neville's reactions.

Neville shrugged, " Yeah, I remember. You said you can guess what the other person's like if you had flown along with them. That's actually pretty strange, you know that?"

" Idiot," Cho crossed her arms. " Off you go now! Don't you have a meeting to go to?"

" Yeah, that's right. I'll see you later Cho." Neville waved goodbye to the Fashion Club and dragged his feet towards the Council's office. Apart from the slight insomnia, Neville had started to fall into the role of a typical student lately. Not meaning he started studying diligently, but meaning he joined the collective group who hated all teachers who gave them homework.

He was thinking about extra measures to restrain the Dementors' activities for the Festival when his thoughts were interrupted by sounds of argument just as he had gotten off the landing near the Council's office. Denying that he was really running so late that the other Council members had started the meeting without him, Neville hurried towards the office, the door still showing the same sign Su had charmed in first year. The sign had unfortunately lost all its changing colours since then and now hung grey on the door.

" I said I was sorry!" Su's voice could be heard from inside the office, sounding upset. " You shouldn't have asked me to do something yesterday if you wanted it done for today either."

" So it's now my fault you're an imbecile?" Draco slammed his hands on his desk from the opposite side of the room.

Before Neville could say anything from the doorway, Su had already shouted back, " I resent that! Everyone's busy you know! With the extra school work and the Festival next week! Plus, I also have Quidditch training and –"

Draco scoffed and cut her off, " Like I don't have training. Not that it did you any good with us beating your house the last time."

" You got lucky punk!" Not unlike a riotous English football hooligan Su would have climbed over her desk if Hannah and Ginny were not holding her back.

" Alright everyone, please calm down." Neville commanded as he knocked on the door beside him for attention. " We are all a little stressed but let's not take it out on each other. I know everyone's got their own duties outside of the Council but after the Festival we can all relax."

Hannah was trying her best, patting the back of a heavily panting Su, to comfort the angered Quidditch maniac. _As I keep saying, Quidditch is just taken _way_ too seriously here._

Draco stood coolly on his own side, arms crossed as if Neville's appearance might as well be a moth flying past. Draco muttered, " That's what I get for sending a Mudblood to do a wizard's job."

A collective stun seared through the room. At a sharp intake of a cold breath, Neville shouted, " Draco, I demand an apology to Su immediately!"

Su, who had visibly winced, gathered herself after that and finally leapt over her table, screaming, " You know what? Save it!"

" No, Su!" Hannah was far too late as Su shortened the distance between Draco and her all too quickly.

" Boorish," Draco was faster on the uptake than Su had anticipated – if she had anticipated him drawing his wand at all. " _Petrificus Totalus_!"

" _Finite Incantatem_!" Neville had his wand out and cured Su before she fell to the ground. He pointed his wand at Draco and commanded, " Drop your wand."

" For the record, she tried to attack me," Draco did not look at Neville, but pocketed his wand.

" Su, are you okay?" Hannah was already by her side but the Chinese girl had already gotten up herself.

" I'm fine, but this is it!" Su turned to Neville and gave her ultimatum, " Draco's been acting like a dick ever since he lost the election and I don't see him changing any time soon. I'm not prepared to waste any more time with a racist like him!"

" Su! Su!" Hannah and Ginny ran after Su as she stormed out of the door.

Draco gave a curt rasping laugh, " Women."

" Excuse me, but can I have a minute with Draco here? We will have the usual meeting an hour later, please tell the others." Neville asked the other members who were left, knowing they could not afford to miss a day's work, and they began to leave room. They all regarded Draco warily on their way out one by one, but Draco seemed to have taken more of an interest in the cobweb by the ceiling corner.

Once the office was emptied, Neville asked using his usual Occlumency-fuelled poker face, " Why did you call Su a Mudblood Draco? Surely you could not have really meant it."

" I guess I just got used to it, hanging around Pansy the Princess of Darkness and all," Draco sneered sarcastically.

" Yes, I would expect Pansy to say something like that, but not you. Please, can you apologise for saying that to Su? I know you two were arguing and at the heat of the moment it's not unusual to say things you don't mean –"

" Why do _I_ have to apologise to _her_?" Neville was halted by the tone of his voice more than anything. That 'her' sounded even more offensive than 'Mudblood'.

" You drew your wand Draco," Neville explained, " You had the capacity to seriously injure her."

" That ruffian tried to punch me!" Draco exclaimed. " She could've drawn her wand if she wished – not that she's really worthy of one if she didn't even think of using it."

Neville felt a bit of his emotions escape through the mask and with a mighty thump that echoed the room, the desk next to him now had a small crater on it. When the echoes subsided, he took a deep breath and continued as before, regardless of the twitch that quickly passed Draco's face, " Depending on your answer, I will decide what actions I will take next. Are you really going to carry on like a pureblood extremist from now on?"

" And what if I said yes?" Draco rolled his eyes, but avoided eye contact.

" Pansy is using you. She's manipulated you into someone who you don't want to be."

" Ha! How many times are you going to repeat the same thing?"

" This is the last time Draco." Neville's words seemed to have knocked the wind out of the boy who was in mid-laugh. " I don't know how she's doing it: it could be a potion, a curse, those lollipops – I don't care. I just don't have the power to help you… If you really think about it, you'll find you have no reasons to love somebody like that. I really hope… that you can figure that out for yourself."

Neville kept his expressions neutral as he turned to leave. Before he could think about how to fix his injured hand, Draco's voice stopped him momentarily.

" Loving someone doesn't need a reason Neville. You might not have experienced it yet, but you just know it. Somehow, when looking at the right person, you really can't think of anything else. Well I also don't care how she's making me fall in love with her, but I am, and it's never going to change. Maybe she's manipulating me into changing, but I don't care either! As long as I'm changing into someone she loves, I'll do it!"

Neville wondered if he should laugh out loud or fall on his knees and sob. _It was only his family in the books, but 'love' to Draco really is that important isn't it? That was the thing I'd betted on at the start, and knew he must have some good in him, but I'd never thought that clean crystal quality could be abused and twisted by the purebloods in this way…_

" I don't know if you'll ever understand – but that doesn't matter anymore." Draco seemed to have gathered his feelings as well without the help of Occlumency, " Things have been pretty troublesome ever since the start of the year because we're friends. Trust me, if it wasn't for you I would've made a bigger issue of Potter's little escapade into Hogsmeade, and that suspicious pet dog of his. Maybe we should do away with this friendship thing."

" Yeah. It's for the best." Neville nodded and left the office.

He did not know how long he had walked before bumping into a raging Ginny round a corner. She had steam metaphorically leaking up from her red hair and screamed, " Neville! Is that bastard still in the office? Who's he to go shouting at anybody?"

Neville just nodded in response, figuring he had no reasons to divert an angry Weasley assault on Draco anymore. He was expecting Ginny to storm off after his confirmation, but instead she blinked, and even seemed to have calmed down a little.

" Are you okay?" Ginny peered up into Neville's eyes with a quizzical expression on her freckled face.

" Does it look like I'm not okay?" Neville even furnished with a smile.

" No…" Ginny replied honestly, but she was also eyeing down at his bleeding hand.

" Good," Neville realised a part of his brain must have been logical enough to have directed himself in the direction of the Hospital Wing. " If you'll excuse me, I have to get my hand treated."

" I'll go with you," Ginny said in a small voice. They walked in silence for a little before the little girl piped up again, " You sure know how to get yourself hurt."

" At least you weren't in any dangerous situations this time," Neville quipped.

Ginny whispered to herself, " I can't believe I actually would've preferred otherwise this time."

" What did you say?" Neville asked, not having heard due to how quiet she had been.

" Nothing. Is it only your hand that's hurt?" Ginny pulled out her wand and said dangerously to Neville, " I've been meaning to practice this new healing spell I heard about the other day."

Neville considered risking it for a laugh with the hand, but he was definitely not having Ginny help with this building headache.

0

0

0

" Neville, stay behind after class." Snape ordered as the Potions class emptied out of the dungeons.

After Neville gave her a weak smile and a wave as goodbye, Millicent finally left only the two of them behind in the dungeons. He was her partner for Potions today, but it was not all that bad – at least she did not try to 'accidentally brush against' his hand like last time. Neville asked, " What's up?"

" I heard you've had a little falling out with Draco recently," Snape said as a grim opener.

" We just decided to be less familiar with each other, and each took half the Student Council's work. As results proved, this method operates better than if we had cumbered each other by working together. I can assure tomorrow's Festival will be fine." Neville reported dutifully.

Snape actually gave a resigned sigh, but quickly resumed back on track with his main concern. " Are you sure? Although I don't like that Gryffindor Head Boy, what he said for the past months is not without reason. Tomorrow would be a prime time for Black to carry out his objective."

" We had made arrangements for the Dementors to be stationed at suitable locations. They can both carry out their guard duties around the school's perimeter but stay far away from the main activities area. The Council members would also take turns patrolling the grounds, while I would be on duty throughout the day. Some operative details were given to Draco's group to carry out and they have completed the arrangements two days ago."

Snape regarded Neville silently for a few seconds under his hooked nose and said, " Did you know beforehand of the black dog Harry had seemingly adopted out of nowhere in Hogsmeade?"

" I noticed he had been acting peculiarly since before Christmas, but it has not been long since I held knowledge of the dog's presence." Neville chose his counter: supply a little unimportant information, then avoidance by word choice. He knew he was walking on thinner ice at the moment than this calm conversation seemed to suggest, since he no longer put it past Snape to curse anyone on the spot regarding Harry's supposed danger.

" Before Christmas…" Snape chewed on the bait for a moment, then regarded the expressionless face of the boy in front of him. The professor, as if conceding, left his student with, " I know your Occlumency levels may well be above me by now, in addition to many other accomplishments under your belt. However, you must not think you can do everything discreetly on your own. You may commit a mistake outwith your abilities to correct."

Neville wondered where that piece of advice came from, but saw that it was as good as a goodbye since Snape had given him a slice of concern for one day. He said, " I see. I guess I'll be going now."

Before Neville could close the door behind him, Snape called out, " Be wary of Lupin, Neville."

Neville just nodded and waved without looking back. _Is he still going on about that werewolf thing? Didn't I tell him I know that already? Or is he still convinced Lupin is a traitor?_

" So. What did he say then?" Harry and Ron were both waiting for him as he left the classroom. Harry was apparently still in a bad mood with Snape after the Hogsmeade incident.

" He asked about the security of the Festival tomorrow." Neville added for Snape, " And also that suspicious dog of yours."

" First Scabbers, now Snuffles – you just don't like animals much do you?" Ron asked.

Neville shrugged, " I don't like babies or flowers either."

" Snuffles is a perfectly nice dog," Harry defended. " He's really fun when you get to know him."

" I still suggest keeping your distance from that joker," Neville said. " Did Hermione hurry off again?" _To use the Time Turner… though I still think that defeats the purpose._

" Yeah," Harry added, " She did say bye though."

" She can just say she wants to be friends again… I won't mind." Ron said while he busied himself looking at the bunch of Ravenclaws on the floor below them over the railings.

" That's the sort of thing you say that makes her decide otherwise," Neville commented as they began to climb the staircase.

" Neville! Where have you been hiding? We haven't talked in ages!" Neville was called back when he heard Penelope's voice.

" Penelope!" Like a kid he bounded up to the frizzy haired girl and gave her a hug. _Percy isn't around, and it's a cheap trick, but I think she's gotten hotter again._ The other Ravenclaw females were very typically giggling a few steps away with not-so-reserved glances at a fidgeting Harry and grinning Ron.

" What's my favourite young Gryffindor up to now? Hoglake or Festival stuffs?" Penelope asked. _See if only she didn't put that 'young' in there then I won't just be her little brother figure._

" Actually I have plans to look for someone from your house," Neville's chirpiness lost its edge a little, and the older girl seemed to have picked up on that.

" I'm guessing you're going to look for the Ravenclaw girl from your Council, Su?" Neville nodded. " Well I think you can give that idea a miss. She was asking us senior students a question on Herbology before we saw you up here. Then she ran away. I'm telling you if that girl can put that speed on a broom our house will for sure win the Cup next year."

Neville tried not to let his disappointment show. He had only spoken to Su once after the dispute at the Council with Draco and she gave an ultimatum. Either Draco goes or she does. If there really was no way for Su to come back otherwise, after the Festival, it was pretty clear to Neville which of the two he should retain for the Council.

" In that case, I guess I should catch up on some homework. How about you give me some private tuition?" Neville flashed his long-missed George Clooney smile to the dismay of Harry and Ron watching.

Unfortunately Penelope did not seem to have caught onto the flirty nature of his invitation. " Don't be silly Neville, you can probably out-perform me in most subjects if you put your mind to it. Then again, every time I see in the corridors you were rushing somewhere, it's no surprise your grades will drop. I can't allow you to do that as your senior!"

Neville gave a curt laugh, " You won't allow my grades falling or you meant running in the corridors? Your boyfriend's already got the later one covered – many times. He's worse than your traffic wardens."

At the mention of Percy, Neville did not miss the shift of Penelope's gaze and her hand rising in front of her chest. " Well… you know Percy."

" Is something wrong?" Neville did not even try and mask the expectancy in his voice. Any misfortune to Percy, even if he were to just slip on a banana peel, would be satisfaction to Neville right now with the hassle Percy stirred up for him nowadays. _Petty things that delayed getting the Festival organised: needing full reports on what the Council was doing at different parts of the school; how they had to hand in all things security-related; why I was still awake in the common room at four in the morning… You don't get to get in people's way just for being Head Boy._

" I shouldn't say… but more Prefects are…" Penelope's voice just got quieter and quieter as she continued.

" Never mind," Neville put his arm around Penelope's shoulder – or waist because of their height difference – and stopped her from saying the observation he already noticed for her comfort. " Let's go and try out that Guzball stall the Muggle Literature club had set up. I heard they taste great with Pineapple Sap-juice!"

The older girl smiled and patted Neville on the head, much to his annoyance actually. She said the same thing Ginny had told him after a meeting just yesterday, albeit the young redhead was a lot more furious about it, " Percy's been gathering a lot more supports from the Prefects. He's slowly but surely scaring the rest of them that the Council will take over their jobs, especially the ones from younger years."

" We still have a Head Girl you know, Nina isn't just a paper tiger." Neville said.

" Just a thing to look out for kiddo," Penelope said and patted Neville's hair again.

" Stop that." Neville flatly stated.

Penelope playfully knocked him on the head, " Then stop trying to direct me towards an empty classroom."

0

0

0

" Alright, set them off!" Neville ordered and Alan Harper waved his wand at the magical contraption the Council had prepared earlier. With a loud bang and a lot of smoke, jets of streaming lights shot towards the sky and exploded in magnificent colours.

" _Welcome to the Hogwarts Festival_!" A magical voice boomed along with the continuing string of Morning-light Fireworks across the Hogwarts grounds. It was a little obsolete since a good few guests had already arrived in excitement before the assigned opening time of nine o'clock.

" Alright, everyone know where they should be?" Neville clapped his hands together and asked.

The Festival was split into three general areas. At the moment all the Council members were outside on the open grounds near the front gates, which also included the Quidditch stadium. The other two areas were the castle, and the Lake area. The Forbidden Forest was of course closed off and guarded. Draco was with Alan at their duties to patrol the Open Grounds area, and the security issues regarding the Forest. Hannah and Luna were in charge of the Lakeside while the Castle fell to Ginny and Scott Summerby.

" Yes we know. Are you sure you don't want a bit of free time yourself today?" Ginny asked while Alan was busy offering a whole variety of different Honeydukes products to bribe a patrol area change with Scott.

" Thanks, but I'll be fine. I can get round the whole Festival anyway by the end of the day." Neville was going to be the float and stray between the three areas while the other members took their breaks seeing the Festival for themselves.

" Alright everyone, let's get going. The Festival has officially started." Draco reminded and Neville followed his gaze towards the front gates. Compared to the winged bores, Dumbledore's guest of honour, the Minster of Magic himself, looked quite ugly indeed.

_Don't be so bitter old boy._ Neville reminded himself to discard the animosity he still held for the Ministry regarding Buckbeak's case, " Okay! Alan and Draco, you two remember to come back for your shifts. You'll probably find me around the Forbidden Forest at first, then moving progressively towards the Stadium."

" Don't trust me?" Draco asked, almost sounding as if he was in light humour. They had not talked anything none business-related since the Su incident in the Council office.

" My job is to double check everything is alright throughout the Festival." Neville did not have the heart to tell Draco he would be sacked from his position by the end of the day – providing he still had not apologised to Su by then. _I guess for someone with his brains he would understand the reasons… Saves a bit of awkwardness… Yeah…_

" Neville Longbottom!" The brief hesitation had unfortunately made himself seen by the Minister's cohort. The man with impeccably ill tastes for fashion strutted towards Neville with an insincere beam, " How good it is to see you without the influence of potions and in your proper place."

Remembering the minor run-ins with Fudge during summer, and how this man still seemed to have kept it dear to his heart, Neville's face forged an expression of gratitude and exclaimed, " What an honour it is to have you here Minister. I do hope you enjoy your day. I am unsure if you have received our emergency exit pack at the entrance – just for those visitors who had forgotten their way around this complex castle. They offer an immediately transportation back to the front gates for lost guests. Of course, with our Headmaster leading you by the hand, you will have no use for something like that, I am sure."

The exit packs also served the handy purposes of transporting visitors back to the front gates if they were to stray into areas where they should not be. They even came in a variety of colours and patterns. None of the colours offered was like Fudge's face at the moment at Neville's insinuation of his political dependence.

" Neville, is you Council not supposed to be offering your assistance to the visitors around our school?" Dumbledore interrupted with the ever unreadable smile.

" Of course. By your leave Minister." Neville ignored his scoff and began to walk away.

" Draco, why don't you accompany the Minister and myself for the day?" Neville had noticed Lucius in Fudge's entourage, but had not taken him as a threat for today. Though now, Lucius's half-command to Draco made Neville turn his head towards the boy.

Draco did not look back at Neville, but had taken a longer than normal pause before saying, " Of course father."

Neville did not turn back, shake his head, or even sigh as he headed towards the Forbidden Forest to make sure the wards on the Dementors were properly in place. Draco proceeded to be introduced to Fudge by his proud smiling father.

0

0

0

A/N: Two weeks turned into a month… Pretty sucky of me, I know. Once again, I'm sure those who are reading this first will have me on Author Alerts, which is really useful for this story now. I don't foresee any updates till Christmas, my earliest break from work, so no need to hold your breaths until then.

The Festival has finally begun and it will be the first climax of this story year. You guys may think I'm just dragging out this Draco thing, but I want it to imply a few things in the scale of the book even. Everything will be clear by the end of the story year, as always.


	61. Book 3 Chapter 18

Synopsis: A massive falling out before the Festival occurred when Draco called Su a Mudblood in the Council Office. The eventual falling out with Draco, and his increasingly fascist behaviour had forced Neville into a corner, and will have to suspend Draco from the Council from the looks of things. There is also the undercurrent involving Percy and Lupin, and with all eyes being on Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Festival begins.

Chapter 60 – It's all fun and games…

Neville made small talk with Dean and Seamus next to him at the Quidditch Stadium stands. He half-heartedly joined into the discussion about the person trying to shoot a Quaffle round Schmichael, a famous professional Keeper hired by the Quidditch Watchers Club. Each participant paid a few Knuts to get three shots against the famous Keeper, who really was incredible considering no one had scored off him yet to claim a prize.

" H-h-hey Neville…" Alan Harper was panting hard as if he had just climbed all the way up to the stands, and tried his best to call out to the President.

" Hello Alan. I hope you've had a good time so far?" Neville waved his wand to wipe the sweat on Alan's forehead.

" Oh it was great! I went around to all the different stalls! There're so many people and my parents were here too! And then the Lake was magnificent and I'm just glad it all worked out! If only Ginny…" Alan rattled on like an excited kid, which made Neville smile a little at his innocence.

" You'll still have time to go around after your shift ends." Neville's words seemed to have made a scratch on Alan's mood though. " Problem with Draco?"

" Well… Draco told me… Well… He said he won't be doing his shift and someone else can cover for him…" Neville was not sure if those were Draco's exact words, or whether it was Lucius who had intimidated the little boy, but Alan was fidgeting on the spot as if the Bloody Baron was glaring at him.

" It's okay Alan, I'll take over his shift as well." Neville patted the surprised kid's shoulder.

" But don't you have to patrol the other two areas as well?" Alan exclaimed, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes that he did not have to do a full double shift.

" It'll be fine if I ask the others at the different areas to extend their patrol time a little." Neville said knowingly, " Still, this will cut into Ginny's free time a bit so you should get a grip."

" I – I don't know what you mean!" Alan's face went fully red and Neville just shook his head.

" I'm off into the castle now. You take care of this area from now on." Neville bid goodbye to Dean and Seamus as well and left the Stadium to the cheers of Angelina Johnson, who actually scored a goal against Schmichael.

The weather was in perfect condition, as if it was really by magic, and this Festival was just like the ones Neville had seen in Animes before in his past life. Of course, everything had a magical touch to it. Instead of just balloons, an assortment of different objects littered the Hogwarts airspace from owls to brooms to flying saucers. Many magical tents were set up on the open grass, with cafés or game stalls or even one full-sized football pitch inside them thanked to wizard-space. There was a clear magical footpath leading up to the castle, something the Council had spent a long time enchanting, that was half way between an airport conveyor belt and the Yellow Brick Road. The Yellow Road was suspended in thin air, not only to stop the grounds from being trampled on for the whole day, but it also made Neville feel as if he was stepping on top of clouds.

It was the best reward for the months he had spent planning this event at the sight of the students and their families enjoying their time here with smiling faces. It was quite clear who were the students though, since every single stall seemed to have their own weird costume. The Astronomy Club for example had a Neil Armstrong doing the moon walk on a miniature floating moon. The Wandlore Studies Club even had a Dragon, a Phoenix, and a Unicorn conjured and running through everyone and everything in typical wizard-mess fashion. The noise levels were so high Neville wondered if the residence of Hogsmeade would file a disturbance complaint, with Hogwarts' kids shouting at the top of their lungs to attract visitors in competition to become the most successful attraction today.

Neville had to literally cover his ears with his hands, close his eyes, and hold his breath as he bumped into numerous people on his way to the castle. All the food stalls with their delicious aromas and friendly girls pulling his arm in skimpy outfits would have made Neville forget he had patrols if he let them. Unfortunately for him, his senses blocked, he ran into a break wall on his way and fell flat on his back, though landing softly onto the enchanted boardwalk.

_Hey! I don't remember allowing for any brick wall to be placed in the middle of the Yellow Road!_

" Nevie!" Neville shuddered at the sickeningly sweet voice Millicent roared in front of him.

" Hi Millicent… I hope you're enjoy the Festiv –"

" Come try out my stall! We made pancakes! Like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, you won't know what's in your pancake until you get it!"

Neville really tried, but he could not get himself away before Millicent literally stuffed a pancake down his throat. He was lucky it actually just tasted of beef – pepper sauce steak actually. When he finally made it through the doors of the castle, the noise level was even more dramatic indoors due to the echo.

Neville dodged his way round the significantly fewer visitors inside, probably due to the noise, as he casted some charms on the walls to absorb the vibrations. He was supposed to take over the patrol from Ginny by meeting her at the Great Hall. Enchanted suits of armour seemed to be pushing him along the decorated corridor in spite of his hurry anyway as if he was late for something.

The Great Hall was used as a general auditorium for musical performances, plays, dance, or any other acts such as those. Different acts were scheduled in different times slots throughout the day of course, since they could not all be performing at the same time. It seemed Neville was being hurried along to the Great Hall because the armours had been charmed to know the timetables and would not want guests to miss any acts that were about to start.

When Neville slipped into the Great Hall, he was pleasantly surprised by Ginny Weasley performing on stage. It was finally not a Muggle song Neville knew, but a song from the wizarding pop world that he knew almost nothing of. Despite this, he was contently caught up in the free-spirited melody and the upbeat lyrics. _Albeit hearing potion ingredients in a pop song is a bit strange._

" Hey Neville! How you enjoying the Festival?" Harry's voice apparently came out of nowhere.

" You under the Cloak then?" Neville whispered, checking the other audiences were all still enraptured by Ginny's performance. " Why?"

Practically seeing Harry's face blushing, Neville heard, " Ron said Ginny will probably muck up somewhere if she saw me in the audience. I just came by when I saw you walk in to say hi."

Neville searched round a bit and saw Ron sitting quite close by actually with some girls from the Chess Club, cheering for his little sister. Neville asked, " That's surprising. Where's Luna?"

" She's on patrol first it seems." Harry hesitated a bit before continuing, " Ron wasn't really happy with that, I don't think. They had a little 'talk' about it just before we came here."

" I see…" Neville sighed, not looking forward to Ron finding out Luna's patrol shift would be extended. After all, if Neville was a normal student, he would also have liked to wander around with the girl he liked and enjoy the Festival day together with her. " Have you seen Hermione, Harry?"

" I don't know, I think I saw her with some girls she was in the same group with for the play last year," Harry said. " It would've been nice if all four of us could've went around the Festival together…"

_It seems although Hermione was still not the most popular person in the school, at least she had acquaintances that she could at least hang around with if she so chooses. Guess she was hanging around with those girls or studying with the Time Turner since Christmas and her silly fight with Ron… At least, this shows the Council really did help students interact with each other better._

The performance ended on a high note and failing to convince Harry into going backstage to praise Ginny due to Harry's inherently shy nature, Neville went in himself.

" AAAAHHHH!" Neville just made it in time to parry the curse that shot his way with his wand.

It was not an enemy, nor any crisis… It was just that Neville had walked in while Ginny was changing.

_I bet if it was Harry who opened the door he would've been welcomed with opened arms._

0

0

0

One black eye later, Neville was walking with a fully-changed Ginny along the castle corridors.

" The nerve of you! Haven't anyone told you to knock before entering a room?" Ginny continued to grumble with a red face, arms crossed over the white apron she was wearing. She was wearing a set of thin black school robes underneath, which really looked more like a dress, and was on her way to help out a friend in her maid café stall. _Maid costumes always fit as part of Anime tradition._

" It wasn't a room I went into. You were just in a part of the stage with a transfigured door." Neville only whispered that first part to himself and said louder, " I have put a charm on the area now so no one could do what I did. Should've spotted a flaw in the arrangement during the planning stages…"

" Are you blaming me?" Ginny was involved in the arrangements for the Great Hall.

To pacify the little red head, whose brown eyes were sparkling with a flame, Neville patted her jade hair band and said, " Of course I'm not!"

" You'd better not be!"

" What are you doing here Neville Longbottom?" The two of them were interrupted when Percy marched up to them. " Shouldn't you be on patrol?"

" I am," Neville tried not to let his irritation show. " We're putting some charms inside the castle to drown out the noise."

" What? What charms? Have you gotten permission from the headmaster to do such a thing?" Percy growled immediately, but then snorted at a thought. " And shouldn't you consult your vice president as well? He is in charge of some of the security measurements, isn't he?"

Neville's stated, " This is not a security issue."

Percy tried to throw salt in as quickly as he could, " And the two of you have fallen out, I know. I'm sure Draco had also been disillusioned about some of the obnoxious ways you do things."

Neville narrowed his eyes and was just going to ignore him and walk away. Ginny had other ideas though and screamed, " Oh you just stay out of it you big git! You know nothing about our Council."

Percy's frown deepened, and after a glance at Neville, he pulled a protesting Ginny a few steps away to have a private family chat. _Now that's just downright rude._

Neville would have left them to it here but he had still to inform Ginny about the extension of their patrol shifts. He was counting on Ginny to tell the others as well at the Lake area. He was just reading a poster advertising a Haunted House in a fourth floor classroom when Percy's outburst grabbed his attention over to them again.

" I'll just have you know young lady that I'll never approve of it!" Percy stormed away from an equally scowling Ginny and disappeared up a moving staircase.

" The nerve of that guy! I can't believe he's my brother!" Ginny huffed as she came back to Neville.

" What did he say?"

" He said I shouldn't go out with… Well… you know that stupid thing he was trying to do by the end of last year… You know…" Ginny's face was still red, but now with probably with chagrin.

" His matchmaking for us? I've totally forgotten about that until now…" Neville turned his gaze downwards at the thought.

" H – hey! What's with that disappointed look?" Neville looked up to find Ginny posed to either punch him or flee.

" It kind of means Percy's really treating me with full hostility now." Neville could truthfully say he had never intentionally made Percy hate him this much. He really did not know how it went this far south. _Was it really because he's afraid the Student Council will outshine the Prefects? Was it just bred from Percy's apparent greed for power? After all, he does have ambition of sorts, especially involving politics… I just never thought in Hogwarts, this school full of children… Bah, Weatherby is away after summer anyway… Can't believe he seems to hold even Draco in a higher regard than me, especially after this year…_

Ginny had stayed quiet bar her incantations beside the ruminating Neville as they lined the castle with sound-proofing charms. When they were charming the final flights of stairs, heading up the Astronomy Tower, Ginny eventually blurted out what she must have been trying to figure out, " Why are you so hung up on how Percy thinks about you anyway?"

" Because he's a Weasley. Your family is a good bunch." Neville answered simply without an afterthought while opening the door leading outside.

They did not need to put any charms out here as a gentle wind welcomed Neville's arrival. It seemed Sinistra had allowed for some Ravenclaws to take over for today and a faint track could be made out sparkling around the Tower like the Northern Lights. Not that many visitors were here, probably because of the now fixed noise issue, but at least the students supposedly in charge were having a good time on the brooms track. _Like Go-Karting, just up in the air. Look there! There're seriously double-brooms._

" Come on Severus!" Sinistra's voice could be heard and Snape's eyes went wide as a deer in headlights – headlights that was Neville's gaze. The two men simultaneously shared a look of recognition, then both turned to Snape's arm that was being tugged by a pouting Sinistra, then to each other's' expressions again. Snape's Occlumency of course allowed him to coolly detach Sinistra's arm, but Neville displayed a level that was insult to Snape's expectations of him and burst out into a mal-mannered laugh.

" Neville! This may be an open day for the school but you must maintain a suitable image as the Student Council President of Hogwarts!" Snape fumbled out a lecture and the oblivious Sinistra just waved and went off to get a pink double-broom with Snape currently off-guard. " I will have you know I am only here because Professor Sinistra tricked – I mean – I had something to hand over to her. This was her office after all."

Neville did not even bother answering to that feeble attempt, knowing Snape probably got dragged all over the Festival on the threat of Sinistra crying again, and gave him an amused look at the pink double broom Sinistra was urging him to take a hold of. Turning back to Ginny, missing Snape's look of horror, Neville saw the redhead staring anxiously at the racing track.

" Go for a fly Ginny, thanks for sound insulating the castle with me, your patrol is over. By the way, if you see any of the others, tell them their patrol time had lengthened a little." Neville knew the little girl would go around telling the others without him asking anyway because of her sense of responsibility, but he still failed to make this a quick exchange.

" Why do we have to lengthened the patrols?" Ginny picked up quickly, retracting her gaze from the track. " Does this have something to do with Draco?"

_Should I be proud of my successor or not in this situation? _

" I just want to slack off and go somewhere." Neville lied expertly. Draco already had a bad enough reputation in the Council for now, let alone with Ginny Weasley. _I'd used to think the Draco-Ginny ship is really hard going sometimes. They're in a worst position than Romeo and Juliet, really. _

" You won't slack off." Ginny pursued, " What is it?"

" Hey, Christopher! Give me that broom!" Neville called for a familiar fourth year running the track and picked up the Air-Duster-Nine-Hundred from him. " Here Ginny, go on and have some fun. Bye."

" Hey you! Stop right there!" Ginny was thrust the broom before she started giving chase on it. Neville was already down the stairs by the time she mounted and her broom clearly could not have allowed her to follow the now flying boy.

0

0

0

Neville could not help but attract weird looks as he had one hand on the wall for laughing too much. He had just seen Lupin dressing up in woman's clothes, and it was the goth-loli type with plenty of lacing, as the main attraction to one of the cafés. _Now that's a good teacher… Haha, never underestimate the powers of young school girls I tell ya! He probably got trapped in it after promising to help them out! The look on his face was priceless when a middle-aged dad actually started chatting him up! That's what you get for being a pretty boy! I've seriously got to get Colin Creevey to take some photos of him._

Neville wiped a tear from his eye and eventually straightened himself and smoothed over Dracula's Cloak. Swishing about the familiar corridors, but today bustling with all sorts of festivities, Neville greeted a passing group of first years. He was glad that he did not find anything majorly wrong at all with the Festival so far after half a day. There were some Slytherins who struggled to look sour, and a few hardcore four-eyed prefects who refused to have any fun like Percy, but otherwise it felt as if the castle itself was joining in with the frequent laughter everywhere.

" Neville! Did you come to visit us?" Cho's head unexpectedly popped out from the Fashion Clubroom's door enthusiastically when Neville strolled past.

" By Merlin, it's Tifa!" Neville's heart almost jumped for joy, imagining Merlin's crazy fiction-to-reality summoning theory had actually worked – for a second. " Oh wait…"

" Who's Tifa?" Cho pouted and put her hands on her hips.

Still, Neville would have thought Cho had travelled a few years into the future and copied the clothes off the video game character. She had a sleeveless black top, zip down the middle, which connected to a pair of matching black shorts that reached the top of her knees. It was made from some leathery material, and with a sort of coat tail trailing the back, with a few straps and metal clamp, which made her outfit look both aesthetically pleasing and action practical.

" Some girl who I was madly in love with." Neville admitted, especially since Cho had combed her hair in that same long flowing way down her back. _Despite this, the original outfit had always been agreed to be more popular with us guys._

" What? Was she in Hogwarts?" Cho exclaimed covering her mouth, her hands also wearing a pair of combat gloves.

" Some fictional girl," Neville smiled, futilely trying to remember when that game came out. " Anyway, how is the Fashion Club doing for the race to make the most profit?"

" We've had a bad start because of the noise around the castle, but we've certainly got a lot more visitors now." Cho said, but sounding a little distracted and was examining her outfit here and there. " So you like this outfit?"

" It's part of your new designs right? Clothes that allow for more durable use? You know that's not a good thing from my business prospective. I would prefer Hoglake Robes to be needlessly elegant and ripping frequently so I can get my sales up." Neville nodded as he explained.

" You black-hearted money grabber," Cho grumbled.

" Don't think I can't guess what you're doing missy," Neville gestured towards the Clubroom behind her. " This whole activity was your idea, and this chain of outfits and costumes is more of an opportune experiment on future Quidditch robes, right?"

Cho pouted again and stomped the ground with her leg, " What's wrong with that? I want to design other types of clothes too."

" Whatever, I never said anything's wrong with it." Neville commented, " I'm surprised to actually see you here though. I was at the brooms track up at the top earlier and thought you would've spent the day there."

" I am the Club President you know." Cho smiled impishly in reminiscence, " Plus, I had already been up there this morning when it was quiet. With Cedric Diggory."

_Guess history doesn't stray far…_

Neville's momentarily change in expression was somehow not escaped from Cho's keen eyes. She winked, " Jealous? I would go round the Festival with you too if you'd just slip away from your patrol a bit."

" I can't." Neville stated firmly.

" I'm not going to take no for an answer," Cho's challengeable nature seemed to have been triggered by Neville's quick answer. She immediately grabbed hold of his hand, dragging him into the Fashion Club's clubroom. She called for a male club member and rushed Neville into the changing cubicles before he could even start protesting.

Half expecting to be given Cloud Strife's costume to wear, Neville was actually a little disappointed when he got something else. Still, he felt quite in the action mood when he came out with the unexpectedly comfortable combat robes. They were seriously modified wizard robes since it was arguably more of a cape, joint only around the waist by three leather and silver belts. He was wearing something like boxing shoes, except protected on many sides with shiny metal plates. For breathability, he even had a high-collared thin shirt underneath his robe, probably with a water-proof charm on it. Neville's usual dark cargo pants timely went well with the outfit too.

" Hey Cho! I like this outfit." Neville added as he came out of the dressing rooms, " Though you should warn your club members not to unbutton anyone's shirts without warning – even if it looks more stylish, according to him, if I had the top few buttons loose. Are you even listening to me?"

" Huh? Yeah. Yeah, I am. Why not let's get started?" Cho stuffed an enchanted stick of wood in Neville's hand and said in one breath.. " This is a fake wand and only shoots off streams of light, we're going to use this to get through the laser tag obstacle course, let's go!"

" Hey slow down," Neville chased after Cho, who had just sprinted through the entrance into the shooting area out back without waiting for him to get ready. _To clarify, I guess this is more like an adventure zone. You go round the circuit, shooting at monsters. Whoa! _" Hey, watch out!"

Neville took Cho around her waist, inevitably being surprised by how slim she was, and shot out a beam of light from his prop at the alien-like monster that swung out from nowhere towards Cho just a second ago. It seemed the monsters here were not even materialised and were just magically conjured mirages for the game, but Neville was still pretty smug about his reactions being on top form as the mirage exploded.

" Didn't you set this attraction up? I thought you would've known where these monsters would swing out from. Still, it was a nice touch." Neville complimented, shooting at another monster mirage that actually surfaced from the ground in the form of a mummy with one hand.

" Um… You can let go of me now." Cho said in a small voice, reminding Neville that he still had his other hand on her small waist.

" Eh? Sorry about that." Neville let go of her, almost comically letting her fall to the ground if Cho had not been a natural sports person. " You'd better watch your back Cho, I can't save you all the time. Let's keep going! I see we're going into the Amazon region up ahead right? Good job on the background spell work."

" … This is why Cedric is way more popular with young witches than you," Cho muttered with her eyes closed, shaking her head. Neville was already bounding ahead like a kid playing laser tag, completely forgetting about his patrol for the moment. It was a good half hour before Neville left the Fashion Club, and another few hours before he left the castle, back in Dracula's Cloak.

Although it was Spring time, and the exact geographic location of Hogwarts was really unknown, Neville was sure the school was definitely quite north in the UK due to the sun already making its way down the mountains in the distance. As he breathed in the cool air, making his way towards Hogwarts Lake from the castle, he had a genuine smile on his face that was pretty hard to come by for the past months. _Slaving away like a dog all day was at least worth it. _

Although almost two thirds of the day had already passed by for Neville, the Festival was still in full swing out here. The amount of sound coming from the Lake almost urged Neville to conjure a massive water bubble around its shores to contain it. At that thought, a loud bang that almost shook the ground underneath Neville's feet came from a purple explosion somewhere on the Lake, probably from the Weasley twin's joke shop stall.

Neville would have to walk by it at least once on his patrol, but as he stepped onto the wooden decks that led him onto the Lake area, his search was for his trusted secretary. He mused at the slight ripples that resonated out on the calm lake face from every step he took on the wooden deck, then looked up at the Maldives-style huts that were the stalls dotted about on either side. A gigantic tree was unmissable at the centre of the Lake, hosted by the Cave/Dungeon Exploration Club, and many kids could be heard in the maze inside. Apart from the main deck he was on right now that reached this Maze Tree, the tree also acted as a hub for four other wooden platforms on the Lake, the decks forming a sort of star shape as he had seen from the Owlery earlier that day.

" Neville!" At the busiest hub on the Lake area, Hannah had found him before he could take his eyes off the kids poking their smiling faces out inside the gigantic tree. " Hey this way!"

" Hey, how have you been enjoying the Festival so far?" Neville asked, shaking his head good-naturedly at the girl who squeaked like a squirrel after realising she had shouted out his name too loudly on impulse.

The red-faced Hannah replied, " It's been great! I went about with Ernie for a bit to the Chocolate Frog Cards club and they had so many of them on display that… Oh you don't want to hear that. How were your patrols?"

" I slipped away here and there, but everything is in working order it seems." Neville said, but his eyes were on the hot dog stand behind her.

" Are you hungry? Have you even eaten yet?" Hannah asked, already walking towards a food stall selling weird bubbling drinks in cauldrons. _In this entire world I think only Snape can feed me something from his cauldron – he weirdly even cooked a pumpkin pie in his cauldron once._

" I'm fine Hannah." Neville put her to rest and said, " I'm sorry again about lengthening the time of the patrols."

" Ginny asked me to ask you why…" Hannah said, but whispered in a small voice as her chin hit her chest, " It's Draco, isn't it?"

Hannah might not necessary be dumber than Ginny, but it seemed that she at least understood the friendship between Neville and Draco a lot more, and how Neville would react. Neville might not have realised the girl's understanding of him at that moment, but he changed the subject, " It doesn't matter, but I guess I really have to apologise to you a bit more for taking over some of my patrol – even if you had planned to do so in the first place anyway, right?"

Like a kid who had been caught out of bed after curfew, Hannah yelped, " How did you know? But – but you _should_ be able to enjoy the Festival too… That's why I thought I could take over your shift, at least for a bit so you can go around the stalls you like."

" Anyway, thank you Hannah. If I can't count on you to take up some of my patrol here, no one would be there at the Open Grounds area. It really saved me a jump on the Time Turner to try and be at two places at the same time."

" What's a Time Turner?"

" Ha, ha!" Neville tried to act dumb and laugh it off, " Hey, let me treat you to something for helping me out. You like hot dogs? Hey, I think they're selling Candy Clouds over there!"

After loading Hannah with sugar, magical snacks, and some very strange drink in an eye-blinding shade of orange, Neville was satisfied that he had distracted the girl enough.

" By the way, sorry to have dragged you along with me, but your patrol had ended when you spotted me. You really should take hold of the time you have before you come back to take over for me, it would make me feel bad otherwise." Neville patted his now most trusted member of the Council on her shoulder, and had turned to leave when he felt a slight tug on Dracula's Cloak.

" W-would you like – like to – patrol together?" Hannah stammered, the orange glow of her drink making her cheeks a deceptive replica of the sun.

" What?" Neville was thoroughly confused at the bounds of Hannah's Hufflepuff qualities. " I already owe you a lot for wasting half your Festival patrolling. You don't have to feel obliged to go around with me now, probably having to find another kid's parents in this crowd. I even have to leave you with the graveyard shift here on the Lake by yourself."

" No! It's really no bother," Hannah quickly insisted. " Plus, I've already been around the Festival, I would prefer to spend it with – the… patrolling…"

Neville almost wiped a tear from his eye at the dedication of his secretary. _What girl her age would give up on a time to have fun and be cumbered with Council business? Even Ginny, my supposed successor, had been resolute to take her time off with her different club activities around the Festival! _

" Alright Hannah! I'm clearing out my wallet for you today!" Neville took out his Mokeskin purse for emphasis and promised, " Anything at all! Anything you see that fits your fancy here, and I'll buy it for you even if I only have one last Knut left!"

Hannah was going to decline in her usual worried manner before noticing the determination in Neville's eyes and sighed.

0

0

0

A/N: Long times since Easter eggs! Who remembers Peter Schmichael? At least everyone should know of the legendary game that is Final Fantasy Seven!

I'd planned the Festival lasting more than one chapter, with the start of it being playful and just demonstrating the happy mood of the event, but it seemed to have gotten out of hand… Not the first time I've done that, but that's literally another story. Some people may think this is another filler chapter. Passing points of conversation are dangling the start of things to come, whether it is in the distant or close future.

I'd unconsciously extended Cho's air time this chapter and it didn't have to with the character poll. But I am surprised the commanding lead Elena has.

Maybe I'll upload the next chapter next week, or in two weeks I'm unsure as of now. I've written two chapters through the hols, leading almost to the end of the Festival, but releasing them all at once will just mean another massively long wait for an update again. Well, until the next time I resurface.


	62. Book 3 Chapter 19

Synopsis: The Hogwarts Festival is underway in full swing! Neville had been dutifully on patrol, only slipping off when he was dragged by Cho. He did run into a few people, one of which was Percy, who Neville seemed to be in direct conflict with more than he had expected. The only downer was Draco, who had seemingly really stuck with his father and Fudge, leaving Neville to fill up his shift as well. Thanks to Hannah though, who was going to take up some of Neville's shift in the Lake area, he can still manage. The two were now patrolling together there as the Festival continues towards its end.

Chapter 61 – Until somebody finds an escaped convict.

Neville and Hannah were both coughing and hurrying away from the Weasley twins' joke stall, along with many other visitors. Fred and George were trying to impress Neville when he came around on his patrol with their new potion concoction that shrunk you into the size of a mouse, but just as they added the last ingredient in the cauldron, it exploded in a smelly brown fume.

" As Student Council President I'll have to order you guys to clean this up – and what did you put in that damn cauldron? It stinks of cheap cigar and horse poop!" Neville coughed out to the Twins and ran away down the deck back towards the Maze Tree in the middle of the Lake. " Sorry about that Hannah."

" No it's okay. To be frank, explosions had been going on in that stall all through the day…" Hannah shook her head, but her nose remained wrinkled because they were still within the stink zone.

" I really should shut them down," Neville was about to turn around and head back into the stench, but thought better of it. " They'll probably clean that up in no time anyway, and the visitors don't seem to mind. Why else were there so many of them there with us if you said they've been messing up earlier too."

" Yeah, that was what Luna and I thought" Hannah said as they turned onto a different floating deck. " Oh, this street has a lot of stall games."

" Stall games? Like shooting basketballs and knocking down tins?" Neville asked, inspecting around him. Due to the close proximity of water though, the usual game of throwing balls at the wheel with a hostage on it just got a lot more inviting. There were even some Merpeople at the end of this deck, helping to rearrange the pins for some water-surface bowling game. Neville noticed an out of place Mrs Norris pawing at her dear caretaker's leg in front of one of the stalls though.

" Would you look at that?" Neville inclined his head and started to move closer as to find out why the usually strict and, actually really very hard-working, caretaker would join in on the amusement. It was just as well this game stall was a sort of whack the mole variant that did not require magic – though it did explode, much like many wizarding things, if the player whacked something else instead of the Professor Snape look-alike that the courageous inventor replaced as moles.

Hannah stopped Neville in mid-stride, " Hey, don't go over."

" Why?" Neville asked and looked at where Hannah was gesturing. Madam Pince, the strict librarian, was actually cheering Filch on next to him, seemingly much different from her usual tight-strung self.

" Let's just keep on patrolling," Hannah smiled gently and they walked past the stall, ignoring as best as they could Filch's curses at failing again to win the book 'the Lion, the Witch and the Broom Closet' for Madam Pince that was one of the prizes. Mrs Norris just meowed on the ground as if to convince Filch not to pull whatever was left of his hairs out.

" Well who would've thought?" Neville half asked himself, having been a sloppy reader in his past life.

" I think they would make a good couple." In the evening light, the decks were now lit only by the light from the stalls and fireflies charmed by the Council. Hannah peacefully gave her blessing to the unlikely couple along with the luminous creatures, and Neville could not help but be affected by her empathy. He only just realised then that she had been wearing a very traditional witch's blouse with Victorian ribbon designs. Her pale blue dress trailed along the grounds about her, probably charmed magically not to be cumbersome. She even had on the jasper necklace she wore before at Richmond's mansion, and maybe even a faint touch of make up.

_Girls grow up so quickly._ Neville thought to himself, but could not repress a smile when his eyes fell upon Hannah's signature pig-tails that were still ever-present.

" W-what is it?" Hannah stammered when she noticed Neville was studying her.

" It's not often I see you in casual clothes," Neville admitted.

Hannah stammered some more, " Grandpa Richmond sent me the dress and everything, he's really too kind… You don't like it?"

" No it looks good on you," Neville complimented. Hannah was smiling when he added, " I'd just thought the Council should wear school robes, since it would be quite difficult for visitors to find us out for help otherwise."

Hannah immediately bowed her head and apologized, " I – I'm sorry. I can go change back at the dorm right now –"

Neville realised he had unwittingly worried the sensitive girl again and quickly said, " No, no, that's not what I meant. My school robes are modified to the point it feels like an elongated waistcoat anyway – please just forget what I'd said."

" Okay, if you say so…" Hannah whimpered.

Seeing how he had made her retract into her introvert shell again with his big mouth, Neville looked around him for ideas. " Hey, look at that stall. They're giving away chocolate frog cards."

" They're not giving them out, you have to win them." Hannah shook her head and continued, " They're also very rare cards."

Neville saw a chance to get on his secretary's good side again and offered, " You already have those cards? I can always get them for you even if you have, then you can trade them."

" Of course I don't have those cards." Hannah seemed to have got the wrong idea though, " But you can't just take it from them! It's their grand prize! Even if you're the President…"

Neville laughed, " I never said anything about mugging them! I mean I'll win them for you."

" Neville… Do you even know what you have to do for this stall?" Hannah sounded skeptical but Neville did not miss her quick swooning glance at the cards.

" It doesn't matter. I'll get them for you." Neville marched forward gallantly only to almost fall and stumble over his own feet at what he had signed himself up to do.

After almost twenty minutes in the depths of the cold Lake, Neville and Hannah were once again continuing on with their patrol. Hannah got those rare frog cards in her hands, but her sideward gaze was set on Neville, who was using his wand like a hairdryer at the moment on his soaked clothes. " Y-you really didn't have to –"

" I'm fine," Neville offered the best smile he could as his teeth chattered. This was by far not the worst part of the ordeal, since he would be warm again after another few Hot Air Charms. Series of complex wand movements were nothing compared to how he had to wrestle around the seaweed trying to capture frogs in wizard scuba-diving gear. Although he had not technically experienced the drowning in Blackpool, he had never developed much liking for this Lake or water.

Hannah's whispers interrupted Neville's chilling recollection of his first year's experience with Gillyweed. " It's all my fault…"

" You know, if you just resolve this confidence issue Hannah, you'll seriously be more popular than Cho or Ginny," Neville shook his head as she blushed and stared at the ground. " Then again, if you do, I'd probably be missing a very valuable Council member… Not to mention how you'll be vice-president after –"

" What?" Hannah jumped and her exclamation actually frightened the toddler passing by at that moment. After pacifying the toddler with a toffee-pumpkin, Hannah anxiously questioned, " What about Draco? You mean you're going to –"

" You have always contributed more to the Council than anyone else. I am sure everyone recognises that." Neville put a hand on her shoulder, anticipating how she would try to convince him otherwise, " There is no one else more competent or reliable for the job."

" What about Su? She'll come back! And Ginny! She's really smart and you've taught her a lot this year… spending a lot of time with her too because of that… and last year…" Neville had pretty much tuned her out when he realised she would not accept the job until he commanded it of her and was just gesturing for some kid to put his stash of stink bombs away. " …And what about Luna? She's in Ravenclaw and even if she's a bit… unique at times, she's worked hard for the Council too."

As if on cue, Hannah saw the Ravenclaw in question at the end of the deck. It was unfortunate that they seemed to have stumbled upon a lover's spat. Then again, it all looked pretty one-sided since Ron was the one flushed in the face yelling while Luna even had the mood to look around at the ripples across the lake surface.

" …to top it off, you even had to lengthen that patrol of yours today! It's the Festival! The whole school is celebrating! You choose to _patrol_ instead of spending it with your boyfriend!" Ron stopped to take a breath from what appeared to have been a very long rant. He eventually said, half to himself, with slumped shoulders, " Sometimes, I really don't feel like we're going out at all."

" I am sorry Ron," Luna apologised and just when it seemed as if Hannah and Neville could amicably say hi without being thrown into the middle of a fight, Luna's candid personality dealt yet another blow. " President told us we had to patrol longer, so I had to."

Ron's characteristic temper rose again and shouted, " What? So you're just going to do everything Neville wants you to do? What if he tells you to break up with me?"

" The President would probably have good reasons to tell me that. After all, he is very smart." Luna said calmly as if Ron was still laughing and offering her a Butterbeer.

" Why do you always have that look as if your head's up in the clouds? We are _arguing_ Luna!" Ron growled, " You always look like you're thinking of something else – is it Neville?"

" I'm obviously thinking about the President now if you just brought him up." Luna stated with an inclination of her head.

Ron made a sound as if he was being choked by something too big for him to swallow and stormed off with a scream of anguish. Neville only managed to take a step forward before Ron spotted him. The redhead shook his head vigorous and shouted, " You're the last person I want to see right now!"

Believing that was probably true, Neville backed down and allowed Ron to storm off. _Should he not know his girlfriend enough by now to understand her blatant personality faults?_

Hannah was already over with Luna, though completely unsure what she should do and could only force a polite smile on her face while Luna greeted her as if nothing had happened. Neville walked up to the girls, scratching his head and wondering how he could help Ron through this mess. He did feel partially responsible since he really did tell the others to lengthen their patrol, and sort of understood why a boyfriend would be unhappy about cutting his time with his girlfriend today. " Hey Luna."

" President! It's nice to finally see you again today," Luna greeted. " I'd almost thought you were eaten by the Jealous-Jelly-Jaeger since I'd seen lots of them attracted by the fun we're having here today."

Neville tried his best to salvage this teenage romance, ignoring Luna's usual 'observations'. Of course, a sneer at the back of his head questioned if he was doing so just to distract Ron from Hermione, but that was easily blocked out by Occlumency. " Listen… Ron is… Well, he is a boy. He isn't all that comfortable or apt in expressing his emotions properly through words."

" Ron is mean. At least, a lot meaner than I thought before we started dating." Luna commented. " Maybe he'll be nicer again if we stopped dating."

" What! Oh Luna you can't! B-but you… Or do you really…" Hannah was frantically panicking at the corner, wondering which side she should stand on, glancing between Luna and Neville.

Neville frowned and asked with an unsteady voice, " Luna… You do know the _concept_ of _dating_ right?"

" Of course I do President. I was told that if two people liked each other, they should start dating." Luna explained simply to Neville's relief. Like a bombshell Luna added, " For example, I like Hannah and I presume she likes me. So we can date each other – as long as I don't date both Ron and her at the same time of course."

" Eeeehhhh?" Hannah immediately took a few steps back and Neville just slapped his palm onto his forehead.

" I'll take that as a _no_ Luna. And Hannah, you don't have to look like your brain's about to overload, Luna doesn't mean it that way." Neville cleared his throat, trying to sound as calm and logical as Luna. However, at one look of Luna's innocent and untroubled expression, he resigned with a sigh. " I'll see you around Luna. You can give… _this_ a shot Hannah, but I think it's about time I head back over to the Open Grounds area for the patrol there. Bye."

_If Luna gets any prettier, which I think she will, and she really does keep that way of thinking – she's gonna break a lot of boys' hearts. What am I going to do about Ron?_

After leaving a seemingly hyperventilating Hannah with a completely 'normal' Luna, Neville ran into another friend of his when he reached the shore lines again by the lakeside. Make that two.

" Harry," Neville greeted with a deadpan voice. That was because his frown was directed at the big black dog by his side. " Why is he here?"

" Hey Neville, I saw him around and since I didn't want to disturb Ron and Luna's date… you know." Harry added as if it was a secret, " Ron isn't very happy with your request for Luna to lengthen her patrol by the way."

" I figured," Neville muttered. Still, he had a much bigger problem than teenage romances at the moment. Snuffles was putting on an act of chasing his tail to Neville's deepened frown. " Please, we have to get Snuffles out of sight."

" Don't worry, no one would know he's a wild dog." Harry childishly explained, " There're visitors who brought their pets too. Everyone would think Snuffles is someone else's pet too."

Before Neville slammed down on the idea, Ron picked that moment to appear again. He probably went venting out his anger on a run around the Lake area, and had seen Neville on his way off the decks. Ron cleared his throat in chagrin and said, " Hey Harry… Neville… Listen… I'm sorry about shouting at you just earlier –"

" _Impedimenta_!" Neville snapped out his wand and aimed the spell at Ron. The impact propelled Ron backwards and into the Lake with a loud splash that even soaked Harry.

" H – hey! I know I was wrong but you didn't have to do that!" Ron screamed when he resurfaced, oblivious to the situation.

" Snuffles!" Harry cried in panic as Sirius's strong legs threw up dirt in his trail towards the Front Gates.

Neville was seeing red – of course not because of Ron. The reason why he threw Ron back with a spell was because Sirius had pounced at Ron's chest. Needless to say, Ron's pet rat was inside his chest pocket, spotted by the keen-eyed and hot-headed dog. Pettigrew was not an incompetent enough imbecile to completely lack the will to live, and already had half his tail out of Ron's pocket the moment Sirius started the attack. In Ron's and Harry's confusions, the rat and dog ran into the distance.

Activating his Floating Magic, Neville shot like an arrow after Pettigrew and Sirius, Dracula's Cloak billowing behind him as if it was gathering in the night. All this had happened in a matter of seconds, turning Neville's worst predictions into reality. Keep in mind, this was the worst scenario he could have imagined.

Outside of his imagination, a worst reality developed behind him.

" What's going on here?" Remus Lupin was probably close by on the floating decks and saw the splash, and came along to investigate. In the distance, the rat was probably too small for him to spot in the dark, but he could clearly make out the two pursuers. One of which was unmistakable to him as Neville. The other one was also unmistakable.

" Harry!" Lupin bent down and had a firm grip on Harry's shoulders, startling the boy who was still to come back from the rapid change of events. " T-that dog! Don't tell me – he was the dog you mentioned?"

" Y – Yes Professor Lupin. He is Snuffles. What's wrong?" Harry asked shakily. Being the hero of the books, his sixth sense already told the boy tonight had just become a restless night.

" I can't be… it really is… Sirius Black." Lupin's words were the signal for Harry to join in the chase and Lupin was not far off his tail.

0

0

0

Neville caught up to Sirius the dog when they were still out in the open, which was definitely not ideal. Their chase had already stirred up considerable attention according to Neville, and Pettigrew the rat was clearly heading for Yellow Road, which was a notebook move for every escapee. There would be a lot of explaining to do when a vicious dog, who was actually Sirius Black if he got rash enough to transform, publically dissected a rat in public. Neville was not even sure if an Animagus would revert to his original form when dead.

Neville did not think and just tackled Sirius to the ground. " Stop it Sirius! Don't get found out!"

It was all he could do to physically detain the dog from above, Sirius struggling with all fours and left a good many scratch marks on Neville's robes. With a partially transformed mouth, Neville could just make out Sirius's growls. " I have to kill him! James and Lily's revenge! I have to finish the job I didn't finish all these years ago!"

" Think about Harry! Think about Harry!" Neville screamed with half the mind to Obliviate those passing by who heard him, just in case. It seemed the mention of his Godson finally struck some logic into that canine brain of his and Sirius's struggle gradually weakened.

" We can't let him get away." Sirius panted, still with barely suppressed rage.

" We'll detain him." It seemed the two friends' ideas coincided simultaneously and the two set off again in the direction after Pettigrew.

Sirius's recent outlaw lifestyle and canine ability boosts carried him past the crowds like a fish in water. Neville's speed was even greater as he floated above the gaping crowds' head level and flew down the Yellow Road like a vengeful spirit.

" Neville Longbottom! What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" Neville frowned at Fudge's voice in front of him, his bowler hat distinctly visible. Fudge had seen the incoming boy from a distance off, along with the amazed gasps of the other visitors before him, and had probably determined the boy was showboating for attention. " I though the Student Council's patrol was supposed to regulate order and be helpful! As President, I only see you causing chaos!"

Neville stopped with a loud deflection of air right above Fudge's head, which caused the Minister's stupid bowler hat to fly off into the distance. He could see the pureblood entourage was still with Fudge, along with Dumbledore and Draco, as one of the men went scrabbling after the hat. _Where is that rat?_

" Neville, may I ask what brings about this disruption? Is there something to report?" He did not know if Dumbledore was trying to dig him out of the situation or not, but he was far more concerned about Pettigrew's whereabouts to care at that moment.

Thinking on his feet – or rather, in the air – Neville made an excuse. " Ron lost Scabbers. His rat. Have any of you gentlemen seen it by any chance?"

" Don't you know how important the Minister is, boy?" Neville generously allowed the disgustingly fat man, Parkinson senior, to continue. " How dare you ask the Minister to find a mere rat?"

Parkinson's ugliness might have some uses after all, because as Neville turned his face in disgusts at Parkinson's face, he had seen a couple of immature purebloods glancing towards Pansy Parkinson after Neville's earlier question. It was a little surprising, but considering the fact that she was standing next to Draco, and Parkinson senior was here and the first to shout back for the Minister, the Parkinson family seemed to be in their most glorious social raise so far.

Now facing Pansy, Neville asked again, " Have you seen a rat run past here?"

" I don't know what you are talking about." Pansy turned to her boyfriend and whined in a voice that could make Neville shiver. " Draco, Longbottom is picking on me!"

Neville glanced at Dumbledore, who by all manner of observations did not seem to have knowledge of any rat. Then again, Pansy and Draco were near the back of the pureblood tour, and Dumbledore had better things to do than watch out for any stray rats running about his feet.

" President Longbottom," Draco called out and the two boys took a pause to regard each other. Neville felt a chilling wind blowing his Dracula's Cloak about him, while Draco was standing below in the hands of Pansy. " I apologise again for this unexpected arrangement of mine. I trust you are supposed to be on patrol now?"

" Of course." Neville put more focus in his Occlumency. As if feeling the magical pressure inside his head, Dracula's Cloak flared about him even more despite the wind dying down. " I apologise for the interruption gentlemen. By your leave Minister."

Fudge was about to rebuke something back when high-pitched screams split through the Festival. Like a cloud of storm, there was even a distant clap of thunder as Neville felt a tingling in his wand from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. He snapped his head towards Draco, who held an equal look of calm on his face like Neville. Apart from the two boys, and Neville only through Occlumency, the others went into a state of bewilderment and puzzled commotion.

Until Percy Weasley entered the scene.

" Minister! Headmaster!" Percy reached up and wiped his dry forehead. He panted, " Dementors! They're coming from the Forbidden Forest in packs!"

" What?" A collective panic and shock speared through everyone present. Neville was under heightened Occlumency and hence was collected enough to study in revulsion at their reactions: Whether it was Fudge's dreading gasp at how his 'security measurements' were now on the loose while himself was in their strike zone; Or Pansy's gleeful twitch of the lips as if tasting a victory; Even Dumbledore's glimmer of luck, regarding his case of getting rid of the Dementors, that was all too evident in his eyes.

" What is this all about Longbottom! You and your Council are supposed to be in charge of security! How can you place the Minister in such a grave predicament? You know full well Sirius Black is on the loose and there are Dementors at Hogwarts for its safety!" Parkinson recited behind Lucius Malfoy, who had not uttered a word since Neville's appearance.

The Minister seemed to have gained some sort of confidence after Parkinson's slight cover-up, and Fudge quickly redirected the blame at this chance. " Neville Longbottom! What incompetence! Dumbledore! How could you ever allow such a boy to be in charge of the safety of your school? I don't care if it is some Student Council idea! Our children, the future of the wizarding world has been entrusted in your care! Not some arrogant boy wet behind his ears!"

Before either Dumbledore or Neville could start to form an argument, another ruckus was detonated from where Neville had came from. The crowd of deer-like visitors all fled from the scene in fright, and Neville's eyes widened at the sight that unveiled.

Sirius Black stood in the middle of the cracked Yellow Road, at wand point against Harry Potter. Lupin was standing behind Harry, also pointing his smoking wand at his long-time friend, now enemy.

" S-Sirius Black!" Fudge screamed at the top of his voice, " Guards! Guards! Stun him!"

Harry was still a bit green for a seasoned wizard though – not to mention a world-class Animagus outlaw like Sirius. In one swift movement, utilising the process of his transformation, Sirius had not only robbed Harry's of his wand before his hand transformed into paws, but had evaded the curses sent his way by Fudge's guards with a twist in the air. Sirius hit the ground as a Grim-like dog, and ran away in a zigzag fashion to avoid the curses hurled his way. Lupin glanced at Dumbledore, almost in shame, then frowned at Neville for a brief second, before setting off after the Animagus. Harry gave Neville a complex look before chasing after Lupin and Sirius as well.

" Don't let him get away!" Fudge shouted, but when he realised his personal guards were few to start with he screamed hastily, " Stop! There are the Dementors! Yes! The Dementors! Who is in charge of them? Send the Dementors after Black! See Dumbledore? The Dementors will protect us!"

" Minister, sir! If I may speak," Percy spoke up to the surprise of all present. Discovering a wit that was never displayed in the books, Percy seized the opportunity. " Sir… The Ministry Officials in charge of the Dementors must have all been disabled by Black. This must've been a distraction! Did you see just there Minister? He was trying to kill Harry Potter after he set loose the Dementors!"

Although Percy had accounted the rampage of the Dementors to Sirius with just a suggestion, he had inadvertently posed a fatal dilemma to Fudge as the media would once again report the Ministry's failings in protecting just a single boy. At an impossible time like this, whether it was out of habit or not, Fudge turned to Dumbledore, " This is your school Albus! Do something!"

Dumbledore, to an incredulous Neville, turned to the boy in the air. _What's this? I-it can't possibly be that… that Dumbledore wants me to be a scrape goat! Is he saying I made this mess so I have to clean it up myself? Wait… Don't tell me he wants to give me a test _now_! There is a better time and place –_

Although Neville had an arguably quick brain, his thoughts were interrupted before its end.

Lucius Malfoy finally spoke up and shot a Slytherin's glance towards a helpless Neville. Like a brilliant poker player, he struck big only when his cards for the round were right. " Draco had been against the idea of such an event at Hogwarts at this perilous time from the beginning. Draco, although you are off duty right now, you are still part of this Student Council. Can you please think up of a plan to contain the situation."

" Certainly father." Draco adamantly avoided looking at Neville. " We may utilise the exit packs, Minister. In order to contain the number of causalities and panic, we should evacuate the school. Using Hogwart's inherent perimeter charms, they should be strong enough to imprison the Dementors within the grounds until the proper authorities arrive to put them under order again."

" Right! Very well thought out young Malfoy!" Fudge applauded and immediately looked around him for anyone who could be holding an exit pack. " Draco was it? We need more talented young wizards like you. Unlike some other students at your school, Dumbledore."

" That is indeed a well thought out plan Draco." Dumbledore repeated Fudge's praise, though in a different tone. The headmaster proceeded to tap his wand on his throat and his voice was heard not only in the castle, but throughout Hogwarts. He told everyone to remain calm and activate their exit packs, reporting to Prefects or Staff about any missing person at the gathering point outside Hogwarts Front Gate.

Within a minute, the only people left in the vicinity were Draco and Neville. The stalls that were once lit with warmth and light were still standing, but the Yellow Road was no longer levitating under Draco's feet from the impact of whatever curse that had affected it in revealing Sirius's identity earlier. The whole atmosphere had darkened from the effects of the huge number of Dementors approaching. A heavy cloud, giving way to another thunderclap, fell down upon the pair with the night.

Draco spoke first, " It was really me this time."

Neville's head felt so much heavier, unsure if it was better if Draco had used his exit pack to evacuate like his father and the others. Neville said, " I guessed. But I'm sure Pansy certainly gave you some persuasion."

" As always," Draco laughed at his own ambiguous confirmation. He now stared fully back at Neville, head held high. " That Weasley boy has more uses than his blood traitor family it seems."

Neville continued to increase his magic towards his head. He thought back to Percy's attitude towards Draco earlier today when they were with Ginny. " Percy. He is in on this as well… For the Prefects, of course… He went over all the security plans – knows them all… It was him. The one who can give you an alibi for the loopholes planted. Also stupidly putting his tail in your hands."

" As expected. Quick deduction." Draco said over another thunderclap. A light rain was beginning, but neither of the two boys cared. " A Weasley is still a Weasley. There are still more seeds planted than what you see now Neville. You have lost."

Neville knew now.

" I had thought you were dragged along by your father, but you never planned to start your patrol today. You knew I would patrol your area first, which means it gives Percy even more time to activate your hidden security loopholes when I then moved onto another area. Then by understanding my way of thinking, you calculated that I would take over your patrol myself. This would give me full responsibility over what would have been your area here, and your security at the Forbidden Forest.

" By advising Fudge to evacuate the school, there would be no injuries from the Dementors, which meant Dumbledore still won't have enough ammo to banish them from Hogwarts, staying on Fudge's good side. This would give you support from Fudge to take over the Council after me. You never intended to fulfil Percy's wish of uprooting the Council, but instead the opposite. With your hands on his strings, he could not resist as the power of his Prefects truly gets sapped by the new Council under your control."

Thunder clapped again.

" You have never taken this point to heart, ever since first year." Draco said as he slowly took out his exit back from inside his robes. " No matter how smart you are, you are a Gryffindor. I am a Slytherin."

Neville was the only one left when the shower truly began. Dracula's Cloak was water-resistant, but somehow his soaked hair seemed to outweigh even the rest of his body. Falling onto his knees on the now discoloured Yellow Road, his hands raised up to the side of his throbbing forehead. He remembered what Luna had said before when they met in the corridor.

He might not be able to see it, but he could feel something heavy strangling him. Spirals of dark smoke swirled out from the pores on his body, suffocating him while he panted for every breath. It would seem like his brain was on fire inside his skull as black smoke twisted through his white curled fingers, up into the rain.

An explosion from the Lake area brought Neville back to what Luna had said last about this ominous aura.

With a deep breath, Neville inhaled the dark aura around him and cleared his mind with all his magic focused on Occlumency. With a renewed grip on his wand, he once again floated into the air. Rebelling against the ever growing winds, he flew towards where the sound of explosion came from. There were still people waiting for him.

0

0

0

A/N: FINALLY! I don't know why it took me so long but finally I got to the part where I'd been meaning to get to over three chapters ago!

Next update next month I guess. This chapter is only the opening to the first climax this year, look forward to the next one. Any inputs appreciated, and thanks for reading and reviewing everyone.


	63. Book 3 Chapter 20

Synopsis: Hannah and Neville were patrolling together when they ran into Ron and Luna having a couple's argument. There were more to deal with for Neville than trying to fix their relationship though when Black came out to play against Neville's warnings. Not only did Black reveal himself to Lupin and Harry during his chase of Pettigrew, but the Dementors that were supposedly under strict security went on a rampage. Draco had finally proved the end of his friendship with Neville as he dealt a great defeat to Neville from the side of the purebloods and Fudge's Ministry.

Chapter 62 – House of cards, part 1

Inside the Maze Tree, three of the four wizards left inside the Hogwarts grounds were gradually being surrounded by Dementors. The Dementors, like spectres of the night, drifted across the Lake and the star-shaped wooden decks. For each plank of wood that they drifted over, its enchantments died and rotted into nothingness, sinking down into the bottom of the lightless seabed. The fireflies that were supposed to be a source of illumination and warmth had long since died as stall after stall collapsed with its supports down to a watery grave.

The three wizards inside the Maze Tree were panting heavily, cold sweat rolling down their necks. Though they had only two wands between them, not one was aimed at the advancing Dementors.

Another Reductor Curse blasted an enchanted paper spider a first year student had spent months enchanting for the now ruined Hogwarts Festival. Sirius Black had been hiding behind it mere moments before, but had managed to climb another flight of hidden stairs to the next level. His pursuers had chased the dog carrying a wand in his mouth all the way back to here, and he was reluctant to transform back into human form again in front of old faces.

" I know you're here Sirius!" Lupin called out in the semi-darkness, wand at the ready. Harry followed determinedly behind him, his green eyes glowering in parallel with the strange white magical necklace left by his late mother.

Sirius stealthily climbed higher inside the Maze Tree, approaching the open rooftop. He could smell the rain above and the emotions below, but there was no longer a point in talking. All he had wanted was Pettigrew, and he had failed. He had been too greedy and bought into the life Neville had painted for him. A free life with his Godson. A life that was as happy as the past few months he had spent with Harry.

Sirius knew he could not blame Neville, who had made it possible for him to create those memories. He now dearly regretted not listening to the boy, who had warned him time and again not to give in to the immediate joys of sneaking into Hogwarts as a wanted criminal.

Just as the black Grim was about to howl towards the falling skies, a bright torch of light caught all three pair of eyes from the Maze Tree towards the lake shore.

" _Expecto Patronum_!" Neville Longbottom bellowed the incantation, trying his best to envision again the smiles he had seen throughout the day.

A mist of sparkling cloud drifted out from the tip of his wand like the precious last drops of water in a desert. It was barely enough for Neville, his throat dried with every cold breath he inhaled next to the dozen of Dementors that were closing in around him. His grip on the wand tightened as he closed his eyes and concentrated on reciting Occlumency procedures like a mantra. His senses extended over the length of his wand, the Patronus mist that was in risk of dispersing was once again attracted back to where it was created. Coiling around the wand, the luminous mist thickened and materialised around it. Neville reopened his eyes.

Neville spun around his body and spiralled upwards into the air, swinging his weapon out from his body in a wide circular arc. Like a pulse of energy surging from a heart beat, the dozen of Dementors that was surrounding him stopped in their tracks. One of the Dementors looked down to find his body severed in two at the waist, and in contrast to the earlier white mist, the Dementors vaporised in a gash of dark smoke.

Neville pushed back Dracula's Cloak in the air at the end of his spin, wand held downwards pointing to the ground. In his hand now was a gleaming sword, semi-corporeal while the Patronus mist held its shape around the wand by his mental concentration. It was not a new spell as such, and was still the Patronus Charm. By using a high level of Occlumency, and the mind-focused basis of Arcane Magic, he had willed his otherwise useless hazy Patronus into shape.

Guarded temporarily against the effects of Dementors from his clear mind, and now with a weapon in hand, Neville flew over the turbulent lake surface with the brandished sword. Any Dementor that was too slow to stay out of his way evaporated in a wisp of dark smoke as he slashed straight through the radius of their army and arrived at the Maze Tree.

Flying straight up the outer walls of the tree, he swooped down onto the roof at the three figures near the other edge. He landed on his feet and one hand, sliding several feet across the roof and stopping directly in between a now cornered Sirius and panting Lupin. Harry's eyes were on the Patronus sword that Neville now parried over his chest, in front of who he thought was his parent's murderer.

" Neville," Harry's breath came out in clouds of condensation due to the effects of the Dementors beneath them. The boy was doing all he could to just hold onto consciousness. " I will believe you Neville. I will. Please just tell me – you didn't know about Black."

Neville closed his eyes. Even with Occlumency, having just left Draco behind, Neville was only human to hesitate at how to answer his other wizarding friend. _I can't lie to Harry. He hates people lying to him. Right?_

He took a deep breath, lowering his wand and the light from his weapon faded. Within half a second the Patronus vanished. He answered earnestly, " I knew."

" You do, don't you? You really knew…" After one croaked sob, hot tears rolled down Harry's eyes unabated by his surfacing glare. " You knew! You always knew everything! It isn't just my imagination! In first year, whether it was about Professor Snape or the Philosopher Stone! Then – second year… You even knew about the diary, didn't you? Chasing Ginny, saying Colin's camera could save his life – even the Basilisk! Y-you even let us go into the Forbidden Forest, knowing we would run into Aragog! That's why you didn't go with us! Not only that time, but every time you didn't come with us somewhere, we were always led into danger! Why didn't you stop us if you knew?

" What else do you know Neville? What else are you not telling me? What is it that you're trying to do? I thought we were friends! You've helped me so many times! But how could you comfortably sit back and watch me almost lose my life in so many occasions? How could you speak like you're older and wiser than me, when all through summer you've been trying to convince me this murderer behind you should have had a fair trial, and I never really saw a Grim? Black was right next to me all along, looking for a chance to kill me! How could you know my pet dog was an escaped convict who murdered my parents and… You hid him at the Shrieking Shack – didn't you? I remember it Neville! You'd thought the dog came from the Shack! You hid him! You're on his side! _Why is that_? _Why_?"

" Harry!" Neville saw that the boy was losing mental control and interrupted, " Just stay calm! You have to be strong!"

" Strong? Is that what it was? Were you manipulating me to get stronger?" Neville could somehow see the Harry that was screaming at Dumbledore in book five, right in front of him at this moment. Except this time, Harry was shouting at Neville. " Why do you want me to be strong? I never wanted to be the Boy-Who-Lived, and you knew that! If you knew everything that was going to happen to me, you should've stopped them from happening to me Neville! Not let me go at it, and stand at the side like a grown-up watching a baby trying to walk! I hate you! _I hate you_!"

Sirius took an involuntarily step forward with concern but that had triggered the alarm mechanism under Lupin's watchful stare at the dog. Neville managed to catch both the men's movements and immediately raised his wand in time with Lupin.

" _Stupefy_!" Two simultaneous incantations were bellowed. Black was all too nimble to let the spell hit him but Lupin was struck off-guard in the middle of his attack. Lupin's wand flew out of his hand as he fell backwards.

Though Harry was in an emotionally unstable state, his hero status and the fact that his parents' supposed murderer was still in front of him kept him on alert. In one side step, he caught the falling Lupin with one arm and reached for the fallen wand using the other.

" _Expelliarmus_! _Accio wands_!" Instead of the spell, Neville was struck harder by the fact that Harry had turned his wand on him, using a spell he had taught Harry himself. Both man and dog unarmed, Neville could only watch as Harry's glare trained on Sirius.

The boy looked to be mere moments away from throwing the worst curse he knew, probably hyperventilating from his rasping breath and pale face.

_I've got to stop this! This is not how it's supposed to be! _Taking Harry by surprise, Neville leapt forward with his shoulder sideways.

"_Stupefy_!" Harry shot off the red spell. With one hand, Neville swiped Dracula's Cloak across his side and nullified the spell. By trading a smoking hole in Dracula's Cloak, Neville got close to Harry and grappled the boy's thin wrist.

With a well-practiced technique taught by Su, he managed to retake his own wand from Harry's hand and pointed it at the boy's face. Neville could see hurt, disbelief, and question in Harry's bright emerald green eyes as he took a safety step backwards out of range.

Whether Harry would have tried to overpower Neville or whether Neville would stun Harry, a fiery flame burst onto the scene before either happened. Out of the thin air, a rush of fire erupted behind Harry with the screech of a phoenix. Fawkes put his claws on Harry's shoulder, and since the boy was still holding onto Lupin, the phoenix's managed to Apparate the two of them off the rooftop in a whoosh of flames.

In another climax, instantly following the extinguishment of the phoenix flames, the Maze Tree itself caught fire from the bottom. Roaring fire shot up the structure at an alarming rate, setting the Lake alight. Neville looked over the roof to see that the surrounding Dementors were being driven off, and not a moment too early since all that was left of the Lake area from their ghastly advance was this Maze Tree. The five surrounding decks and its stalls had all been destroyed by the Dementors, and as a lone island the burning tree casted numerous shadows on the restive lake.

" Neville!" With the departure of Lupin and Harry, Sirius had transformed back into human form. Putting his large hands on Neville's shoulders and spinning the boy round to face him, he said, " You have to get out of here while you can! I don't think this is a normal fire and I won't put it beneath the Ministry to burn me alive. You can fly right? Go Neville! Get out of here!"

" Why are you trying to play the cool guy even now?" He was possibly in the worst situation so far this year, or even in his life, but Neville actually laughed. Whether it was because he was at the rock-bottom or Occlumency was still allowing his brain to process, he pulled out from his robes an exit pack. " This exit pack can take you back to the Hogwarts Front Gates. Turn back into your dog form and hit the ground running when you get to the other side. It may be a bit crowded there, but your Animagus identity probably has still to cascade its way through the incompetent Ministry ranks."

" You are an amazing boy Neville Longbottom." Sirius was about to take the exit pack Neville was handing over to him but halted before he put his hand on it. " Wait. You said 'you'. You can't possibly want to stay here?"

" I am staying Sirius," Neville stuffed the exit pack into Sirius's arms. " Like you said, this fire is magical. I'm pretty sure it's Gubraithian Fire."

" Then that's all the more reason to leave! There's no way you can survive through something like that you idiot!" Sirius shouted roughly.

" Think about it Sirius. The only person in vicinity who can create Gubraithian Fire to this scale is Dumbledore. He is also the only one who knows I am the only person in vicinity who can put it out." Neville was starting to even frighten himself at his level of Occlumency to be able to analyse the situation even when the fire beneath them were probably just two levels from bringing down the Maze Tree. " Dumbledore knows you're here Sirius. He sent Fawkes to rescue Harry from you. Whether from Lupin or Fawkes or Harry, Dumbledore will know I am here too."

" You told me about Dumbledore's relationship with you before Neville – but… why would he want you dead?" Sirius asked incredulously.

" Death is almost nothing to Dumbledore." Neville shook his head and tried to make Sirius understand. " But Dumbledore may actually be trying to help me by setting this fire. Think about it, if we managed to get away from this, what would happen to me after you escape? I'm certain Fudge, who isn't really happy with me to begin with, will throw me in Azkaban for harbouring a fugitive, helping you escape, or whatever other crimes he can label me with."

Sirius was still not giving up. " I know! We leave together with the exit pack, then you shout for the guards the moment we touch down!"

" I said the Ministry guards are incompetent, but I never said nonexistent. Not alerting them was one thing, but can you say you can escape without injuring anyone otherwise? Plus, the pack is made for one." Neville asked rhetorically. " Just go. We don't have time."

" How can you care about injuring some idiots at times like this?" Sirius was of course still unwilling to leave the boy behind. If there was a woman about, she would definitively shake her head and mutter, 'men'. Sirius gave another idea, " What about I take you hostage? Then we can both get away!"

" The hostage game plan is probably the stupidest one for an escapee to take – even Pettigrew probably knows better." Neville shook his head, " How can I convincingly pull that off? If we were able to escape together tonight, and then I returned safely alone, Fudge can slam something on my head and administer Veritaserum or something. Dumbledore set off this fire to give me a chance to stay at Hogwarts and not be running around the mountains with you. Look! Just get out of here! You can come up with a million scenarios that I can find flaws in, and then we both get burnt to crisp! I have better things to do with my time right now!"

The liquid gloss over Sirius's eyes reflected the resolved blonde boy, and the older man's grip tightened over the exit pack. " Neville, you have to take care. Thank you for everything. You really are a Gryffindor."

Neville turned back immediately after Sirius was transported away by the exit pack and strode over to the side of the roof. Jumping onto the enchanted branches that were a harmless enlarged imitation of the Whomping Willow, Neville closed his eyes and concentrated. He ignored the smoke coming from the burnt Maze Tree that was beneath him. He ignored the groans of the Dementors trying to regroup on the Lake. He ignored the turmoil kept at bay at the back his head.

He focused all his will and senses into the depths of Hogwarts Lake. It had been over a year since Neville had truly started practicing Arcane Magic, his progress greatly enhanced by his diligence and Occlumency-fortified mind. This non-incanted branch of ancient magic required a great focus of concentration to control the elements bred from its spells. His mind was often drained of strength after one of his training sessions due to that reason – not to mention how magic itself was a mental capacity of sorts. What he did not know was that if he were a normal person without Occlumency, he would probably be unable to think clearly at all after his training sessions.

Now though, even Neville knew the spell he was about to attempt might render him into a state of magic exhaustion like the years before. However, it was the most effective way to put out Dumbledore's fire – and would cause the most chaos. Chaos would be his ally in disrupting Fudge's Ministry and forming an argument in the near future regarding Black's escape.

Neville chanted a few key strings of Latin incantations to make up for the lack of experience and magic for this spell. He had shut off his other senses and for anyone who was watching the boy, they would shout warnings about how the roof beneath him had already become a sea of flames. He had to hurry and finish the spell before the heat he could no longer feel consumed his flesh.

The Dementors had already regrouped by this time and was advancing up the side of the burning Maze Tree through midair. Even if their target was supposed to be Black, they were not prepared to come all the way out here for nothing. With Neville being the only human within reach, the hungry Dementors charged skyward for their consolation.

If they could have seen out of their eyes, the smart ones might be able to notice the turbulence under the lake surface. If they could even have heard out of their ears, they would definitely hear the roar. The roar of water's rage that overcame all the other sounds that could possibly be inside the Hogwarts grounds at that moment. A tsunami had risen from the far side of the Lake as if on the orders of Poseidon and was thundering its way towards the Maze Tree.

A watery shadow was cast over Neville Longbottom, along with licking flames below his feet and the Dementors' claws about his Cloak. He opened his eyes and saw these dangers, but he smiled. He was smiling at the success of his spell as he swallowed the Gillyweed he had taken with him. He had asked for it from Snape last night – just in case he fell into the water on his patrol of the Lake area.

0

0

0

" How could you let Black escape? How could you?" Fudge looked ready to strangle Neville if only they were alone in the Headmaster's Office. " The boy must be lying! I want him administered Veritaserum!"

" Minister, once again, I must remind you that the use of Veritaserum on minors is a serious matter. The media will take every attention of it." Dumbledore calmly subdued the imbecile.

" A minor! Yes he is! Why was a boy who has still to sit his OWLs even in charge of Hogwarts' security? And he blotched it all up as well!" Fudge immediately attacked from another angle. " That, or he _purposely_ blotched it up to let the Dementors in to cause a diversion for Black to sneak in!"

" That is a serious accusation to imply Cornelius." Dumbledore once again tried to defuse the situation. " Also I must remind you, the Dementors broke in just moments before Black was uncovered, already inside Hogwarts. In actual fact, the Dementors, who were supposed to capture Black, broke in themselves to make Black's escape possible."

Lupin stepped forward under the scrutiny of Fudge's two bodyguards as he witlessly overlooked Dumbledore's initiation to try and stir the conversation against Dementors at Hogwarts. Either that or Lupin just had it in for Neville. " It may have been possible that the Dementors came into the school because they knew of Black's presence. It must be noted that they did in fact corner Black at the Maze Tree. I think it is better to recount again the events of what happened after Harry and I left the rooftops."

Whether it was because Fudge knew about Lupin, and was prejudiced against the werewolf, Fudge did not take up Lupin's support. " I don't care! The Dementors shouldn't have been allowed in the school grounds for whatever reasons – those were _your_ exact words Dumbledore! This Student Council game of yours has gone on long enough! I kept quiet about that last time when Longbottom came with you to the official Ministry discussion about the Dementors, and even turned a blind eye on that silly case regarding the Hippogriff, but this is the line!

" I also hear from young Malfoy that Longbottom should've been on patrol at the time that the Dementors broke in, at that area. What an irresponsible boy! Probably having fun on his own and neglecting his duties!"

" I assure you Minister, the security plans had been reviewed by both staffs and us Prefects over the course of many months." Percy was still here after his report of how he 'discovered' the Dementors getting loose. " Maybe it was someone in a high position that purposely added some hidden loopholes on the day…"

" It all comes down to Longbottom's fault Dumbledore!" Fudge shouted and pointed at him. " I don't care what you say about him being voted in or this Student Council business is supposed to be run by immature brats! From this incident alone I will not stand by idly if you keep this boy on in such a position! Actually, the whole Student Council should be put at fault!"

" The Junior Student Council is indeed inexperienced Minister," Percy joined in like an ass kisser to the frown of Dumbledore.

" I believe that is a bit of a generalisation Cornelius," Dumbledore said slowly, as if trying to think up of an escape plan.

" That's right, the only Council member who can't be held responsible is young Malfoy!" Fudge read out and Neville glanced over to his side. Draco was standing there with a neutral expression, having stayed silent as the Vice President of the Junior Student Council in this meeting. " I suggest if you are to recognise anyone worthy to lead your little group, it would be young Malfoy here. After all, he –"

The Minister was interrupted as one of his guards had seemingly received a message from an enchanted earpiece he was wearing. After whispering something in his ear, Fudge scowled again in the direction of Neville.

Whether it was from Legilimency or not, Dumbledore seemed to know what this was about, " I once again stress that Neville, as we had demonstrated before, could not even cast a corporeal Patronus. Let alone be responsible for a quarter of the Dementors that were stationed here at Hogwarts going missing."

" We all saw that wave Dumbledore!" Fudge exclaimed and only just caught himself before he started swearing.

Lupin once again offered an ever helpful hand, "Albus, it was only Black and Longbottom left inside Hogwarts grounds at the time that wave was summoned. I remember an instance in my class when Longbottom had displayed a unique type of ice magic…"

" I beseech you to think, Neville is only a thirteen years old boy." Dumbledore actually sighed loudly but continued, " Shouldn't the more logically explanation be that the wave could have been caused by Sirius Black?"

The guard behind Fudge whispered something in his ear again and Fudge could only grumbled, " I have to go attend to the case of these missing Dementors, for now. I will be back later Dumbledore, and we will have to have a long talk about this whole fiasco!"

Fudge left using a specially permitted Floo by Dumbledore's fire. He did not even forget in his anger to tell Harry, who had stay mute after recounting his run-in with Black, to take care before leaving.

" I am sure we've all had a long day," Dumbledore proceeded to tell them to get some rest. " Neville, may I have a few quick words before you go?"

No one was surprised by this but Lupin looked as if he wanted to stay as well. " Headmaster –"

" Remus, can I entrust you to escort Harry to the dorms? Just as a precaution." Dumbledore easily dismissed the professor who had been thinking too much, according to Neville. It was not long before the room was left empty for the two of them.

The only noise for the next minute was from Dumbledore's various instruments and the lake water dripping off Neville's clothes. Although his Dracula's Cloak was dry, and was trying its best to dry his school robes as well, it still had to transfer some of its innate magic to mend that hole caused from Harry's earlier spell. This also told Dumbledore a few things: Neville had exhausted himself to the point where he could not even spare the magic to dry himself off, and instead had chosen to sustain his Occlumency shield.

Dumbledore started with, " I'll be direct Neville, since I know you would prefer it that way. It is highly unlikely I can keep you on as President for the Student Council."

" Is the Council going to be disbanded?" Neville opened his mouth, and immediately it felt as if a sharp needle had gone through his head.

" I am sure a couple of people would wish for it." Something flashed across Dumbledore's eyes, " I am sure I still have the power to prevent the Council from disbanding, however, Draco will probably succeed after you."

" I figured," Neville panted out, wiping either sweat or lake water off his face.

Dumbledore tried to make sure the boy's short reply was not because of ignorance. " I hope you understand the Minister's support of Draco is not without reasons. The pureblood families have most likely been convinced that the student-ruled Council could be of help to the Minister inside Hogwarts and Draco… From the apparent end of your friendship with young mister Malfoy, I am sure you understand the new Student Council will be much different in the future."

" I do," Neville replied, blinking away the sleepiness in his eyes.

Neville did not manage to see the brief apologetic look in Dumbledore eyes before the old wizard said, " I guess in a way, this could be a little break for you against the pureblood families. It might even allow time for you to resolve some other issues."

" Black?" Neville thought that was what Dumbledore was hinting at. " I knew you'd ask. But I know you know I let him escape. You knew you would get an answer the moment you set the Maze Tower in Gubraithian Fire."

" I have to say, it was an impressive display of Arcane Magic that I was sure had never graced Hogwarts in… dare I say never! Not conjuration, but manipulating the surrounding elements! Not only was that a method to minimise magic expenditure, but also effectively disseminating the Dementors to keep the Ministry busy rounding them up afterwards."

Completely spoiling Neville's rebellious mood by talking as if his battle tactics was the headmaster's favourite sports match, Neville muttered, " Dumbledore, if you knew how much it costs to do that spell you could at least dry my clothes."

" Ah, of course." The Headmaster waved his wand a few times. Neville soon found himself in dry clothes, sitting on a chair, and being offered a plate of biscuits and a cup of steaming tea.

" Thank you," Neville took up the tea offer. " I know you didn't help me out with Fudge earlier for my sake alone. You believe Black is innocent."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the relatively friendlier mood in his office and drank from his own cup of tea. He said over the sound of warm crackling fire, " As do you it seems. From his earlier attacks in the year and their timing, and the fact that his Animagus form had every chance of capturing Harry silently, it all suggests that he means Harry no harm. However, is it safe to assume your belief in Black's innocence comes from another source other than what I have deducted?"

Once again trying to stay disillusioned at Dumbledore's intellect, Neville earnest told the old man, " Black is innocent. All I need is evidence."

" I can not possibly express how overjoyed I am to have placed my trust in you this year," Dumbledore's face lit up like a proud grandfather. Really it did. " For the first time, you have not only expressed your honest viewpoint, but also shared with me sensitive information about your future intentions!"

Neville finished his tea in one gulp, sufficiently freaked out, and internally blamed himself for being too tired and let himself slip up. " By your leave headmaster."

If he knew what waited for him downstairs though, he might have finished the biscuits before leaving. The stone gargoyle stepped aside before Neville, and he was immediately forced to dodge a shoe being thrown at his direction. His magic and mind might have been tired, but physically he was still able to catch the shoe as it shot past his head.

" What's going on?" Neville asked. At the empty corridor stood all the Council members, Pansy and Percy. The shoe in Neville's hand was apparent from a panting Su, who was being held back by both Hannah and Ginny. Pansy had her claws on Draco's arm as usual. Draco was probably the target of the shoe, but looked bored against Su's glare.

" Su Li! Ten points off Ravenclaw for trying to assault a fellow student!" Percy was between them, chest out showing off his Head Boy badge.

" Shut up you prat!" Ginny screamed at his brother, then turned to Neville. " What did Dumbledore say?"

" Probably sacked you from being the President, at least." Percy's voice immaturely sounded hopeful, " Did the headmaster choose to disband the Junior Student Council?"

" No," Neville answered, but it was more for Draco.

Draco smiled and turned to leave, of course understanding the situation, and knowing he was the next President without needing any more information from Neville. Su, who had just got her shoe back, looked ready to throw it at Draco again, " Where do you think you're going blondie! You come back here and apologise to Luna! And Neville!"

Draco of course ignored it and walked away down the corridor, feeding on Pansy's ugly voice congratulating him.

" What? The headmaster isn't going to disband the Council? Even after _this_?" Percy shook his head incredulously. " I – I have to speak with him!"

" You've been used Percy," Neville stepped forward and the stone gargoyle quickly stepped back in place before Percy could bug Dumbledore. Percy gave Neville a venomous glare and stormed off, Ginny storming after him and scolding all the way. No longer having any patience to try and make Percy smarter or direct him to becoming a better Weasley, Neville turned to Luna, " What happened? Did Draco do something? Why does he have to apologise to us?"

" It's horrible!" Hannah exclaimed in spite of herself. " Luna and Ron broke up!"

_What's that got to do with me? _Neville seriously had no interests in Ron's immature romance at this time of the night.

Hannah continued to clarify, just as any school girl would when it came to romances, " Ron was also here before you came down. When Harry came down first and told us what happened, Pansy said you must've been helping out Sirius Black. We believe you didn't of course, but then Ron actually said he wasn't sure. And then – then…"

Luna picked it up, completely as if she was talking about something unrelated to her first ever relationship, " I said that was stupid, and you can't be working with Black to kill Harry. Even if you are working with Black, I believe you must've had your reasons anyway. Then Ron got worked up, like he usually does, and asked why don't I date you instead and dump him – so I dumped him. I didn't like him being mean."

They all stayed uncomfortably silent for a good while after that, apart from Luna who just looked as if she had told a bed time story. Neville was pleasantly charmed the whole time though by Su, trying her best to look nonchalant, while she clearly still cared about the Council enough to be here.

Following on with that, Neville completely tried to wipe the others' minds of whether he helped Black or not and it did not matter who thought he did. Instead, he gave them another bombshell about how Draco would probably be the next President since Neville was practically an announcement away from being sacked.

Su was of course the first to stomp her foot on the ground in anger, with Hannah once again trying to pacify the hot-headed girl. Knowing these were, though with their unique quarks, talented young people, Neville allowed them to decide their futures on their own. Even he did not know how Draco planned to direct the new Council, and allowed the others to make their own choices whether to stay or go.

" It'll be no doubt that the Council will change drastically," Neville said. " Maybe Draco will even bring in his own members and change the management system – he has that power as President. Either way, to quit now or not is up to you. We've all had a tiring day, why don't we go back to our dorms now, okay?"

Neville was eventually left on his own again when he finally convinced Hannah, last to disperse out of the group, that he had not been transfigured to a body of glass after his run-in with an escaped convict. He was not alone for long though because just after he had given Hannah a last frown, scaring the girl who had looked back to check upon him running down a staircase out of sight, he was joined in the company of another friend. He approached her and stopped short in front of the girl who seemed to have just randomly stepped out from behind a corner at that precise moment.

Neville smiled and said, " Hermione, how was your day at the Festival?"

0

0

0

A/N: It's still not over yet.

Now some other miscellaneous stuffs. If you guys all go back, you'll notice Neville really did slip up a lot(consciously or not) and Harry had picked up all the signs that Neville knew… things. I just couldn't be bothered stating every single point here, the chapter is long enough as it is.

Some may say Fudge was a lot friendlier towards Dumbledore in the books at this point, but the politics in this world has changed now. The attitude of Dumbledore, Fudge, and the purebloods has also shifted a bit. Plus, I am under no illusion that Fudge had gotten to his Minister position with the help of purebloods wanting an idiot in office, and Fudge accepting bribes liberally.

Lastly, I'd like to clarify why Sirius can't just come out and say it wasn't him that betrayed the Potters. Simply just because he has no evidence. No one would believe Peter was alive, not even Lupin, unless he sees the rat transform right in front of his face, like in the books.

I'll start working about 60 hours per week starting Monday, so I won't be able to promise a chapter next month. I've got about two thirds of the next chapter, but that's it so far. Will see what happens.


	64. Book 3 Chapter 21

Synopsis: Sirius was cornered by Lupin and Harry, but Neville got there before a fight or explanation broke out. Neville was shouted at by Harry for helping Black and hiding things from him during the years before – not to mention the mystery of how Neville seems to know the future. After helping Black escape, Fudge comes in on the attack and even Dumbledore could not save his Presidential position under Draco's well-laid plans. The Council was about to change, and all the members knew it. Just after Ron and Luna broke up, Neville runs into Hermione.

Chapter 63 – House of cards, part 2

Neville smiled and said, " Hermione, how was your day at the Festival?"

He had not noticed Hermione's expression and the reply as his retribution was a slap to the head. A hard slap at that. Hermione screamed, " You idiot! You think people at the Front Gate didn't see the burning Maze Tree and that massive wave over the Lake? I knew it must've been you and your Arcane Magic! After that, the rumour spread about Sirius Black appearing at the Festival – who was probably right in front of you! And then there were the Dementors who broke loose that got us evacuated in the first place! Now you're even going to lose your presidency! All you have to say when you see me is, 'How was your day at the Festival'? You could've died five times over Neville! How can you act as my day is in any way more important?"

By now Hermione had her head buried in Neville's shoulder, and all he could do was pat the back of her head as she cried without restraint. He of course picked up on the detail that Hermione knew he was going to step down from the Council, which could only mean she was eavesdropping earlier as he told the Council the news.

_The silly girl must've_ _been worried and waited for me outside Dumbledore's office… She must've been down stairs with Ron, and then Harry as well… Did Harry say anything to her about what happened atop the Maze Tree?_

Neville tried his best to calm the angry and crying girl down, forgetting why she was on her own instead of with the other two at the moment. " It's alright Hermione, I'm fine. A little tired, but that's it. You know I never wanted to be President in the first place, so it's all good now. Come on, be a good girl and stop smearing your snort on my robes."

Hermione reluctantly pulled away, still rubbing her teary eyes. She was even hiccuping for a good while after while Neville tried to wipe her face dry using his sleeves. She finally seemed to have recomposed herself somewhat under his cooing and emphasised in a forged dignified tone, " I'm not eleven. Y – you don't have to treat me like one."

" Let's go back to the dorms, you've probably had a long day." Neville's words seemed to have triggered her off again – more the anger element.

" You're the one – oh, forget it! You have to realise people worry about you!" Hermione settled by slapping his arm. The two of them walked down the empty corridors as she continued, " I was waiting outside Dumbledore's office with Ron for Harry and you when… you know."

Neville asked quickly, " Yeah, where are the other two right now?"

Hermione was probably smart enough to know Neville figured out she was listening in when he talked to the Council members and answered, " Harry didn't say much after we left with Ron and Lupin, but they were just going back to the dorms and I came back to find you."

Neville asked, " Does Ron… really think I'm helping Black to try and _kill_ Harry?"

" None of us do!" Hermione said in a hurry, then unconsciously turned her gaze away. " Ron's just a bit angry with everyone standing up for you right now… you know, because of the misunderstanding with Luna."

Figuring Ron probably blew up at Hermione as well for believing in Neville's 'innocence' like Luna, he somehow felt a bit guilty. Although Sirius never planned to harm Harry, the opposite in fact, but the fact was Neville really _did_ help Sirius.

They arrived at the Fat Lady's Portrait and before Hermione could give the password, someone was in a hurry to come out the other way. The person turned out to be Ron, strangely enough, with his bed sheets clasped in his fist.

" LOOK!" Ron's eyes lit with fire as he shook the sheets in Hermione's face. " LOOK!"

" Ron, what –?"

" SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" Neville looked down at the sheets to see it covered with something like blood. Hermione was still looking bewildered as Ron continued his yelling, " BLOOD! HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

" Crookshanks's hair." Neville remembered this and whispered without thinking.

Ron snapped his freckled face towards him, " Oh? So you know _this_ as well? Harry never said it in front of the others before now, but we were just talking about how you've been hiding things you know from us since first year with Lupin on our way back. Now that he's pointed it out, I don't even know why he still believes you haven't made fools out of us all along. Like now, how you knew about Crookshanks eating Scabbers, and you didn't even bother telling me!"

Probably just trying to help Ron calm down in his rage to vent out on Neville, Hermione choked out, " H – have you really searched for Scabbers? Maybe he's under the bed or –"

Ron of course did not let her finish and threw Crookshanks's ginger hairs, previously grasped in his other fist, at Hermione's face. " I can't believe you! You never take your stupid cat's attempts to eat my rat seriously and now LOOK! This is what happens!"

Hermione was subsequently pushed to the other extreme by Ron's blunt refusal to listen and fumed. " How do you know it must be Crookshanks? The hairs could've been there since Christmas!"

" How can you still think your stupid cat is innocent? LOOK!" Ron once again shook his sheet in front of her nose and pointed at the cat hairs now on the floor.

" I can see Ronald! Crookshanks is a hundred times smarter than you!" Hermione physically shoved Ron away to the boys' surprise. " You've been biased against him since the moment he landed on your head at the Magical Menagerie!"

Seeing the situation was only going to accentuate, and still wanting to shorten the time these two stayed at a cold war against each other, Neville decided to step in. He even thought he had a chance to make the two reconcile with each other, now that Luna had broken up with Ron and Hermione's incentive to stay mad at Ron was gone – like how it was in the book with Lavender.

Neville even lifted an arm to place it on the boy's shoulder despite his vision becoming a little hazy from tiredness, " Ron, please just calm down a bit first. Maybe if we find out where Crookshanks was today and prove that –"

Ron immediately smacked his hand away and shouted, " Oh shut up Neville! I don't even know if you're on Black's side or if you've purposely broke up Luna and me!"

Neville warily tried to wave away the comparatively trivial problem, " Luna didn't break up with you because of me. Haven't you considered that it could be your fault – I mean, just that you and her weren't really meant to work out?"

" My fault? You're one to give me girl advice!" Ron then blurted out a destructive fact, " You've fancied Hermione since first year and the best you'd done was get her to mistake me as her secret admirer."

Before Neville could scold him, Hermione screamed before Neville could formulate a denial, " That's not true! It wasn't Neville –"

" Oh yeah?" Ron took a step forwards towards the white-faced Hermione and screamed back, " I've of course tried to find out who was the jerk who tricked you into thinking I was into you. It all started with a box of chocolates in first year, right? Guess who sent that to you? It was Neville! Fred and George told me – it was when they had swapped Neville the Marauder's Map! Think about it Hermione, Neville was the only one that can get you something from Honeydukes back then!"

If Ron had thought that was an adequate revenge for Neville allegedly ruining his relationship with Luna, then he did not think so now with one look at Hermione's face. Tears ceased to dampen Hermione's unfocused eyes, and she slowly shook her head, shuddering from the conflicts inside her head. Ron had no idea what to do of course, and Neville was in just as helpless a situation as his eyes gradually felt heavier.

_She'd known it was me. For someone like Hermione, I was too naïve to hope for anything else. She must have deducted it ever since… I gave Harry the Marauder's Map? End of last year? Or even before that?__ She and I just decided to pretend..._

Neville thought he heard a loud crack from somewhere, but seeing that others did not react to the noise, he decided he must have misheard it – he had something more urgent to salvage at that moment. The additional weight on his eyes seemed to have dropped suddenly before he spoke, as if he had shed a tear. He knew he should not be able to cry when his Occlumency shields were on though. As he was taken aback by the dampness that seemed to have fallen onto the back of his hand, Hermione spoke first.

" I'm not stupid enough to think anyone is in love with me again after what happened with Ron. But Neville, you must've noticed I've been avoiding you since Christmas. You must've noticed that, right?" Hermione's ghastly whisper struck Neville before he could speak, completely unguarded. " I've been suspicious about Ron being my secret admirer since last Valentine's – when you sent me a Valentine in place of him using those little cupids. I just didn't know why my best friend would mislead me like that. Harry isn't the only one who's noticed that you somehow knew things you weren't supposed to. But like the case with making me fall in love with Ron, I just can't come up with any reasons for _why_ you want to do these things. Maybe… because I don't understand what you're thinking… Because of that... Maybe I just unconsciously wanted to... stay away from of you…"

Neville heard a loud bang this time, and actually took a step back before he realised it. None of the others seemed to have heard it this time either, but Neville was positive the noise was real. Despite being woozy, possibly feeling the first signs of magical exhaustion, Neville interrupted without thinking for the first time since he had learnt Occlumency, " Hermione! I never meant to –"

As if she had been impaled through her heart with a spear, Hermione's wide hurt gaze shot up to meet Neville's, " So you've finally admitted it. We're not skipping around this anymore? You… were really playing such a cruel joke on me. You really convinced me to like Ron even if he didn't like me back."

" Listen Hermione! Ron _does_ like you – he's just too stupid to see it now!" Neville screamed and ignored once again the ear-deafening crack that none of the others heard. He spent all the strength he could muster now on the adjacent wall to keep himself from collapsing to the ground, hoping desperately it would also keep up his Occlumency shield to rein back in his escaping emotions.

" So you finally admit you think I'm stupid?" Ron screamed, incensed, jumping into the fray. " How can you know what's going to happen in the future huh?"

" He might Ron." Hermione clasped her arms around her frail body, and took several steps back while shaking her head at Neville. He had never seen her look at him with that gaze before. " Neville, I really don't know what I should do about you anymore. I know I should keep away from you after figuring out how you tricked me into believing Ron liked me. But another part of me, like tonight, impulsively just rushes to you when I heard you were in trouble. No matter what you think, you really were my best friend, and I never even wanted to verify if you were really the one to have tricked me or not – but now... I can't possibly be near you without feeling more confused, and more like an idiot than I've ever been in my life! I have no idea about the way you think, what you know, or what you're going to do next! It… It may be better if we just stayed... you should stay away from..."

Hermione never managed to finish what she was about to say, and Neville had only taken one step forward before she fled through the portrait hole back into the Gryffindor dorms. At this point, Neville's legs buckled underneath him, his eyes straining to focus on the stones of the corridor.

" What've you got to say for yourself Neville?" Ron shouted as he worked his own rage up after watching after the ghost of Hermione. " Harry may still believe in you, and Hermione can't face you, but I'm going to beat the truth out of you even if I have to! You've hurt both of my friends – your friends! You're going to tell me everything inside your head right now!"

Neville hardly heard what Ron had said because all his senses felt as if they were being strangled at that moment. Black curls of smoke once again swirled around his limbs, but now thicker and darker than before. Like binding chains, the smoke dug into his flesh and his vision darkened as if a shadow loomed above him. His eyes saw red, but if anyone were to look into his eyes, they would just see slits of glowing scarlet. When Neville spoke again, he could hear his own voice, but he no longer recognised it.

" I thought I had forgotten how to be angry." With a final unheard shatter, Neville's Occlumency shields crumbled. He had fully expected himself to lose focus, possibly consciousness, but instead he felt a rush of power rampaging around his veins instead. It was like he was being pumped unnatural doses of turbulent adrenaline as Neville stood back up again on his feet, with a full glare at Ron.

" W – what?" Ron clearly revealed in his expression that he recognised the eerie change in Neville even without seeing the black smoke that Luna called aura.

" Your big mouth had said too much. This is your fault." Neville stated, unfairly judging the blame onto Ron mindlessly.

Ron shivered involuntarily to the sharply decreasing ambient temperature and stuttered, " I – I was just telling her the truth! You can't play her – or all of us like that! I'm not going to back down!"

Remembering that time when the Trio had a small fight, all the way back in first year, Neville laughed and his Dracula's Cloak flared out behind him. If it was not for Occlumency, how many times would he have been angry at Ron's ignorance, immaturity, and short-sightedness?

" Not scared I'm going to do what I did to Peeves on you anymore? I still remember the incantation." Neville smirked, which was enough to send Ron backing up to the wall. Neville had never smirked before at anyone at Hogwarts. Neville could feel a mix of magic and negative emotions leaking out of him, and like a car out of control on an oily road, he taunted, " Ronnie-kins. You're really not all that. What're you known for? Harry Potter's sidekick? What're you good at? Hoglake? I invented the game, remember? Don't go blaming me for what happened between Luna and you just because you're a jealous brute."

Ron's eyes looked capable of shooting out Fiendfyre at that moment. The hot-headed boy also felt his grasp of self-control slipping away at Neville's unrestrained derision. " Sure! Maybe I am jealous of you! I'm jealous of how you come from a rich family, I'm jealous of how you seem to do so well in classes, I'm jealous of how so many girls hang all over you! But you know one thing you'll never beat me at? Even if you've mucked it all up yourself, the truth is still that Hermione liked _me_ and not you!"

Ron bared his teeth, acting on the natural defence system of lower-evolved animals, and instead of backing away from the threat, pounced forward instead. Having been verbally struck at his weak point, Neville uncharacteristically grasped Ron's hands before Ron could shove him. He twisted Ron's arm behind the boy, locking the limb and using his other arm to choke Ron's neck in a hold.

" Let go of me!" Ron struggled, his other arm flailing uselessly out of Neville's range.

" I've never liked you very much," Neville breathed down Ron's neck.

" You're finally calling it as it is, huh?" Ron growled. " I've always known that! You frowned upon the things I do and criticized me so much more than anyone else we know. You've probably never figured out why, have you Neville? Maybe you really know Hermione and I will end up together in the future, and _you_ are the jealous one!"

At Ron's deduction, Neville's black aura leak out in an even faster rate and he had every intention of breaking Ron's arm as he tightened his grip. Ron could feel the strain on his bones and his mind raced for a counter strategy. Ron reached for the wand inside his robes.

" _Fortissimo_!" Ron chanted and broke out of Neville's arm lock with a sudden unexpected boost of strength from his physical fortification spell. It was the same line of spells that Ron had studied with the Italian ex-underground Quidditch player all year through mail, which even though Neville knew of, he was taken by surprised at Ron's developing combat talents. The growth might also have something to do with Ron's physical training this year through boxing, and last year's mental toughening experience in the Chamber of Secrets, but Neville's surprise did not end there.

" Ron! Stop it!" Harry's voice suddenly appeared from behind them. Harry had been recounting Neville's behaviour through the years to Lupin inside the dorms when Ron had stormed off earlier to question Hermione about Scabbers. The two of them came out to find Ron when he did not come back, and found themselves in the middle of a duel.

" _Crescendo_!" There was no way Ron could have stopped his combo even if he had taken notice of the newcomers' presence. Taking advantage of Neville being temporary distracted, Ron attacked with an upper cut aimed at his chin. The first punch embedded with magically enhanced strength landed to lead off the combo. Neville staggered back at the first strike as Ron spun in round three-sixty degrees after his punch, this time crouching even lower and throwing another, stronger, attack with the momentum.

The second punch, which Harry could only watch as it was even faster than the initial upper cut, landed at the exact same spot under Neville's chin. Neville, who was pushed off balanced by the force of Ron's first punch, was sent into the air by the second, and sailed a good half a metre away as Ron prepared for the final strike.

" _Blastissimo_!" By the third punch, fuelled by the further incantation, Ron's arm was a blur and Neville was sent flying onto the corridor ceiling by a finishing uppercut. Like a spider web the ceiling cracked and rubble fell onto the floor, mixed with blood.

" Ron! Stop it!" Harry screamed and rushed forward to stop his two friends from fighting. Lupin was more experienced and had already disarmed Ron, putting himself between the redhead and Neville. Being a fully-trained and war-experienced wizard however, Lupin noticed the unnaturalness of Neville's unsupported body still suspended in the air.

" How dare you?" Neville's growl echoed the corridors. Harry shivered, partially from the cold that was ever descending and partially from the voice he should, but could not, recognise as anything more than a feral warning like last year's Basilisk.

" I – I could've killed Neville… I – I almost… almost…" Ron was too shocked to realise the danger he was now in. His three uppercuts, magically enhanced, could have easily snapped Neville's neck backwards. It would have too if Neville's innate instincts had not automatically activated Floating Magic, and propelled himself backwards and upwards to negate some of the combo's strengths.

The sacrificial damage suffered by his hard impact to the ceiling was not the least bit apparent on Neville's face though as Dracula's Cloak fanned out behind him in the air with a sudden surge of magical pressure. Lupin, Harry and Ron all had to close their eyes as a hail storm raged throughout the corridor with wails that sounded like a hundred Inferi.

" Neville! Stop this now! Control yourself!" Lupin shouted above the bone-chilling winds that slashed at them like blades.

Neville's hollow eyes fell upon the three figures below his feet, their hairs now icy and brittle from the berserk Arcane Magic and negative emotions leaking hysterically from his body. He snapped his wand to his hand and pointed at them, the negative feelings that had built up from Occlumency acting as the legendary voltage that activated the Arcane Magic spells.

Without incantation, steered solely by the blind black emotions alone, whatever was left of Neville's magic drained from his body as an ironically-coloured white beam shot out towards Lupin.

Lupin used some sort of fire spell to try and counteract the sinister ray of Arcane energy, but unless it was Dumbledore with his equal grade of Gubraithian Fire, there were not many things that could stop Neville's full powered ice beam. The power struggle between the spells was short-lived, despite the clash having caused the corridor walls between them to freeze in ice, and Lupin was cornered into putting up a raw magical shield with all his energy to protect the boys behind him.

Upon contact with the mystical ruins of the semi-transparent shield that had formed in front of Lupin's wand, a loud shatter blew him back into the two boys behind him. Lupin waited for the inevitable chill that would probably imprison the three of them in ice for eternity, already feeling his feet limp and weighted down by ice, rapidly spreading towards his torso as he whispered with a wasp of cloudy breath, " I'm sorry James… Lily…"

Then the icy crawl of death halted from climbing over his throat as Lupin opened his eyes again, also noticing the sudden decease of the snowstorm around them. All the torches were out and frozen, but through the dark he could make out a bundle of robes on the ground that was an unconscious Neville Longbottom.

0

0

0

The first sight into Neville's eyes when he woke up again was, very surprisingly, Snape.

" I told you to be wary of Lupin." Snape calmly said, putting down the tome he was reading, somehow knowing Neville had woken up. Maybe he was the one who administered the healing potions and knew when the boy would wake up, but Neville could not see any other presence in the Hospital Wing. " He didn't believe in the least about my explanation of your behaviour being completely out-with your control."

" I'm surprised to see you," Neville murmured. He checked his Wand Armband – this time completely taken off instead of just removing his wand. He also tried to establish the most basic Occlumency Shield, but immediately gave up when he recognised a nauseating feeling. He was no stranger to magical exhaustion by now.

" Nevertheless, in return, I won't bet a Knut on Lupin having sworn a magic-bound oath that prevented him from revealing Black was an Animagus in exchange for the Marauders keeping his lycanthropy secret." Snape had continued with his line of thoughts before finally spotting Neville's guarded look. " You think I'm here to perform Legilimency on you right?"

" You're not?" Neville asked warily.

" I already did when you were vulnerably between the state of sleep and consciousness." Snape looked as if he was considering for a few moments about what he had seen, Neville figured in distress, before snorting, " I no longer have anything I wish to see from your mind. In regards to what I said prior, I won't trust Lupin with a strand of my hair if it had to inevitably choose between him and you."

Neville did not know if Snape had managed to coax out from his mind the scene of the actress Lily he had glimpsed so long ago, and had recognised it was not the real Lily. He did not know why Snape did not question why there was a fake imitation scene of Lily in his mind, but he would probably never fully understand the Legilimens. He was also touched, and also a little guilty, at Snape's confidence in his integrity since he doubted Snape had read into his dealings with Sirius. Snape's gaze noticeably turned into a glare though, and Neville gulped with he spotted it.

" You did however send Harry here to the Hospital Wing for some nasty frost bites when you went crazy." Snape explained solemnly what happened after Neville lost his memories that night, " If it wasn't for Lupin, and your magic reserves hitting rock bottom at the last crucial moment, you really might have frozen all three of them to death that night. The Headmaster spent a whole day defrosting the Gubraithian Ice that plastered the walls of that corridor."

" I didn't go crazy…" Neville's whine _almost_ escaped Snape's ears.

" You allowed yourself to lose control of your emotions. Dark emotions it seemed." Snape sneered, " What a useless student I've taught. You thought you were all that – keeping up your Occlumency shields around the clock? Fighting down your emotions, swallowing your rage, denying any emotional outlet – all these things built up inside of you. Eventually, all these negative emotion mixed with your magic and exploded from within, vaporising you mental shields within a fraction of a second, consuming your mind. You were fortunate to have kept your sanity after such an outbreak Longbottom."

Having found out what the black aura was and the truth, Neville could feel the cold sweat tingling down his back. As if that knowledge was not enough to threaten him, Snape had more grim news.

" This is also your third magical exhaustion episode. The third time in three successive years. You do know most wizards do not even experience magical exhaustion once in their entire lifetime? I am not a Healer, but according to my sources, you are one step away from being a Squib." Neville widened his eyes in alarm and Snape only snorted, " Magical exhaustion itself is a rare condition, but with no lasting damage as long as the patient recover with plenty of rest. However. Let alone the fact that your body and magical energy are both still to fully developed, but you also run yourself to the ground regularly with your constant Occlumency, and whatever extra 'training' you do with those ice spells. If you succumb to magical exhaustion again, not even next year, but ever again, it is possible that you will never do magic again. After all, even if a fire never burns out as long as there is a tiny flame left, it will still go out if you continue to drown the embers."

Neville asked softly, " Is Harry, Ron and Lupin alright now?"

" Yes, they have left the Hospital Wing long before you." Snape added, " You've been unconscious for a week."

Neville held his head in his hand, believing fully what Snape had warned him about his health and magic had a very strong basis. _A week of unconsciousness this time… And Merlin knows how long it is till I can regain my magic. If I become a Squib… If I…_

" That's all I have to say. The Headmaster had investigated the incident, and no one will be punished." _Once again probably because Harry Potter was involved of course. _" Despite this, I trust you will discover some unfamiliarity upon your return to the school life."

" What do you mean?" Neville asked.

Snape gave a court laugh, " Kids don't even let the rumours they hear pass their brains these days. You'll find out soon enough."

" Reassuring." Neville's sarcastic comment hardened Snape's look.

" I don't believe in baseless rumours Longbottom," Snape stood up to leave and threw a last glance backwards at him. " I make decisions for myself. I am still standing at the sidelines for now but if I ever find out that you really are a danger to Harry…"

Snape let his warning hang in the air of the Hospital Wing after his black robes disappear out of the door. Neville was left alone in the dark room, only faint light shone in from the tall glass windows because it was evening time. He could feel his body was rested, but his mind was still sluggish and depleted of magic and focus. He did find his Wand Armband, with his wand still inside, Dracula's Cloak, and his robes all at the cabinet beside his bed. Dracula's Cloak still showed signs of damage from Harry's stunner, but it had tried its best to heal itself already, with just a tiny scratch left on the black fabric.

Disregarding Madam Pomfrey's lecture that would surely follow, Neville kitted up and left the Hospital Wing. He looked at the time through the long blonde fringe that hung over his eyes, unable to fix it without magic, and found his way towards the Great Hall to see if anyone would be there,. Snape was being cryptic but he was sure some things must have happened to the student population since he fell bedridden. Let alone the fact that he wanted to know what was going on, but Neville had to find Harry and Ron. Even if Ron was partially responsible in the fight, which turned practically into a traditional wizards duel to the death, Neville was still the older one (_mentally_) here and should not have gotten into a boys' scuffle.

_I'm too old to get into fist fights with kids! It might have been what Snape was talking about, the dark aura and whatever, but if my magic was not exhausted at the last moment or if Lupin wasn't there… I have to somehow clear this up with them… Of course, there is the thing with Sirius… and me 'knowing' the future… and… Hermione – it's not the time for that right now. _

Neville took an exasperated breath and almost turned one-eighty back to the Hospital Wing for some Clear Mind Potions or Awakening Potions to try and make up for his loss of Occlumency. _Maybe I really have been too reliant on the art before if I can't think clearly without it now._

Neville arrived in the Great Hall and his appearance did not seem as welcomed as it was back when he was in First Year. The Hall immediately fell silent within seconds after he was initially spotted by a squealing Hufflepuff. Neville could not suppress his frown when, not only the students, but the staffs also stopped their meals to gawk at his unannounced entrance. Hagrid looked as if he was between a rock and a hard place, deciding how his face should look. McGonagall's old face tightened and stared solemnly at Neville. Even Dumbledore was not as composed as he was usually, and the old man's eyes paced around the Hall at the students' reactions.

Neville saw the Trio at the far end of the Gryffindor table, all of them completely taken aback because they had not been prepared to see him again so abruptly. Harry was still stuck in his own mind and the cloud about Neville's relations with Sirius. Hermione's shoulders fell inwards and could not even look at Neville, looking as vulnerable as a lost kitten in the dark. Ron had a hand in his pocket, probably grasping his wand, but his wavering expression and red face showed he was battling between showing anger or apology.

_A__t least the Trio is back together now... right?_

Neville did not know how he should approach any of them, but he knew he should do something to salvage their friendship and clear their muddled minds about him first and foremost. He took one step towards the Trio but was stopped by a small hand that landed on his shoulder. He had been so engrossed in reading the Trio's expressions that he did not even notice Colin Creevey approaching him.

He opened his mouth to excuse himself from Colin, but the small boy nervously stuttered, " Neville… I really suggest you… you really should sit in another table tonight."

" What?" Neville's jaw dropped, something that he had hardly experienced even in his past life. This was when he turned his head to study the entire Gryffindor table and their cold stares. This even included the twins and Ginny, later of which had stood up and stormed over to Colin and him. " Ginny what –"

_SLAP!_

" You almost killed my brother!" Ginny screamed with tears in her eyes. She proceeded to pull out her previously favourite emerald green hair clip and tossed it back at Neville's face. It hit him and fell onto the stone floor with an echoing crack. " You just stay away from him and Harry!"

" Ginny! Don't!" Colin was trying his best to keep the struggling girl back but the damage was done. Even if Neville's logical side understood this was just a vent from the relatively immature girl dealing with her near-loss of her favourite brother and the boy she loved, he still felt a wave of dizziness hitting him.

_Maybe later then. I can talk to Harry and Ron back at the dorm… Yeah, later._

Neville found he had already taken a few unconscious steps backwards. He forced a weak smile on his lips and turned towards the Hufflepuff table adjacent, and all their students put up a stony face at his approach.

Zacharias Smith shouted snidely for his house without even looking at Neville's direction, pretending he was untangling some spaghetti on his plate. " I don't think anybody wants to sit with someone who might be helping Black. At least _I_ don't."

Like all rumours at Hogwarts, it dawned on Neville that his ambiguous ties regarding Sirius this year had seeped through the school. He did not have the leisure to think about it on the Festival night, but it was indeed quite serious. Considering how Black was openly believed to be Voldemort's second, and escaped Azkaban to kill The Boy who Lived, and Neville's suspension of his presidency on suspect of organising the Dementor riot, and the assault of a teacher and students – he was pretty much someone worthy of being sent to Azkaban on suspicions alone. He knew Dumbledore must have tried his best to keep Fudge busy and protect him, or else he really might be dinning with Dementors right now.

Neville turned to the Ravenclaws, and Nina the Head Girl just shook her head. It seemed even Dumbledore could not quench the leak of the Festival's events around the school and from everyone's expressions, it seemed like all the students knew the whole story and interpreted it the same way. The thing was, Neville could tell from the severity of the situation that it was caused by a person spreading the tale from the shadows, possibly even with a slant of bias.

_Was it Lupin? Sitting there, restraining his feral glare at me? Was it even Percy, smugly contented with a loser's laugh? Or was it…_

" Neville! Come sit with the Slytherins!" Dumbledore shot his gaze over to Draco in alarm.

Millicent shot up from her seat and pulled the suspicious Neville unwillingly towards her house, she innocently believing the animosity between the Pureblood gang and Neville had somehow disappeared, and Draco wanted to be buddies again to help Neville out in this awkward situation. Neville studied the expression on the rest of the Slytherins, most of them were giving him an artificially encouraging smile. Even Pansy would have wagged her pug tail a few times, sitting beside the more nature Draco.

" Yeah! Go sit with them high and mighty Purebloods! You're just as much of a liar and fake as them anyway!" Ginny the hothead's shouts would have gotten a lot worst if the twins had not restrained her.

" What is this all about… Malfoy?" Neville uttered, reminding Draco.

Draco's smile stunted a moment, then put a hand on his shoulder. " Why are you still being like this? You and I are no longer on different sides anymore. And without the Council business plus all that jazz getting between us, we can be friends again!"

Neville thought about Draco's few words for a moment, and then he felt as if he had just been draped over by a fishing net. Neville shook his head slowly, almost whispering, " You can't have…"

" My beloved Draco hardly lifted a finger!" Pansy sniggered as she hung himself around Draco. Her eyes taunting at Neville, lowering her voice, " Those stupid idiots jumped to conclusions all by themselves. It was easy to let everyone believe you had pretended to be a Blood Traitor all along, while you've secretly been dealing with Sirius Black."

Neville did not pick up on how Pansy was so sure he really had a real connection with Sirius for a common student, since he had started to back faster and faster away from everyone, almost tripping over a bench.

Draco took a step after him, reaching out his hand, " Forget about the others Neville! You are a _P__ureblood -_ and my best friend if you join us."

Neville did not know how to react to Draco's invitation. It was so full of genuine innocence, but at the same time, clouded with Pansy's poison right behind him. Coupled with the school's reactions to his return, and the inability to control his tear glands without Occlumency, Neville fled the Great Hall in utter defeat.

He was unsure of where he was heading, unwilling to land his teary eyes on anything for more than a second. Just as he got to a staircase that he had been on hundreds of times before, he found himself falling face first into the hard stone floor as he banged his foot against something. A metal smell attacked his nose and he instinctively looked down to find that he had tripped over a vanishing step.

Neville froze for a moment, then all that Peeves could hear a few corridors away was a manic laughter that even caused the ancient poltergeist to avoid.

" Isn't it ironic? Clumsy, useless, and ruining everything! Just like the book's Neville Longbottom! Difference is – I'm not even a real Gyffindor!" Neville punched the ground amidst his self-mockery. " I've made things even worse than they were in the books! Peter is hiding in God-knows-where; Sirius is back on the run, even more misunderstood by everyone; Draco is completely under the control of the purebloods! That's what I get... That's what I get for trying to change things but wanting them to stay the same at the same time!"

Neville understood now, when he was completely isolated and defeated, that he really had been a hypocrite. Though all his thoughts had been occupied by how he should change the books, and utilising his knowledge of future events, a part of him had just wanted to keep everything in its original tracks as it would be easier for him to pull the strings then. Keeping Harry at Diagon Alley the whole summer instead of making him more independent; Allowing Pettigrew to run around under his nose; Not taking the initiative to prove Sirius's innocence. Neville's memories of the events and opportunities where he could have done better flashed through his mind with each bloodied punch he marked on the staircase that tripped the original Neville Longbottom.

With a last scream of anguish, Neville fled with his eyes tightly shut.

0

0

0

A/N: I actually just realised this chapter is kinda long. Either way, it doesn't make up for the fact that I haven't updated in so long. Sorry for those who patiently waited and I am just confirming I'm still alive. Working 60 hour weeks doesn't leave me much time to do much else apart from doing the basics to survive. I'd wanted this chapter to be a final puncher to round up the shocking Festival arc but the note fell out of time unfortunately.

I can't say I can update regularly from now on since I've been put on a sticker of a project at work and Sundays will once again start to become a write-off as of next week. I really should just change my job.

Third year has still to finish. I can't predict how many chapters, or the time span for my sporadic updates, but the plot is kind of planned. Readers, until next time!


	65. Book 3 Chapter 22

Synopsis: Neville's Occlumency finally backfired on him from the emotions he had fought to suppress. The thorn that Neville had planted in Hermione's heart had finally been jerk out by Ron in his hot-headedness, which almost resulted in a duel to the death. Upon waking up from magical exhaustion, Neville found himself as public enemy number one in the school. The Trio had all, for their own reasons, left him. The only house that would even allow him to sit with them is Slytherin, out of Draco's command who, having completely defeated him, was still under Pansy's control. It was too much for Neville to take as he fled...

Chapter 64 – After a break of Mario Brothers, it's time to move on.

The winged boars had always been an endearing sight to Algie Longbottom. He would have liked to have seen them a few weeks earlier but having just taken up the role of Head Commissioner of the National Hoglake League, he did not exactly have time to spare after composing the beginnings of a new sporting history that would one day rival the British and Irish Quidditch League. Algie shook his head at the thought, wondering if his presence at the Hogwarts Festival could have replaced this comparatively less joyous visit.

A young student pair caught Algie's eyes behind the Hogwarts gates, and he would have asked them for assistance before he noticed he had clumsily stumbled upon an argument. The youths argued something about the Great Hall, a Paralysis Charm being put on the pigtailed girl, and the boy's adamant refusal to apologise and self-belief that he had saved her from a great evil that night.

With no way of comprehending which event they were discussing, Algie just determined it as the wine of fury youth and watched them disappear off back towards the direction of the castle. Luckily for him, his old friend finally arrived to grant him entrance through the gates.

"Algie! Alas, I thought you would have travelled by Floo and was waiting for you at Hogsmeade" Dumbledore greeted his guest, "How have you been? Perhaps becoming a busy Head Commissioner had sweetened the appeal of Apparition?"

"Albus, I really would like to be on our way." Dumbledore deftly opened the Hogwarts front gates with a wave of his wand and Algie continued as the two headed towards the castle, the Headmaster trailing after in a brisk pace. "I would really like to see Neville – that is why you called me here in the first place, correct? I'd seen all the press on the Festival but there is no way a Longbottom would consort with a mass murderer! Let alone the former right hand man of You-Know-Who!"

"Yes Algie, though Neville had indeed shown various rash tenancies in the past, I too believe he would not be foolish enough to help the Dark Lord –"

Algie stopped in his tracks and turned back to Dumbledore, frown on his face and a stubby finger pointing at the old wizard's long beard. "Oh no you don't! I know you Albus – this curving around a subject. What happened to Neville at Hogwarts since the Festival? _Something_ must have happened for you to have called me here!"

Dumbledore sighed, glancing out over the school grounds, "You've always had a keen eye Algie, even if you mostly chose to waste it on business."

"Stop tiptoeing around!" Algie fumed.

Dumbledore knew Algie not to be a hot-tempered man since their school days – unless someone perturbed a dear significance to his life.

"I am sorry Algie. Due to my negligence amidst the aftermath of the Festival, Neville had gone missing."

"Missing? How can my great-nephew go missing Albus? I sent him to Hogwarts and entrusted him in your care!" Algie's face was as red as a tomato by now. "And stop it with that grave foreboding tone! You speak in that voice far too often for normal speech instead of bedside ghost stories!"

Ignoring Algie's outburst, Dumbledore explained further, "Neville was last seen at the Great Hall, after Augusta's visit while he was still unconscious. Anyway, after that night, it seems Neville did not return to the Gryffindor dorms. If it was not for Mr Potter informing my Deputy Head of Neville's empty bed for consecutive nights, we would have thought young Neville was still resting in his bed outside of class."

"That is no excuse Albus! I am this close to socking you a new one right now, and I would too if it wasn't for the years we've been friends!" Algie blew a puff of air from his nose since he could not take it out on Dumbledore. The chubby man hurried his pace even if his destination was only known to the headmaster. "Neville can't have just gone missing! You would know if he had left Hogwarts, right? With your what-d'you-m'call-it magical apparatus!"

"My instruments indeed show Neville to be still inside the castle, but no map had provided us with his location." Dumbledore's eyes flashed for a brief while, "However, my Divination teacher may have provided us with a possible lead recently that I have yet to investigate."

"Trelawney?" Algie hummed suspiciously, "Wasn't she the one who drank old Will Alderton under the table at the Hogshead a few decades back?"

"Coincidentally, it was her... drinking habit that provided the hint we need." Dumbledore led Algie up the long moving staircases of the castle towards the top floors. "You see, there is a peculiar room in Hogwarts where the user may choose the identity of the room – and in Sybil's case, she often frequented the room to dispose of her empty sherry bottles."

The two wizards arrived on the seventh floor corridor and Algie urged with a frown, "Get to the point Albus."

"Last night, Sybil tried to enter the room again, but found that it was not possible to gain access." Dumbledore's spark went off in his eyes as he looked upon Barnabas's tapestry. "The Room of Requirement could not be remodelled if it is already fulfilling an occupant's purpose."

"Are you saying Neville's in this room?" Algie made the connection quickly, and then roared, "Then why have you not broken in yet? How long has he been stuck in there?"

"Please Algie, allow me to finish." Dumbledore placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "The Room of Requirement is Unplottable on any map, and does not even present itself unless the person trying to access the room qualifies the exact criteria stated by the original creator of the room. This leads us to the purpose of your visit Algie. I was hoping you can fathom the mentality Neville was in and break his self-confinement."

Algie swatted Dumbledore's hand away roughly, "First year it was trolls, second year it was a Basilisk – and this year it's forcing my great-nephew to hide against the whole school? You have greatly disappointed me Albus! As a headmaster and a friend!"

"Algie -" Dumbledore began but was interrupted mercilessly.

"Of course all he would think of is for someone to truly care for him and protect him – unlike what you've done! Now tell me what spell I have to use to open the damn room up!" Algie's voice did not allow Dumbledore to say anything else bar the instructions.

After walking past the tapestry three times, much to Dumbledore's delight, a door materialised in the castle walls. Algie did not waste a second, grabbing the handle, he burst into the room. "Neville! Are you in here, Neville?"

Dumbledore was largely puzzled by the bedroom they had entered, recognising from his limited Muggle knowledge that this might be what a typical Muggle bedroom would look like. In one corner, in front of a flashing box Muggles called a television sat a child. His unkept mid length blonde hair hugged his neck, and it did not sway to look at the intruders. Instead, the child's focus was solely on the television, with his fingers tapping a controller of sorts. A jarringly cheerful melody repetitively filled the room in contrast to the stale atmosphere.

"Neville?" The controller fell limply from his hands at the call, causing the moustached plumber in the television to fall on top of a biting flower.

"I can't do it. I can't save the princess. I can't jump over the flower and avoid the turtle at the same time. But if I wait, then the flames would get me. There are just too many things – they all tie together." Neville started shaking his head, had yet to turn around, and continued muttering to himself. "I can't leave everything the way it is as the books – my role had too much significance to the story to just cut out. I can't change too much – she got hurt that way. Their training, the new Purebloods movements, my own magical strength, Horcrux locations, Draco and Harry..."

"Neville!" Algie's grasped his great-nephew in his arms, eyes shimmering. "Don't scare me this way. Snap out of it Neville. We've lost your parents already like this. Please not you too… Please, snap out of it my boy!"

"Old... Al?" Neville's previously blank gaze was suddenly filled with panic and desperation. He abruptly gripped at Old Al's collar and breathed, "I can't do it! I'm not a hero! I was just a normal guy who was thrown in far too deep..."

Neville's own words surfaced his memories: Blackpool pier, Quidditch Stadium, Hogwarts Express, the Council, the Troll, Hoglake, Chamber of Secrets, Festival... After who knows how long, Neville's memories finally returned to that night he ran out of the Great Hall. He had shut himself here, reminisces of his past life. Simple life. He did not understand how Old Al managed to break into the room, as he thought he had instructed it to forever make him unfound.

"It's okay Neville. It's okay." Old Al patted his head as if he was thirteen – as he physically really was. "If you want, we can get out of here. Now. Forget about all this. Just go home."

_Home? Go back to the Muggle life? _

His mind still muddled, and because he had been unable to use magic since the magical exhaustion, Neville just nodded and whispered, "I want to go. I don't want to be here anymore."

"Okay, okay. Anything is fine, as long as you're okay." Neville finally let go of his grip of Old Al, but re-tightened it when his gaze strayed across to find Dumbledore.

"Algie, just wait a moment. I can't even use Legilimency just now because Neville's mind is far too jumbled -" Dumbledore was cut off by Old Al's look that the chubby man purposely shielded from Neville.

"Neville Longbottom will resign from Hogwarts as of this instant. Do not even try your Legilimency again." Though he was not shouting, Neville had never heard Old Al speak in such a prominent tone. Old Al had always been the one compromising in their uncle-nephew relationship, and even in the Hoglake Business his great uncle had been the charming director. Old Al turned back to him and took his hand, Old Al's face and tone as familiar and approachable as it had always been for him. "Let's go Neville. Why don't we go see your grandmother? We'll send for your things later."

Dumbledore was not like most people and persisted to tread on with his steeled nerves, "Without the protection of Hogwarts Algie, Cornelius Fudge is going to be knocking on Augusta's door within an hour for Neville."

Completely ignoring his position in the Ministry as Hoglake Head Commissioner that he had been working on for most of the year, Algie scoffed, "I'd like to see him try. Albus, just show us to the door."

The direction at Dumbledore was conveyed very clearly and no one would sanely want a duel with Old Al at that moment. Dumbledore sighed, Old Al took Neville's hand, and Neville followed the two of them for what would be his last walk in Hogwarts. He was not in the mood to take in the scenery though, and his blank emotionless stare were just directed to his feet as he was blindly led by Old Al's hand. He was not sure how many whispering students they had passed but because he was looking downwards, at least he realised they were at the corridor overlooking the courtyard when they got there.

"Why are you so stubborn about this Hannah?" Draco's voice lifted Neville's head.

Down in the courtyard, Draco and a group of Slytherins were facing off against Hannah, trying to look as tall as she possibly could.

"I – I just..." Hannah uncertainly glanced at a venomous looking Pansy, who was making the habit of death gripping Draco's arm. "I want to try it."

"Heh," Pansy snorted. "I know why you want to get your hands on one of those lollipops. You're just a glutton aren't you? No wonder you're so fat."

"Pansy," Draco tried to stop her but the rest of the Slytherins just sniggered at Pansy's insult. Draco turned back to Hannah and said, "Hannah, just go. I will see you at the Council Office later..."

"Wait a moment Draco dear," Pansy's lips curled up. "I have an idea! After all, I'm not heartless. How about this you fat pig. You go ahead over there and start eating dirt. You're a half-blood pig after all so you'd eat anything right? If you prove you're that hungry then maybe I'll take pity and spare you one of those lollipops?"

More and more students were gathering around the commotion now at the courtyard, much to Hannah's trepidation and Draco's irritation. Draco turned to leave, throwing a glare at all the Slytherins and oncoming crowds, "We're going."

"W-Wait!" Hannah almost screamed. Staring right back at Pansy with uncharacteristic resolve. Hannah crouched and grabbed a fist full of dirt from the ground in front of her. She looked at the dirt in her hands with complexity, taking deep breaths, lowering her hands a little with each.

"Come on you pig of a girl!" A sixth year Slytherin boy jeered, which made Hannah jump.

Taking a last deep breath of resolve, Hannah clamped her eyes closed and her arms raised to force the foul matter down her throat. Before she did the unthinkable though, the dirt shot out of her hands.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Draco retracted his wand and pulled out a lollipop from his pocket. He threw it over to Hannah, who just managed to catch it. Pansy looked as if she was about to give him an ear-full and grab for the lollipop back from Hannah, but Draco spoke out before her. "Hannah Abbot, you are expelled from the Student Council – effective immediately."

The contrast between Pansy and Hannah's face was very apparent. Hannah exclaimed, "But you can't! I-if I go as well, then won't the whole Council be just made up of Slytherins?"

"What's wrong with that? I'd always wanted Draco to expel a pig like you! How can we have a pig ruling the rest of the students? Useless Hufflepuff – now maybe the Council will get things done around here!" Pansy cackled, and with a final condescending look back at Hannah, left with the rest of the Slytherins. Draco had not said another word before he left.

Old Al did not give Dumbledore any piece of his mind with this blatant act of bullying, but Dumbledore did not stop walking all through the incident. Neville had caught the end of it just before the courtyard disappeared from view as they entered another corridor.

"Neville?" Dumbledore had managed to lead them a way that they ran into Draco and the Slytherins who were leaving from the courtyard. Draco looked at the three of them, and then Neville again before asking, "W-where are you going Neville?"

Pansy however, guessed with a malicious grin, "Oh. Is the Longbottom going to get expelled – finally?"

Draco's brows furrowed, looking between Neville and Dumbledore. "What is the meaning of this? I'm sure the Student Council should have been notified if their previous president was being expelled."

Dumbledore pointed ignored the underlying hostility and said, "Neville is voluntarily leaving Hogwarts."

Draco looked completely taken aback by the revelation, searching Neville's face for confirmation. Neville did not reply in any way but just slowly turned his stare to Pansy, who had burst out laughing.

_Pansy Parkinson? Wait… I am… outside of my room now… I am at… Hogwarts? I saw something there… just before…_

The rest of the Slytherin group had laughed with Pansy at the news, bar Draco, as Pansy said, "Oh that's rich! A Hogwarts drop out! What's so high and mighty about you now Longbottom?"

Before Old Al could pull his wand, a sixth year jeered, "How did the old Council even function without us? A dropout for a president and a dirty pig for a secretary –"

_And this person… This one! Hannah!_

Old Al could only feel a drift of frost left in his hand instead of Neville's grip when he came around. Where Neville stood just a moment before was a frosted spider web of cracks on the corridor – similar to the one now on the far wall.

In front of the wall was the sixth year Slytherin, now unconscious.

Neville had beaten everyone's eyes the millisecond his thoughts and memories returned to their rightful place, as if the fog over the field of his mind were finally cleared by a sudden lightning bolt of rage. Faint mists of haze, in the form of evaporating ice, dispersed around his right fist in residue, still connected to the Slytherin's cracked right rib.

"Be glad I didn't aim for the heart." Neville withdrew his arm and the Slytherin slid onto the cold castle floor. Neville glared back at the group of Slytherins, who shivered from the physical decrease in temperature caused by Neville's leak of Arcane Magic.

"T-that's preposterous! How dare you assault one of the Council members right in front of us and the headmaster!" Pansy was the first to recover, even before the gaping Draco. "Headmaster! Even if Longbottom was about to leave Hogwarts, he should be suspended! If not for this then for fraternizing with Black at least!"

"Shut up pug face," Neville said and started to walk back towards her and Dumbledore. She quickly clammed up at his pounding footsteps. Glaring as he passed Pansy, who stumbled backwards as they crossed, her arms reaching around her shivering body from the cold, Neville turned his gaze to Dumbledore.

"I have changed my mind. I would like to stay at Hogwarts." Old Al was about to interject but Neville held up a hand to stop him, staring at Dumbledore's eyes without Occlumency. Dumbledore smiled as Neville said, "Although it had never happened before in the history of Hogwarts, I request a House change. I want to be in Slytherin."

"What?" Pansy shrieked and Draco's eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. Neville observed him from the corner of his eyes and saw that Draco, although without much facial changes, appeared to be genuinely delighted as a child, who had waited a whole year, would be on Christmas morning. Pansy spluttered out, "B-but that's not allowed! No one's ever changed houses at Hogwarts!"

"Whether the rules allow it is not up to you Miss Parkinson, but up to the board of governors." Dumbledore's eyes sparkled and turned to Neville, "Your request is obviously very unique, and I will not query you on your decision. I had never wanted you to forego your education to begin with. I will however need some time to process this rare application and see if it is indeed an option for the school – after all, the sorting of houses is an integral process that hails from the magical foundations of Hogwarts. I foresee it would take until the end of the year, at the earliest, before we could make the appropriate arrangements."

"Very well, until then I will remain in the quarters I had been staying at for the past while – it would be uncomfortable for all involved if I continued to use the Gryffindor dormitories.

"Indeed, as you wish Neville." Dumbledore cleared his throat and said gravely, "However, since you are still a student of the school, I will have to punish you on your violent behaviour towards Mr Croft earlier."

"I am willing to accept any form of detentions you are to issue, as I am out with the house points system for now." Neville finally turned to direct a frowning Old Al to the side. "Old Al. Thank you. For now, please trust in me."

Old Al just sighed and shook his head, but Neville knew it was more out of worry than disapproval.

"Albus, please see me out. I would like to have a word with you." From Old Al's tone, Dumbledore was going for one hell of a walk. Before dishing this out though, turning back to him with the gentleness of a lamb, Old Al said, "Take care Neville, my boy."

"I will," Neville watched Old Al and Dumbledore's retreating backs walking into the distance. He turned round when he received a tap on his shoulder.

"Neville! Did you really mean it?" Draco asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"You've heard my intentions when I spoke to Dumbledore," Neville nodded.

Pansy sneered opposed to Draco's blind faith, "Why would you want to join Slytherin? Aren't you a Blood Traitor?"

"Do you not remember how I was treated? I've been thinking a lot during my time alone," Neville breathed as he took a step closer to Pansy. "If the whole school wants me to be a Pureblood, let them have it."

"Then why did you punch Croft?" Pansy clung unsurely onto the last straw, willing herself not to back away from Neville.

Neville was practically touching her nose by now, staring steely into her eyes, "I didn't like the look of him. Is that a problem Parkinson?"

"So you attack anyone who you don't –" Before Pansy finished the sentence, Neville had sent a curse at the Slytherin girl standing beside her. Pansy's immediately jumped away as if she was cursed herself with the vomiting curse and screamed, "Why did you curse her? Help Draco!"

As Draco was hesitating between drawing his wand or not, Neville eyed the vomiting girl coldly, "You others stay away from her. That girl there, stop holding her hair. I should be the one asking why you are with that girl. Her grandmother is a Muggle."

"What?" Pansy shook her head, "That may be so, but there are hardly any wizarding families who are fully pure! You can't just –"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do Parkinson," Neville pointed his wand at her and she shut up immediately. "You let this sort of scum hold a high position in the Student Council? I want her removed of all powers immediately."

"W-who are you t-to decide what to d-do with the Council?" Pansy stuttered, scared at being cut off again. "You've been stripped of –"

"The Longbottom family is as pure as the Malfoys – and is surely in a cleaner status than yours Parkinson. If I am not appointed in the Council to rule these Muggle-affiliates, then neither should you."

"W-well Neville… Please just lower your wand for a moment, okay?" Draco gently took hold of his arm and motioned silently for the vomiting girl to be taken away. "I understand fully what you mean. That girl will be removed immediately from the Council, and I'll appoint you as… as the Chief Advisor to the Student Council. How about that?"

"Yes, Chief Advisor... I quite like that. I _will_ advise and fix the Council's organisation." Neville ran a look across the ranks behind the quivering Pansy, who all avoided eye contact, going through their own family trees in their heads.

"Come on Neville! Lighten up! Why don't we throw a party for you at the Council Office? I've been waiting for this for a long time! We're finally able to work with each other again, and on the same side!" Draco's truly joyous smile almost made Neville's eyes soften but he resisted and followed Draco down the dark corridor, leaving Pansy and company behind.

"H-he's gone crazy… Longbottom's gone crazy…" Pansy muttered to herself as if she was the one who had lost her mind.

0

0

0

"Neville! Where have you been? We've all been worried sick about you!" Hannah's voice from behind him made Neville retract his gaze from the Forbidden Forest. He had sent a house elf with a note for her when he was getting his meal in the kitchen earlier this evening, meeting her at the secluded roof opposite the Astronomy Tower. Neville had no wishes to run into any silly couples tonight. "Where did you go for the past weeks? What were you doing? Su and I searched all over the castle!"

With a smile, a natural one, Neville put a finger on Hannah's lips. The blushing girl squeaked and waited for Neville to speak. He said, "I have been in the Room of Requirements – it's a sort of impenetrable room in the castle. Anyway, there is no need to worry – I am fine now."

Hannah retracted her gaze and mumbled, "T-that other night at the Great Hall… I'd wanted to get up and support you but Ernie… He used a curse and…"

"It's okay Hannah, it would've been worst if you'd gotten up. You might've somehow got dragged into this mess I've gotten into." Neville sighed and leaned on the parapet, "I've lost to Draco, and probably in part to Pansy, fair and square."

"Since you disappeared… Draco he…" Hannah started murmuring again and Neville finished her line of thoughts for her.

"I saw what happened at the courtyard today." Hannah's face paled and Neville said, "Thank you. You managed to do something that I had never been able to fully confront. It could have been very simple at one time… but I'd lost it. If it wasn't for you… now… Anyway. You've cleared a path for a counter attack."

"A what?" Hannah, as if remembering something, blurted out, "And I heard you were moving to Slytherin! Neville, can you tell me what's going on? I mean… Only if you want to tell me… You don't really have to… Um…"

Neville believed in her, and she had proved it by not asking the moment she came onto the roof about his sudden change in behaviour. He was sure his reappearance and house change intentions would be all over school by now. He did not answer her just yet though and asked, "Hannah, why don't you tell me what you've had planned before with getting that lollipop from Draco?"

Stammering, but just managing to make it out, Neville heard out the original plan she made up during his absence. "I knew it must be something to do with Pansy that Draco's been acting strange this whole year – not just them going out. The more I thought about it, the more certain I am it's because of that lollipop. So I thought if I managed to get one, I can send it to Mr Richmond to prove that it is really messing with Draco's mind. After that, I can show it to Draco and he would know he's being tricked all along."

"I see, Richmond eh?" Neville nodded and Hannah still stared down at her fidgeting fingers.

"I-is it a stupid plan?" Hannah asked.

"Of course not!" Neville's Dracula's Cloak blew out behind him as he laughed. "It's just a bit timid, like you. I know this potion master in France who may be able to lend us a hand to get Draco back to his senses."

"W-what? You plan to poison Draco?" Hannah finally looked back up at Neville's face in her anxiety. "You two are friends! That's one of the reasons why I want Draco to snap out of it! You can't poison him just because he may be under a spell!"

"I'm not going to poison him Hannah." Neville did not mean to be patronising but the girl bowed her head again. Neville smiled and shook his head. Lifting her chin up, Neville said, "I need your help."

"O…Okay…" Hannah sighed.

Neville hoped she had really listened to what he had explained of his plan. Hannah brought out the lollipop she had acquired from Draco earlier anyway, and Neville split it in two with a Diffindo spell. Having called a school owl and Trevor, Neville attached one half with Hannah's letter to Richmond, and the other to a friend in Paris. Neville also divulge most of his future plans to Hannah for her cooperation, and entrusted her to acquire the trust, if not the apathy, of some other friends he considered he still had.

"Did you manage to get all that?" Neville asked again before leaving the roof.

Hannah answered with furrow brows, "I'm glad you're asking me to help you, but… You're not telling me the whole story, are you?"

"Of course not." Neville smilingly replied without burden.

Sighing as if Neville was just a normal child with a lazy habit, Hannah said, "You're a true Gryffindor, you know that?"

"What?" Neville scratched the back of his head, "Really? What makes you think that? I'm about to move in with the Slytherins you know? Plus, I'm not that brave, nor direct, nor have a sense of morals –"

"Gryffindors take it upon themselves to set things right, especially you. You also take it as your responsibility to set up so many things with the Council before, not thinking that you can just run away minding your own business like other students. And you feel responsible for helping so many people, like Harry or Draco, never thinking it's not your born duty to do something like that. That is why, I really think you're a great Gryffindor."

Hannah looked at Neville with a pair of eyes that he would never doubt will stay as clear as the starry night sky they were standing under that evening.

"I don't know if I can accept all the compliments you said about me, but you Hannah. Really. You are the most worthy Hufflepuff I could name." Neville in turn tried to convey this purest notion through his eyes, settling that being simple was better than using his own clumsy words to explain. He was sure though, it was thanked to this loyal friend that he managed to get back up on his feet.

With that, they smiled at each other a bit longer before Neville jumped off the roof.

"Will you ever stop doing that?" Hannah's alarmed berating followed Neville's safe descent. Landing softly on the ground with Floating Magic, Neville smiled back up at the roof, where he was sure Hannah was smilingly thinking back to their time during first year Herbology as well.

"Now. Let's try and pull a harder target onto my side…" Neville was not sure how far he could get in his next step of the plan, but he knew he must try.

_I don't know if this counter attack will work, and I don't have most of the details worked out – and I'm completely unsure about certain things… But who cares? Whether I'm a Gryffindor or not, or whether I am a hero or not, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm in these books with 'Harry Potter' in the titles, then it's up to my four-eyed friend to deal with any mess I make. Harry did solve the Chamber of Secret on his own last year. Plus, he was still the same main character who faced Voldemort when he was eleven at the end of the Philosopher's Stone challenge. _

_ What I have to do now, is do what I feel is right. Sometimes in Mario, it's just the best solution to hold B and dash past all the obstacles before looking back, and laughing at how you made it._

Arriving outside Lupin's office for the detention session for hitting that seventh year Slytherin who bullied Hannah, Neville knocked on the wooden door firmly. A curt 'Come in' started the confrontation. Lupin was standing behind his desk, having prepared for Neville's arrival.

"Neville." Lupin examined him cautiously as he entered the room.

"Lupin." He replied leisurely.

"I do not insist upon being called professor, but I understand you are here for detention." Lupin said.

"You and I both know that is not the case." Neville though he should get the past over with first. "First of all, I must apologise to you."

"I guess you and I both know you did not request to have a detention with me just to apologise," Lupin was not budging at all. Opposed to how warm he was in the books, Neville guessed the other night of almost freezing him to death might have put out the little warmth Lupin had for him back on the Hogwarts Express at the start of the year. However, if Lupin's bonds with the Marauders were really as strong as they were in the books, then Neville might still stand a chance yet.

"Apologies are however part of the reason I'm here." Neville opened his palms and asked, "Now, the other part. I need a favour."

Lupin eyed Neville with the side of his face and almost growled, "What is it that you are planning? I understand Dumbledore's got a lot of trust in you for some reason, but I was there at the Festival. I saw you and Black first hand, and I am sure the two of you known each other. With your age, I would doubt it was before he left for Azkaban."

Neville took out his wand, which immediately drew out Lupin's. After the standard charms to seal the room of secrets, Neville confessed, "I have been in contact with Black almost since the beginning of the year."

"H-how could you?" In opposed to Neville after he raised the shields, Lupin did not drop his wand but instead pointed it at Neville. "Harry believed in you! Despite everything you've done, he still thinks of you as a dear friend. You and Black are both the same!"

"I did not betray Harry. Neither did Black betray James." Neville overlooked the wand, knowing the only time Lupin might possibly think of harming a student would be during a full moon in his werewolf form.

Lupin was unmoved by the simple linguistic ploy and said, "You can say whatever you want Neville, but I can no longer view you as one of the normal young students in this school. Not with all that you might have done. Harry told me about your story since he knew you. There were so many unexplained instances where you seem know more than you let on. Mark my words, I will protect Harry from whatever you're leading him into if it's the last thing I do."

Neville shook his head, wondering why he had not threatened Dumbledore this way when the old fox's plan was to lead Harry to his death. Neville came out with the excuse that was inspired by the woman who gave his hideout location away to the Headmaster, "I am a seer Lupin."

"What?" Lupin was all but expecting that, but recomposed himself quickly. "Isn't that just a convenient ability to have? I guess you just happened to predict where the Chamber of Secrets was last year. And just happened to leave out that Basilisk you led Harry into."

Straying into a sensitive topic, Neville's gaze hardened and said, "I knew about the Basilisk. I had intended to face it myself. What I did not foresee was Tom Riddle's counterpart."

"Well why did you not see who had the diary last year?" Lupin pursued.

"I am not almighty Lupin," Neville spat out and flung Dracula's Cloak out behind him in irk. "You should know Divination is not something that can be mastered, and there are numerous prophecies that did not come true. I have never studied Divination, and I have never spoken of what I know to anyone until now because some of the future I had seen never came true."

"Then why don't you give me an example?" Lupin had always been good with the poker face, but his doubts were still evident on his thin lips.

"If you like talking about the diary so much, then I'll tell you. I'd thought Ginny Weasley was the one with the diary at first. I also knew Lucius Malfoy was going to plant it on her to undermine Arthur in the Ministry, and I had tried to actively stop the Secret of Chambers from opening all last year. I admit, it is because I thought I knew what was happening that I did not account for the changes that could have, and had, occurred. This is also what I have told Dumbledore."

Lupin was quiet for a while, thinking over the likelihood of what Neville had said. Neville had of course taken advantage of the uncertainty of Divination, which was a lot more of a likely story in this wizarding world than dimensional travel from another universe. Lupin finally lowered his wand, but still retaining a good grip on it, "I still don't trust you."

"I don't need you to trust me Lupin," I said. "Think back on whether you trusted your secrets with Black."

"Don't bring him up," Lupin sharply cut in. "I know you have asked to change house to the Slytherins – and no one knows for what purpose."

Neville indeed had a purpose for his house change, and was dreading its effects, but he did not think Lupin needed to know the full story. However, Neville still needed to hammer in a last stake to recruit Lupin's help. "You can figure out the reason on your own Lupin. There is something I wish to confirm, and after seeing it with your own eyes, maybe you will help me in spite of yourself. Now, this takes us back full circle to the 'favour' I have need to ask of you and the reason that I am here."

Lupin crossed his arms. "Say it,"

"Just open the Marauder's Map so we can have a look for someone. I know you have it." Neville said, having confirmed beforehand that Lupin had confiscated it from Harry as in the books.

"I had heard you had your hands on it in earlier years," Lupin's tone sounded as if Neville had touched his food with dirty hands. Quite reluctantly, but seeing no harm in showing the artefact they both knew pretty well, Lupin went to his drawer and pulled out the Map. He activated it with his wand, but his eyes were still set on Neville.

Neville walked over to the desk and was delighted at his luck that a piece of the puzzle fell neatly in place after a thorough search of the Slytherin common room. Looking back up to address Lupin's attention, he pointed at the dot that would sway Lupin, "Would you like to know why he is here? I can tell you Black's side of the story if you're finally willing to listen."

0

0

0

A/N: So… Over seven months eh? Bad bad me… In a desperate attempt to motivate myself, I had even entered the NaNoWriMo this year when I heard of it 2 days before the start just to gauge how far I can write if I seriously go flat out… Needless to say, I failed the NaNoWriMo challenge even when I wrote most of it at work. Yes folks, real life commitments still drained my free time.

Albeit the obstacles, I managed to piece together this chapter while slacking off towards the year end at work and during my Christmas holidays. I hope for a Happy New Year for all my readers and yes, this will be the last update of 2010. See you in the new decade, hopefully in the near future!


	66. Book 3 Chapter 23

Synopsis: Neville had fled and isolated himself in the room of Requirements for weeks after the failures from the Festival events. Neville decided to drop out of Hogwarts when Algie came to console him, but just as they were leaving, a scene of Hannah being bullied with the new Slytherins-controlled Student Council brought Neville to his senses. With a counterplan in devise and recruiting the help of Hannah and Lupin, Neville prepares himself to re-enter the Hogwarts that had been left in the hands of the new Council, in the role of a demonic Pureblood.

Chapter 65 – Being a Pureblood Pariah

Striding past the mutterings and gossiping as he transpires through the corridors, Neville thought about the consequences of not going to class. He doubted missing classes until the end of the school year would set his grades back much, but after running into McGonagall last night in the corridors, he was scared he would be turned into a toad forever by the woman who was half way between tears and rampage.

"Look, all I am saying is if you continue to litter the corridors then I will have to take house points from you." A seventh year Ravenclaw prefect said to a defiant looking Slytherin a bit down the corridor.

"And if you don't shut up I'll close down your club," the Slytherin said, smacking the prefect's cheek. "You should learn by now you prefects don't run the school anymore – we do!"

"B-but you can't just shut down a club!" The humiliated prefect exclaimed helplessly, avoiding eye contact.

"Darcy," Neville said, taking out his wand. The Slytherin, called Darcy as Neville vaguely remembered, saw him and laughed.

"And what does the big EX-president want?" He jeered and was about to give Neville a heavy-handed pat on the head.

"I smell half-blood in your family," Neville said and sent Darcy hurtling away down the corridor, bashing against a few walls and alarmed students on the way. Neville was not completely sure of Darcy's heritage of course, but there really were few families without a half-blood or Muggleborn in their past two generations.

"Y-you used a curse in the corridor!" The Ravenclaw prefect who was being bullied exclaimed uncertainly. "I-I'll have to send you to your head of house!"

"I don't have a house," Neville left the too self-righteous prefect with that comment and continued on to class.

"Death Eater…"

"Consorting with Black…"

"Tried to murder Harry Potter…"

"Pureblood fanatic…"

All these snippets bounced off Neville's flowing Dracula's Cloak as he did not even have to pretend to have a pissed-off face.

_I knew this would happen – just never thought Pansy would really use this method to take power away from the prefects. Damn Percy to hell! I didn't build a Student Council and initiate all those clubs just for her to use it as leverage!_

"Neville Longbottom!" Neville's pissed-off face turned to that of unease when he saw Ginny, the fiery redhead's approach. "To think I even regretted it a little bit for treating you that way in the Great Hall! And now you're going to change house? Tell me! What have you got to say for yourself?"

Neville had asked Hannah to tell those involved to ignore the things he would do and just trust in him until the end of the year, but he had specifically told her not to say anything to Ginny. He knew she would be too inquisitive about his plans, which he had not fine-tuned to a detail, and she was far too rash not to let it slip.

"Ginny. Stay out of my way." Neville immediately felt he had put on far too cold a voice at the stricken expression on Ginny's face. Whenever the little girl had screamed and shouted and bawled at Neville in her life, he had always just taken it in stride or, at most, argued back to her teasingly. This time though, Ginny looked as if he had casted a _Finite Incantatem_ on her Ferris Wheel Charm.

Brushing past the girl whose mouth was still ajar in disbelief, Neville next encountered Cho, who had been looking on in concern. With Cho being a Muggleborn, Neville figured his new Hoglake clothing line was going to halt progress indefinitely – if the Fashion Club was even still intact. With Cho's blood status, Neville knew she was one of his friends who might be hurt the most by his sudden persona change.

"N-Neville… I heard some… Well, I was going to say… That night, the Quidditch squad was away…" Neville figured Cho was trying to clear up why she could not stand up for him at the Great Hall the other night. He knew from speaking before to Luna, who in her sporadic but evident Quidditch enthusiasm, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, including Cho and Su, were in extra training sessions that fateful night.

"I have classes to attend. Bye." Willing himself not to catch a glimpse of her reaction, Neville charged on with the longest trip to class he had ever been on since entering Hogwarts.

_I'm sorry Cho. And if Ginny ever finds out this plan, I'm sure she'll throw a few punches at me anyway. And this is even before I see the Trio – And speak of the Hallows…_

Neville looked down the staircase at the familiar three figures that he would walk merrily beside just a few weeks ago. They were obviously in heated discussion about something, with Harry offering a hypothesis and Hermione analysing it. Ron at that moment must have cracked a joke, and Hermione slapped his arm at the redhead's typical habit.

_I guess those two are back together now…_

Neville took a deep breath and followed them to the Defence Against Dark Arts classroom. They were talking about ways to free Buckbeak, with that 'Appeal Trial' drawing ever closer, being conducted right at Hogwarts, even after Neville and Hagrid had won its case at the Ministry a few months ago. Neville started to wonder, just to occupy his head of other things than the back of Hermione's head, if they could still free Buckbeak with this change of events. As cruel as it might seem, the life of one Hippogriff was really the least of Neville's priorities.

They arrived at the classroom and it immediately turned silent on their entry, which got the Trio to finally turn around. Hermione dropped her book bag and Ron took a step forward to stand in front of her. Harry finally had a frown for Neville, evidently having heard about Neville's house change application.

Giving a brief glance at Lupin, who was observing with a close eye at the situation from the front of the room, Neville walked past the Trio without a word.

"Neville! How are you my good man?" Draco even got up and waved him over. Slapping him on the back as he sat down next to him, with a scowling Pansy behind them, Lupin began the lesson in spite of the Gryffindors' hated glares in Neville's direction.

"…I will have an exam for you guys for the end of term. It should not be very difficult as long you have listened and revised our course materials throughout the year," Lupin said, very professionally as a teacher.

"Unless you're a Mudblood," a Slytherin joked, loud enough for the whole class to hear, and the Slytherin side burst out laughing – bar Neville of course.

"That will be twenty points from Slytherin," Lupin said gravely but continued with his lesson. Neville knew Lupin would have reprimanded whoever said it more if the wolf was not too busy trying to test Neville and see what his common reactions were now to every little thing.

Like a Follow-Me charm, Pansy snidely remarked, "What is it Longbottom? Don't find Mudblood jokes funny? You have some sort of residual feelings for that Mudblood Granger? You and her were the best of friends before, right?"

"Pansy, I do not go out of my way to pick on people in another tier from me." Neville said, "But if any pesky flies do dare to buzz around my ear, I will swat it."

Draco playing the mediator was not often, but he said now with a smile, "Now now, Neville, play nice. And you too Pansy, Neville's going to be in our house next year."

"I'm still not convinced about him Draco," Pansy said as if Neville was not there. "I will only believe him to truly want to be deemed as a noble pureblood again if he proves it!"

"How? By playing little pranks? Leave that to the Weasley twins," Neville said, observing Draco well. Draco, despite his desperate want for Neville's friendship again, was still far more intelligent than Pansy. He of course had his own reservations about Neville's one-eighty change in attitude. Neville knew he must convince these purebloods as well, and had been trying to figure out the least harmful way of doing it other than picking off half-blood Slytherins.

"…Can anyone tell me again what creature lurks around a place where blood has been spilt and attacks unsuspecting travellers?"

Hermione, no matter what her mood was, slowly put her hand up, even if her gaze was staring into space. Lupin looked as if he was going to let her answer anyway to pacify her a little today but an unsuspecting Neville called out, "Redcaps."

For someone who rarely answered any questions in class, it was quite a surprising gesture. Hermione looked slightly dazed by the action, but otherwise avoided looking in Neville's general direction.

Of course, that did not last though as Neville answered every single question that Lupin asked afterwards for the lesson publically, cutting in Hermione's answers and elaborating on them with a tone of haughty derision. He even went as far as to call her ignorant a few times.

The long lesson finally finished by the bell. Pansy snorted as they exited the classroom. "Is that it Longbottom? Drive a nerdy Mudblood to tears by being more of a nerd?"

Neville could not help staring after Hermione's fleeting figure as she fled classroom with her face buried in her hands, but Draco explained for Pansy. "Grades are everything that Granger has Pansy. If Neville were to best her in every class, what sort of self-esteem would she have left? Only then would she rightfully know where her Mudblood place should be in this school. And to think he did it to Granger."

"Yeah, to think you're doing this to Hermione." Harry's voice from behind their group pulled Neville's Occlumency to full strength. "How could you? I believed in you…"

_This is make or break._

"Harry. You are you and I am me. You have your own role to play. I will play out my role as I see fit." Neville stated with a blank face, Occlumency blocking any fluctuations in tones.

"Let's go Harry. He's not worth our time," Ron tugged at Harry's robes and the two boys left without a backward glance. Neville was already trying to forget the stares the two young heroes of the books left him with the moment he turned and walked the other way.

_That may be the last advice I have for you Harry. You are the hero here, not me. _

"What do you want to do now Neville? Want to swing by the office and grab some snacks?" Draco caught up to him and asked.

Neville eyed the large group of Slytherins following them and asked, "Draco, I would actually want to get started as my role of Chief Advisor immediately if you don't mind."

Draco nodded, "Sure, I guess nothing can get that seriousness out of you. In that case, which club do you want to review today?"

"Review?"

Pansy interjected just for the sake of entering in on the conversation, "We review the clubs we have already and abolish any 'useless' ones. I mean, you even let a Muggle gadgets club start out when you were in office? What were you thinking?"

Neville's eyes narrowed, "Your breath stink Pansy."

Pansy gasped and immediately ran for the nearest bathroom with a couple of other girls. Draco slapped his forehead and literally begged, "Neville why can't you get along with her? She's not your enemy anymore."

"Does she retract any of her hostility to me? Plus, there are some people you just can't get to like – I mean, do you really like every single person in Slytherin?"

"I guess that's true…"

"There is also another business I want to discuss with you." Neville made sure Pansy was really gone and the other Slytherins were walked a few steps behind. "I was in the corridors this morning and saw Darcy threatening a prefect."

Draco laughed, "Ah-huh. The prefects are good as normal students now. They may be able to take away house points, but like any of them dare to – not with their girlfriend's club on the line. Plus, that Percy Weasley is pretty much our pawn… as you know, I asked him to let the Dementors in during the Festival. Now he doesn't want that getting out – does he? Plus, Dumbledore can hardly do anything about us because the Council should be out of his jurisdiction, being a student-governed body. In addition, he's away most of the time to deal with Fudge's pressure on him outside of school."

Draco had pretty much summarized the situation of Hogwarts right now and Neville despair at the thought. Neville hoped that nature, or rather, the students, will do the rest if only they could catch a spark of life in this barren wasteland of a school that was his fault. Neville said with a stern face, "I don't care for Percy Weasley or the prefects. What I want to say is how can Darcy, a non-Council member, say he can abolish a club?"

"Well… He comes from the Darcy family, who all have a pure blood status – oh, apart from maybe a generation or two ago when they had a branch that married a Muggleborn." Draco trailed off under Neville's disapproving look.

"Draco. I cursed his arrogant arse this morning. What if it was a few generations ago – it's still in his blood. Whether the family has casted off a branch or if they divorced, their blood is still tainted. Plus, the most important thing, who is the President of the Student Council now?"

Draco rose up, "Me of course!"

"Then let everyone remember that even if you have to burn it into their brains. Was it Pansy's idea to let all Slytherins abuse this control on extracurricular clubs?"

"Yes… Please don't make this a vendetta on Pansy."

"I knew it. You're too good for the likes of her." Neville gave a devil's smile for his trusting friend, "Let's forget about if she's trying to steal your power at the moment. All I know is, you cannot let your actual powers trickle down to the lowest minions. _You_ have to be the one in charge, and you alone! You can have advisors and consultants, but you call the shots here – not some random Darcy half-blood who thinks he can do the same things you do."

"But Pansy is my –"

"You are the President. Don't even let her say the commands. You do it. That's how you can retain the power that you have." Neville smirked, letting his verbal poison soak into Draco's head. Slytherins were addicted to power and even if Draco was under a curse of sorts, at least Neville was going to give it his best shot to wear down his link with Pansy.

_At least for now..._

0

0

0

Students moved to the walls swiftly at the sight of Neville's signature cloak around a corner of the corridor. It was getting increasingly easier as time wore on for Neville to act perpetually irritated as well, with the end of year exams fast approaching and without further words from Richmond or Philippe.

"You, over there." Neville almost thought the first year he called on was going to wet the floor with the way he shivered. "You dropped your quill."

Without waiting for a reply, Neville rolled his eyes and continued walking. Just because he cursed a Slytherin for taking a joke too far yesterday, using the usual excuses of his impure blood status and keeping Draco's authority in control, the whole school thought they would get the same treatment. _It wasn't like it was the first time I cursed one of those pureblood pruds – some of those numbskulls have still to learn not to let their bullying cross my eyes…_

Knocking on Lupin's office door, Neville went in for his weekly 'detention' session. They really mostly consisted on Lupin's update of Harry's recent endeavours, which disappointingly were still hung up on Buckbeak's trail. _Well, execution more like._

"Neville, come in." Lupin was reorganising his bookcase when Neville came into his office. This would be their last detention session of the year, considering they only had about two weeks of school left and next week was a full moon. Lupin asked without looking back, "Any news?"

"Unfortunately, not yet." Neville sat down on the chair opposite his desk.

"Just because Pettigrew's name showed up on the map, you've still to provide any hard evidence for all the scenarios you've proposed to me." Lupin said, as he always did, just in some different form or other. "Have you managed to track down Black?"

"No." Neville did not trust Lupin either, despite his critical role in proving Sirius's innocence. Sirius had sent an impressionable over-zealous little owl to Neville not long ago and Neville had gone to many troubles trying to get Sirius back here for his plan. Sirius was sceptical at first, but with 'hiding under the Ministry's nose' theory explained, Sirius reluctant came back to stay at the Shrieking Shack. After all, even though he was seen at the Festival, still no one else knew Neville had made a small den for him there. Neville did not dare to visit him though, and had only been sending him messages through Pig and Trevor once or twice to convey an outline of his plan to make Sirius a free man again.

Neville did not know if Lupin believed his answer, but like the books, Lupin would never think to look at the Shrieking Shack. He sat down opposite Neville and they played the little charade they always did, "You know Neville. I may be able to help you better if you told me a little about what you plan to do."

"I doubt it." Neville was starting to find it hard to ignore Lupin's lack of shrewdness. I guessed it was part of being a Gryffindor.

As expected, Lupin went on to try and put him on a guilt trip. "You know, you've been even crankier lately. Even the whole of Slytherin is scared of you now. From what Harry said, your behaviour had hit Hermione pretty hard."

Neville rapped his knuckles on the chair arm irritated at the mention of her, as Lupin had not done so before. Lupin was sinking lower with his blows. "What are they doing now? Still on the Buckbeak case?"

"Mostly. Harry is doing very well with his Patronus training as well."

"And what about his training with Snape?" Neville no longer had his Occlumency lessons with Snape, and the distant man did not seem to want any contact with Neville either since he had announced his new allegiance, despite being the head of Slytherin. According to Dumbledore, Snape had said it was entirely the school's decision regarding the house change. Neville knew Snape was just standing far, far back to observe and better snipe down Neville if he were to put a step out of line.

"Ah yes, Harry seems to be enjoying their lessons. He even showed me that strange branch of magic Snape had taught him and he is seemingly becoming quite proficient at it."

"Good, good." Neville murmured, thinking about Snape's strange Wand Magic. He had still to research into it properly since his ties with Harry severed.

"He was sorely tempted to use it on the Slytherins after they won the Quidditch Cup last week." Lupin mused.

"Quidditch. Who cares? Harry still caught the Snitch."

"As he should have. And the Gryffindors would have won if the rest of the players were not held at ransom in some form or other and distracted them from performing their best."

A tap on the window stopped Neville's come back. A Scops Owl was on its ledge, glaring at Neville with a few quick shakes of his head. Neville would have let the owl stand out in the cold night if he had not been waiting for this reply for so long. After some correspondences between Richmond and Philippe after Neville's introduction, the three-way owl meeting finally produced the ignition spark for Neville's plans.

Waving his wand and snatching the Scops Owl's parcel from its claws, which had tried to scratch at Neville for his ill manners, Neville took out a vial of clear blue liquid and a parchment from Philippe. Skimming the short note quickly about the Frenchman's gratefulness in being part of this interesting (to Philippe anyway) side project, Neville grinned at Lupin.

"It's about to begin," Neville said and stood up to go.

"Where do you think you're going? You're in detention." Lupin calmly said and waved his wand to lock the door.

"Come on… This sort of out-dated joke isn't even funny anymore…"

0

0

0

Neville kicked opened the Student Council door, blatantly interrupting a red-faced Slytherin egging on some sort of revenge for another dumb reason. Pansy had a forced smile on her lips and Draco almost groaned at the upcoming conflict.

"Who called this meeting?" Neville glared at Pansy.

"It was an emergency meeting," Pansy leisurely yawned.

"Why was I not informed?" Neville glared around the room, all their faces paled. "I am the Council's Chief Advisor and I am to attend every single meeting to oversee proceedings."

"And then what? Let us do nothing? Plus, we did call you. We just couldn't find you. Right Jessica?" Pansy asked the timid girl next to her. The girl silently nodded, looking beseechingly at Neville.

Snuffing out sympathy for anyone associated with Pansy, even if she was just to be a pawn, Neville pointed his wand at the girl and transfigured her into a skunk. Immediately a vile smell filled the room and everyone put their hands up to cover their noses.

"I know the purpose of this meeting and it's ridiculous!" Neville shouted over the collective curses of everyone. "We have to hold the advantage of abolishing clubs over them low-breeds and not to waste it on stupid things like Quidditch. A threat used too often is just a whimper. This business is settled! Now Draco, I have something important to discuss with you."

"I-I'm coming too!" Pansy even managed to get towards the door a few steps this time with her bone-chilling scream but Neville was already out the door with his target, locking the door behind them. He proceeded to drag Draco away, ignoring the even louder swearing from within the skunk-smelling room.

"Neville! I'm really starting to get annoyed now!" Draco flung off Neville's grip on his robes and frowned. "Ever since you've joined the Council you've cursed more Slytherins than all the other houses! I know all the other houses shouldn't matter to me anymore, since my priority is to keep leadership inside Slytherin, but I can't be made to look like I'm on the side of… of… _protecting_ the Mudbloods. We haven't abolished a club for weeks!"

"That's because we wrecked all the club rooms even faintly related to Muggle culture when I first joined, remember?" Neville habitually reminded the flash of thunder he used to make an impression on the student body, which worked far too well.

_Anyway, I can at least stop messing with Draco's head after tonight… Providing this antidote works._

"Where are we going?" Draco changed the subject with a huff.

"The roof. I need it to be secluded."

"You have something planned?" Draco asked suspiciously.

Having been living a lie for the past few weeks, it became easy to run words off his tongue. "A plan to ambush the other houses, destroying their infrastructure once and for all! I'll talk about the details when we get there."

"Oh… Okay… I don't see why we couldn't have just talked it out with Pansy and the others at the office." Arriving at the roof tops, Neville spotted his plant and signalled for her to make her move. Draco started, "Why are you holding out your a –"

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Neville's set up worked perfectly and Draco did not suspect a thing as he caught Draco's limp body before it hit the ground.

A quivering Hannah came out from the shadows of a parapet, her wand shaking in her hand. Draco rolled his eyeballs to her in disbelief, with his mouth agape, only partially due to being petrified in mid-conversation.

Neville decided explanations could wait until later and he pulled out the blue antidote from his robes. "I asked Hannah to curse you, don't blame her for it. Now, I really hope this won't kill you."

"What?" Hannah screamed and fidgeting with her hands, "Didn't you say that was the antidote?"

"Well, this is all experimental after all," Neville teased the two alarmed children and almost laughed at the look in Draco's eyes when he poured the blue concoction in his mouth.

Neville and Hannah waited a minute. Then a minute more. But Draco did not roll his eyes over, or foam at the mouth, or change at all in any way. He just laid on the ground with his mouth opened and confusion in his eyes.

"Hm… Okay… Now, whatever you do Draco, don't attack me when I take the curse off you." The moment Neville finished waving his wand, Draco's hands were around his throat.

Throttling him, Draco squealed, "What were you thinking? Making me drink an experimental potion? And getting Hannah to petrify me? What were you thinking?"

"W-what d-do you think ab-about Pansy?" Neville managed to breathe out through Draco's hold and the boy stopped. Breaking back and coughing, with Hannah rubbing her hand on his back, Neville asked again, "Well?"

"She's alright… I guess?" Draco blinked a few times and looked about him again as if he had just Apparated here.

Hannah clapped in joy and, quite uncharacteristically, dove at Draco and hugged him. "Oh yay! Finally! Finally you're back to normal! And you and Neville can be friends again and the Council…"

"L-let go of me!"

As if finally feeling Draco's heat building up in her arms, she jumped back as if she was burnt and ran to the other side of the tower. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was just too happy and I'm sorry! Please don't eat me!"

"I-I'm not going to eat you damn it!" Draco shouted and pointedly ignore the Forgiveness Note Hannah had pulled out from her robe that he had given her in first year after the Norbert smuggling incident. Neville was actually quite surprised she still kept it. "Now can someone explain to me – well… I don't know what! Just everything!"

Seeing the agitated boy, Neville put him out of his misery with a smile on his face, "Draco. You've been under an unheard of Amortentia variant of sorts from Pansy almost since the start of the school year. It was from those lollipops, and because the dosage was small in each one, you won't have noticed it. Apparently the effects of it were weak as well, but through time and suggestion though, it had built up and taken you over. At least, that is the diagnoses from Richmond."

"But Pansy had given the lollipops to others before… Oh, and it'll taste different according to what the person's taste is… And it probably wears off if the dosage breaks – but it's addictive so…" Answering his own questions, Draco grumbled and pulled out the rest of his lollipops. "Damn these things!"

Neville watched as Draco threw and vaporised them with his wand. Neville said slowly, pleased that Draco really did have the intellect that Neville deemed him to have to have figured all those points out so quickly. "You realised you've been led on all through the year?"

Draco and Neville stared at each other in silence for a few moments that caused Hannah to worry again whether they would start fighting for the incidents that had transpired in the past. Draco took the first step forward and then said, "I am not a pureblood fascist like the Parkinsons. Maybe my father even… but one thing I've figured out after knowing you is that I am better than everyone else not solely because of my blood status – but who I am."

Neville smiled and just nodded. Well, he was really unable to voice his relief at Draco overcoming the greatest of his frailties.

"And I'm not going to let that bitch Parkinson get away with trying to make me think otherwise!" Draco turned to go find his revenge but Neville stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"The revenge is not yours alone. This is only the start Draco."

0

0

0

A/N: Many Many Many thanks to all my readers who actually remembered my story when I updated last time. It's still a three months gap, I know, but it's shortened… a bit… I've actually written the rest of the third year mostly while slacking off at work (back in HQ now so can't do that anymore…) but the editing takes some time. I'm not good at editing…

It may seem like I'm rushing through the year's ending in a scene-to-scene play, but this school year had frankly gone on long enough. I've actually got the rest of the year done – and even edited now. Still, I probably will not release them quickly in case something comes to my head, or I missed something, and as I plan for The Goblet of Fire. I've actually still got one challenge to think up for it…

I know it's not much, and I doubt people in Japan have the time to read this now, but my greatest condolences in these times of distress.


	67. Book 3 Chapter 24

Synopsis: Neville spent weeks waiting for the antidote research from Richmond and Philippe. During that time, the whole of Hogwarts was either terrified or disappointed at the façade he had built up to keep close to the purebloods and protect the students as far as he could. In his last detention of the school year with Lupin, he finally gets the long awaited owl and, and with the help of Hannah, brings Draco back to his senses. Neville's counter is about to begin.

Chapter 66 – Nothing ever goes to plan

Neville never would have thought he would willingly take a leisurely stroll around the school grounds with Pansy Parkinson – but here they were now.

"I hate you." Pansy repeated again with as much venom as she could.

"I'm only here because of Draco." Neville voiced their false pretences. "He wants me to 'get to know you' and 'make peace'."

"You can fool and frighten others in the school but I know you for what you really are!" Neville robbed his ears a bit at Pansy's incessant need to shout.

"And what am I?"

"Y-you're… you're not a pureblood elitist! I know you're just pretending to be like us! You're a Mudblood lover and I know it!"

"I told you. The way everyone treated me after the Festival. It's turned me." Neville said with his gaze looking far away into the distance, while imagining he was on the stage at Broadway.

"But you were helping Black!" Neville's eyes almost turned to that of glee when Pansy's slip-up had as good as validated his hypothesis. _She, from some source, learnt about Black…_

"If I was a pureblood, I should be helping Black. He was Voldemort's second after all." Neville verbally prodded Pansy, who shivered at Voldemort's name like most magical folks, but he needed her to think he was still unaware of her little secret for now. He said, "I never helped Black. It's already at this stage now so I'm not afraid to tell you that I _have_ confronted Black a few times. He was raving about some crazy things – he is a loopy man, just as the Prophet said. I have what his objectives really were, and why he didn't kill Potter."

"What happened inside the Maze Tree then?" Pansy aske, probably thinking coyly that she was the one extracting information out of Neville to his ignorance.

"I agreed to go on a walk but don't get too friendly with me Pansy. I don't want you to start developing a crush on me now." Neville felt he should win an Oscar for how smoothly he harrumphed and coldly looked away at the trees.

Pansy hissed, "I don't trust you one bit Longbottom and I'll get to the bottom of this sooner or later!"

"Ah! My two favourite people!" Neville could not say much for Draco's acting though. From his appearance though, and Draco's left arm in his bulged robe pocket, he knew the cameras were rolling. "It's just so nice to see the two of you get along!"

"I'm going Draco. Bye." Pansy huffed and headed back to the castle. Neville and Draco exchanged a quick look and caught up with her.

"Wait Pansy! I was just sitting in the common room when a great idea came to my head!" Draco made an artificial snigger and pulled out the key objective of Neville's plans. "Look who I brought with me!"

Pansy had planned to just give Draco a quick dismissive glance and say goodbye, but at the sight of Peter Pettigrew in his rat form, Pansy panicked. "W-why did you bring him out Draco?"

Neville pointedly ignored Pansy's wide eyes, glancing in his direction in apprehension, and pretended to look bored at the squirming rat. Draco said, "We've kept him long enough in the Slytherin dorms I think. Time to show it to the Weasel and gloat over him with it! It's been our in-joke for quite a while already by the way Neville."

"O-oh?" Pretending to be calm, Pansy looked across at Neville, "But I don't think your dear Neville will approve of treating his old friends like that."

"I have no objections. I never liked his rat." Neville shrugged and pulled out his wand. "Maybe we can even kill the rat in front of him. I would like to see that look."

Pettigrew evidently squirmed more frantically at his words and was just seconds away from biting Draco's hand. Pansy was starting to feel the pressure and she put on a sweet voice, "Draco my honey. Please give the rat back to me? Please?"

Neville was sure Draco wanted to vomit as much as he did at Pansy's cutesy act. At this point, Neville abruptly snapped his heads towards the Forbidden Forest direction and raised his wand. He shouted, "Everyone down!"

"What is it Neville?" Draco asked with a relieve tone at Neville's rescue.

"I feel something!" Neville treaded slowly toward the Forbidden Forest and Pansy snorted.

"Yeah. You feeling psycho? I don't see anything over t –"

A feral growl stopped Pansy's complaints fast enough. Pettigrew on the other hand seemed to recognise his nemesis and struggled even harder. He was within moment of escape when he froze at the sight of Sirius, in dog form, growling and glaring in his direction from behind some bushes in the Forbidden Forest not far away.

Pansy must have seen Sirius too and let out a horror-movie scream. Neville decided they have achieved the desired effect and before Pettigrew could really escape again, Neville exchanged a look with Sirius. The dog quickly disappeared and Neville shouted, "Get back inside the castle! Now!"

Pansy did not need to be told twice and whether Pettigrew wanted to escape this way or not, Draco had a tight hold on him despite the rat's biting and scratching as he ran after Pansy. Neville brought up the rear and he followed the two in a beeline for Snape's dungeon.

"Professor Snape! Professor Snape! It's Black! He's back!" Pansy burst into Snape's office without even a knock.

Snape was of course greatly annoyed at the intrusion, and Neville felt even a tinge of compassion for Pansy since she had barged into Snape's time with Harry.

"Oh shut up Parkinson. What's this you're barking about?" Snape's irritation was evident until he spotted Neville's presence with the entourage. As with most similar cases such as this in the books, Harry kept quiet in order to try and steal some information from this sudden incident. Harry spotted Neville as well, but whether it was because they had fallen out or if Pansy was an easier target, his eyes were reading her expression instead. At this moment, Pansy was in a state of delirious panic.

"We saw Black! He's back at Hogwarts! He's coming to kill Potter! It's all his fault!" Pansy effectively received the Silencing Charm that had once bounded Neville right after her rude finger pointed at Harry.

"Quite a story Parkinson but if Black even had half a brain he would be on the other side of the world right now! Cease wasting my time and get out of my office!"

Pansy was left struggling to continue her rant as Neville already turned to go.

"Out!" Snape's voice shook the castle dungeons and Pansy fled even quicker than she did at the sight of Black.

"W-why won't he believe me?" Pansy asked out loud, half to herself, right after the weak silencing spell has worn off. She turned to Draco, "You saw him too right?"

Draco said, "Yeah. I think I saw a dog, and everyone knows now that Black is an Animagus."

Pansy had ignored Draco's confirmation though since Pettigrew had started struggling again, this time really biting Draco's hand. Pansy dove for it screaming, "Oh no you don't!"

"Damned rat. Let's kill it." Neville uttered, luring Pansy.

"No! I mean… no… I still have uses for him…" Pansy said.

"And what uses are these?" Draco asked, latching onto Neville's train of thought quickly.

"I-I'll tell you later bye." Pansy fled with Pettigrew, who was gripped at the tail by her infamous claws.

Draco and Neville exchanged a look and both smiled. Draco said, "It's working well?"

"Yep, from that small exchange there, I already know Pettigrew will definitely escape at the next slim opportunity," Neville sighed and put an arm on Draco's shoulder for support. "Pansy will definitely keep him under her best lock now though till the end of the year so… We'll have to sacrifice your purity to get its location again…"

Draco sighed as well and shook his head, looking far _far_ beyond what were just the dungeon corridors. "I know Neville. I know… I just hope I can hold in from vomiting at the sweet nothings… Pretending to be that pug's boyfriend every day is driving me insane! How did I do it Neville? How strong was that Amortentia?"

"What are you two doing?" Both Neville and Draco jumped as they were caught by Harry. His lesson with Snape was probably cut short thanked to Pansy barging in earlier.

"Nothing at all," Neville pushed Draco away before the rivals tattled again, leaving the suspicious Harry Potter behind.

0

0

0

"I am afraid I must give you a borderline grade for your exam," Lupin said. Neville was kept back as the other students went back to the castle for break and to prepare for their next exam.

Neville sighed, "It's your fault for putting up an obstacle course where I can just blast my whole way through. After all, one of the ways to deal with Redcaps is just to kill it. Plus! I saved you the trouble of tidying up."

Lupin just shook his head and went onto more serious matters. "Neville, your plan is tonight isn't it? Fudge is coming here for Buckbeak's case."

"Yes. I thought I went over the plan with you from start to finish already." Neville did not have a good vibe from Lupin. _He's not going to back out on me now, is he?_ "That night I asked for your help, you saw for yourself Pettigrew's name in the Slytherin's dorms. I also told you how I deducted him to be there: Pansy was far too sure of me having dealings with Black for a normal student and the last I saw of the rat was chasing him into her crowd at the Festival. From that I guessed Pansy, with her ex-Death Eater family background, might have struck some sort of deal with Pettigrew and he's now in her custody until she can bring him back home for the summer."

"I'm not questioning you Neville," Lupin said, but Neville doubted it. Lupin's hair had been standing on ends around Neville ever since the Festival. "I am just saying that tonight is… the full moon."

"Oh." Neville's blank expression lingered for a moment, then he slapped his forehead. "Of course! How can I forget! That's what happened originally in the first place!"

"Originally? You mean you'd seen a vision for our plans tonight?" Lupin asked, having probably believed in Neville's seer excuse.

_Like everything I try to change, something just has to go wrong to try and blow me back over huh?_

Neville started laughing, much to Lupin's worry. With a deep breath to recovery, Neville said, "Back before I may have been beaten just by that. I've made up my mind now – if I'm going to change the future, I'll change it my way. This is just a slight deviation that I'll have to account for… Lupin, you just stay in tonight. Your werewolf status may not convince Fudge anyway."

"You're… quite an insensitive person aren't you?" Lupin asked.

"I remember I used to be worst in first year," Neville shrugged. "Anyway, you can standby as backup. Don't think you can just kick back cause you have a sick note."

Lupin shook his head, not sure whether to sigh or smile. Neville left him and went to Draco, who was at the Great Hall eating lunch. He was munching on a bit of biscuit and pate to his heart's content – as Pansy was nowhere to be seen.

"Enjoying your lunch?" Neville mused.

"Of course Neville. Every second without that wretched Pansy Parkinson around me is bliss." Draco sighed contently and set down his meal for now. "It's tonight isn't it? I know where she keeps the rat. Ever since we saw Black, she'd locked him up in an enchanted box, which I'd apparently given to her as a present. It's pretty well protected from the inside and out, so I guess you've got it right in thinking that the rat is trying to escape. Still though, that rat is an Animagus? Wasn't he Weasley's pet?"

"Yeah, I'll have to learn the spell to reveal an Animagus before tonight," Neville was reminded. "Anyway, there is a change of plans. Lupin can't make it tonight. The first part of your task is the same: Pretend you're sympathetic to the rat and take it outside. Lupin _should_ then be tracking you down with the Map and chase the rat to Fudge, but now it's up to you to bring the rat to us."

"What? But how can I forge innocence in front of Pansy aft… Oh! Wait! You mean I can blow my cover? I finally don't have to suffer that intolerable pug face anymore?" Draco's eyes were watering up by now.

"I can't think of a way for you to remain close to Pansy and the pureblood cult after this. I need to bring that rat in no matter what though, so it's a sacrifice of an intelligence source in the future. Hopefully there won't be any more hiccups to the plan."

Draco was all teeth, unable to keep his smile to himself, "Just leave it to me. I'll tell the rat I'm releasing him in the Forbidden Forest and then keep it in my pocket until it gets to you and Fudge."

"Then I'll reveal him in front of Fudge and any other witnesses there." Neville could restrain a wandless Pettigrew's escape on his own, and he was sure even Fudge could not overlook an unregistered Animagus, who was supposedly dead, suddenly appearing. Plus, Dumbledore should be there at the execution as well.

"There is one thing though." Draco looked Neville in the eye and asked, "What do you plan to do after this? I may still have presidency of the Council and can kick out all the purebloods, but no one is going to trust me or you after all the oppressive movements."

To Draco shock, Neville just shrugged irresponsibly. "You're the president. You think up of a way."

Through his grumbling, Draco asked, "It's not just about the Council. What about yourself? How would you salvage your own reputation? The students, including the Slytherins, all think you're some evil pureblood sadist now."

Neville kept a smile on his face and sighed, "Hope people will believe me when I say I pretended to be a bastard to loosen some stress put on by the Council and get close to the purebloods?"

"Well… People did see you cursing and banishing a lot of purebloods and Slytherins…" Draco unconvincingly consoled. "Slytherin may not be a comfortable house for us to stay in next year my friend."

"If my application goes through." Neville still had not heard from Dumbledore about that. No matter how simple Gryffindors were, he doubted they would ever welcome him back with open-arms.

"_Neevvviiee_!" The sound of Death's call made both the boys shiver.

"Oh no! I'm going Draco! I'm counting on you for tonight!" Neville escaped the Great Hall within a second through the air.

Draco sighed as he would be left to deal with a love-crazed Millicent. Sometimes, Draco was not sure if he or Neville had it worst in terms of Slytherin girls. "Millicent, how many times do I have to you? Neville didn't want to change house to be with you!"

0

0

0

"I can't wait, I can't wait!" Pansy clapped her hands together in malice. "Finally that stupid Hippogriff is going to pay for spilling my pure blood!"

Ignoring the almost deranged narcissist comment, Neville and Draco exchanged a look. "Pansy. Dear… I forgot something back at the dorms. Why don't you and Neville go along to the execution first without me?"

"With _him_? I'll come along with you dear," Pansy pretended to pout, and Draco visually restrained an uprising urge to hurl. "I feel you're becoming distant lately dear. Would you like a lollipop?"

"I've still got some, and I've just been busy with the Council. See you at the execution okay? I'll be just a sec." Neville was unsure whether Draco was making a beeline for the dorms or the toilets as the boy ran off back to the castle.

Pansy growled, "Let's go then Longbottom."

Neville was glad it was easier than he thought to preoccupy Pansy as Draco got Pettigrew. The two travelled in silence towards Hagrid's hut, where the execution was to be held. They called it a retrial officially, but everyone knew what the outcome would be. Fudge even brought an executor with him to this 'retrial'.

Even from a distance Neville could see Hagrid's massive frame petting Buckbeak in his yard. Hagrid had not been very warm to Neville ever since the Festival incidents, after the rumours involving Black and Harry, though not to the point of cold. Neville was not sure if Hagrid was just being the gentle giant or if he somehow secretly believed in Neville – he was a little glad he had one less person to glare at him during meal times.

Neville's brows furrowed when he saw in the gathering outside the hut that there were only four figures: Fudge, McGonagall, a guy with an axe, and a courtroom official of some sorts. From the looks McGonagall was holding, it seemed she was completely displeased at the fashion Fudge was handling this hearing. They noticed the two appearing over the hills and Neville spoke first on approach.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Neville asked.

Ignoring McGonagall's frown at Neville addressing the headmaster by surname basis only, Fudge explained with a Cheshire Cat grin, "Dumbledore is away on other business. It may have something to do with the damage control you evoked from that little Festival of yours. I see you've hardly learnt your lesson since that disaster Longbottom."

"Whatever," Neville waved off the blubbing red Fudge's provocation and turned to the court official, "The 'victim' is here now to provide her statement. The Council president will arrive shortly."

"What about yourself Longbottom? What gives you the right to be here?" Fudge continued to sneer. Neville figured he must have given Fudge a lot of hassle outside from the Dementor riot during the Festival from Fudge's even more evident hatred of him.

"I hold the position of the Council's Chief Advisor now. Not to mention I was in charge of the case's defence during the actual trial." Neville stared coldly at the executioner, who was MacNair from the books. Looking at MacNair, Neville gave a curt laugh, "To pick on animals like a scared little boy attacking a rabbit."

"What did you say?" MacNair even lifted his axe but McGonagall stopped him with a look. She then proceeded to look at Neville with a new light, since this was probably the first time Neville had said anything out of his pureblood character.

_I pretty much don't care anymore. With Draco about to blow his cover, I don't need to keep up with this pretence either. I can do whatever I want after this final push._

Neville excused himself to the huff of Fudge and went around the hut to where Hagrid was with Buckbeak. The two looked apprehensively at Neville's approach and he bowed to the Hippogriff and all the usual procedures to get close to them. Buckbeak bowed back, which visibly softened Hagrid's features.

"Hagrid. Can you please tell me if the Trio are under the Invisibility Cloak?" Neville got straight to the point.

"No Neville. I sent 'em away." Hagrid sighed, "What are ya up to boy? I know you're ain't one of 'em bad people – bad 'ins don't get along with animals see?"

"It'll be over soon Hagrid. I'm sure with the commotion the following events will cause, they'll forget all about Buckbeak for a long while."

Hagrid seemed a little comforted with the thought of saving his Hippogriff friend but he still looked at Neville as if he was a bruised and battered child. "Neville, please make up with 'arry and the others. They miss ya, they can't hide it from me. And yourself too. Ya mus' mis them…"

"Here comes Draco. The curtains are about to go up. See you later Hagrid," Neville did not comment further on the Trio and went back to the Ministry's group.

Draco looked at Neville confidently on approach, his hand in his robes pocket. Draco said to Fudge, "Good evening Minister. Before the trial I have something of utter importance to show you."

"Oh? And what is that Draco?" Fudge asked, gorges friendlier than he had addressed Neville.

"Him." Spoken like a death sentence, Draco took Pettigrew the rat out from his pocket. The sheer panic, even on a rat's face, was evident as it struggled in Draco's gloved hands.

Pansy gasped and the others just looked confused. Draco did not know the full story of Pettigrew, since the explanation role was meant for Lupin, but now it was left to Neville. Neville figured this would be a little easier with McGonagall here, since she knew a little of the Potters and Pettigrew's relationship.

"This rat here is an Animagus. An unregistered one." Pansy gasped at Neville's words as he raised his wand, about to dispel Pettigrew's animal get-up. "Allow me to show –"

"_Expelliarmus_!" Neville had never thought, out of everyone present, that Pansy would be the one to foil his plans at the last moment. Neville stared flabbergasted at his wand, how in her ugly claws. Pansy mimicked a flood of tears and beseeched to Fudge, "Help me Minister! Longbottom's gone insane!"

Everyone looked on flabbergasted but McGonagall managed to utter, "What –"

Skipping right over the presence of the rat, Pansy wept, "I'd wanted to talk with you Minster after the trail, but Longbottom had wanted to curse me just there –"

"I wasn't even pointing the wand at you! That rat in Draco's hands is –"

Interrupting Neville again with a louder wail, Pansy sobbed, "Ever since the Festival he's become all weird. He locked himself up somewhere for weeks and then when he came out, he used his friendship with Draco to try and take back the Council. He even started cursing students all around the school!"

"What is this? Is that true McGonagall?" Fudge pursued the distressed Deputy, "Dumbledore and you _allow_ this sort of behaviour to go on at Hogwarts?"

McGonagall was pretty much in a tight spot, with the Council being out with staff control – not to mention Dumbledore hinting her to turn a blind eye on Neville for untold reasons. Neville was about to save her when Pansy once again lashed out.

"Not only that Minister! Neville's also been saying my rat is a person and the rat was the one who killed Harry Potter's parents." Neville gritted his teeth, unfortunately wandless or else he would have killed Pansy right there. "He went on and on about how Black should be innocent and that rat should be in Azkaban."

Neville shouted, glaring at Pansy. "That's it! Fudge! Use a revelation spell on the rat and you'll see if he really is an Animagus! Even McGonagall will recognise him!"

"Watch who you're addressing young man!" Fudge scolded and asked, "Do you really think that Longbottom? Black is innocent and that rat is here to kill Harry Potter?"

"_No one_ was trying to kill Harry Potter this whole year!" Neville shouted exasperatedly and gave up talking sense into Fudge. Neville turned on Pansy, intending to knock her teeth out, take his wand back, and reveal Pettigrew himself.

"_Adytum Adsulto_!" MacNair threw a curse at Neville's back to McGonagall's scream.

Neville felt an explosion of pain in his chest and was floored immediately. The world was spinning as he tumbled on the ground with his hand grasping his chest. It felt as if someone was screaming and punching inside his heart to get out, and he even felt himself spitting out blood.

"What are you doing MacNair? Release him at once!" McGonagall shouted, "And this is dark magic! Is this how you let your employees run loose? Like those blasted Dementors?"

"I don't think you're in a position to call me up on spoiling his charges," Fudge sounded quite joyous at the sight of Neville suffering around his feet. "Plus, this is a spell that is borderline under my newest revision of the Dark Arts Deterrent Act. I mean, Longbottom may be psychiatrically troubled and he was clearly trying to attack young Pansy. I will personally sanction this spell – plus, it will do Longbottom no permanent harm. The boy is merely preoccupied from harming any other person from a magically induced heart attack."

"I – I can't believe you! Wait until Dumbledore – or the Prophet – hears about this!" McGonagall had already raised her wand but Draco was quicker.

"_Stupefy_!" Draco knocked MacNair off his feet with the spell. The curse on Neville was also lifted after the caster lost consciousness.

"Young Malfoy! What do you think you're doing attacking a Ministry official?" Fudge screamed.

"Bad Draco!" Pansy shrieked and raised a hand to slap his face.

Draco swiped her hand away and countered with a slap on his own. The slap landed crisp and clear on Pansy's shocked face, and it was apparently so refreshing that Draco had to do it again on her other cheek. "And that other one is for being a complete bitch."

"I – I… Well, I _knew_ it! I knew you won't be good enough for me! I thought you really loved me – even without the lollipops!" Pansy might have looked genuinely hurt at that moment, but Neville was too busy wiping the sweat off his forehead from his previous episode to care. "I won't have even bothered with you if you weren't a Malfoy!"

"I am more than a Malfoy! I am Draco Malfoy and I won't be played around any longer by you and your stupid love potions." Draco turned to Fudge, taking out one of Pansy's lollipops. "Minister, if you take this back to your potions lab, you will find a mind-manipulating love potion in its makeup, diluted as it may be. Parkinson had been using this to control me for the past year! I know for a fact that she is breaking wizarding law just by trying to control the will of another by magical means!"

"You will never amount to anything Draco! Nothing!" Pansy screamed like a deranged stalker and laughed maniacally. "Take it! Take it and analyse it! There may be traces of a potion that have faint effects of making someone's suggestions more credible, but you will never find any mind-manipulating ingredients in there over the legal limits! Being addictive isn't in the law either!"

_That explains why Draco only got worst gradually through the year. I guess that was what Richmond and Philippe was trying to tell me as well in their potion-jargon-ridden letters._

"And I'll tell you something else Draco Malfoy! If it wasn't for your father asking me to pull you up a notch back to your proper blood status in society, you'd still be running around with your loser chum Longbottom here like Mudblood lovers!"

Draco was completely without a comeback to Pansy's revelation this time, and as was Neville. Neville started his Occlumency to help rearrange his mind's thoughts, and also to allow familiar logic to help him overcome the after effects of MacNair's curse.

_Lucius Malfoy? Why would he put his own son under Pansy's thumb? He must have done this through Parkinson senior… Where did this notion brew from?_

_ Lucius had been acting friendly towards me before Christmas… no, even before that during… No. It was all a front, and he distracts me by looking as if he's trying to get into my Hoglake business… The summer back – That's it. The Diary. He must have somehow gotten wind that I was involved in destroying it and at least a little of the Chamber of Secrets episode. Maybe Draco unwittingly told him… _

_ Of course he won't like Draco being friends with me after that… I guess since the first year I've been trying to change Draco, and Lucius must have noticed the anti-pureblood nature I was trying to spread with the Council 'infecting' his son. But only did last summer, after ruining his plans with the diary, he saw me as a deep threat! _

_ Yes, that's it. Because of the Hoglake Store! Like how it made Fudge think too much, I was rapidly making social connections with socially powerful wizards. I was building up fame and wealth on the wizarding scene. Then Draco comes down to my store so often through the summer, Lucius must recognise how big an influence I was on Draco. He also recognised my potential influence to the wizarding population – trivial to the modified robes at Hogwart he must have seen on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and major to the scales of representing the students in Ministry businesses regarding education. _

_ With the motive to set Draco back to the 'right path', Lucius needed a plan. His plan… no, all plans change, like mines did. His original plan must have been foiled before… Yes – his original plan was for Draco to take over the Council. That's why he pressured for Dumbledore to put up an election for Student Council President before. Pansy only needed to have a tiny influence over Draco to tempt him to compete for the position of power with me at the start of the year. As a nature Slytherin, he never thought Draco would still lose._

_ With this hiccup, he had to change the plan. His options were limited though, and he was left with Pansy as his only pawn inside Hogwarts. Instigating conflicts between Draco and me, stir up the Council and Prefect rivalry – and the coup was thrown at the Festival. Even without Sirius, the Festival was doomed to have been a disaster to make the current President look bad. With me gone, Draco can safely take over the Student Council and its growing powers inside Hogwarts, slowly reaching out into the wizarding world. It may even develop new Death Eaters from school age and…_

Neville finally recovered, ironically, by the shock he received from his deductions. Politics was never his strong point and he had far far _far_ underestimated Lucius Malfoy's abilities in this area. He should have known for the Malfoy name to still remain so sturdy at the top of the wizarding social class, even after Voldemort's downfall, the family head must have a few special capabilities.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Pansy sneered, waving Neville's wand about, still like a bride in denial who was left at the altar on Valentine's Day.

"No, but you've got my wand." Neville leapt forward, twisted Pansy's wrist and elbow, forcing her to drop his wand came back into this hands. "_Protego_!"

Fudge had sent a curse his way, as expected, and Neville's shield rebounded the spell back to the Minister instead. His annoying but important witness out cold on the grand, Neville sighed at yet another change required for his plan to free Sirius. Neville turned to McGonagall, the woman completely undecided at how she should handle this situation from the typically scarce information Dumbledore had told her. Neville planned to put it in front of her eyes, "Professor McGonagall. I will reveal – Draco!"

Neville had never viewed Lucius as more than a villain's henchman, but he did not contribute enough empathy for Draco's position. A son being told his father was the culprit of hanging him on his strings like a puppet was a feeling Neville could never imagine. Neville knew Draco had tried to press back the reflection of his actions this past year under Pansy's control until he helped complete Neville's plan tonight, but this devastating news made an impact on him like a comet. Taking advantage of Draco's shock like a master escape artist, Pettigrew slipped through Draco's fingers and dashed off away from Neville. Pettigrew knew he had to escape Hogwarts or else Black might find and kill him, but he knew he was good as dead if Neville revealed him as well.

"Come back here!" Neville floated up into the air and was about to give chase when Pansy stepped in front of him.

Pansy pointed her wand at him and screamed, "_Stupe_ –"

"Stupid psycho bitch!" Neville had already stunned her with a non-verbal before she finished her incantation. Just as he whipped back his Dracula's Cloak and was about to push off again after the rat, this time McGonagall stepped into his way.

_Now here's someone I can't take on in a duel._

"Please Professor! You have to let me go after him!" Neville tried to swerve round but was kept at bay when he was hit by a hail of wind from McGonagall's wand.

With her characteristic thinned lips that never looked more ominous, McGonagall asked, "Look at the bodies around you. You have just attacked the Minster of Magic – right in front of a Ministry Official and myself! It is my job to bring you in Neville…"

"Professor!" Much to Neville's surprise, it was Hagrid who bellowed behind him. Like the many times he had been blamed as a culprit under the law, he begged McGonagall, "Wait! Please! Ya know he's not a bad lad!"

"Arrest him Minerva!" The wimpy court official who came with Fudge, who was hiding behind one of Hagrid's barrels during the action before, pointed a shaking finger at Neville. "I will snap his wand for this! I will!"

_Damn Gryffindors! McGonagall will never let me off! Damn that sense of justice!_

"I know your abilities are more than that of my typical students. We will duel Neville to prevent us getting hurt – too much." McGonagall raised her wand. "First one to draw blood wins. If you win, I let you go wherever you need to. If you lose, you hand over your wand and surrender."

Unlike facing Dumbledore at the end of last year, there will be no surprise elbows to the stomach. McGonagall was no vase of a woman – she was not just for show. Neville was sure he heard she won some duelling competitions before when she was young, if not going by how she survived against duelling with Voldemort during the last book.

_Damn it! She knows I can't win – she's stubborn in keeping me here. For the first time, I wish Dumbledore the fox was to bamboozle that Ministry Official at least temporarily. _

Helplessly watching Pettigrew's rat figure scurrying away farther by the second, Neville flung back his Cloak and shouted, "Bring it on Minnie!"

0

0

0

A/N:

Thanks very much for everyone's reviews and support! Asking for beta help a bit, wrote more in my profile. Also, I plan to renew that covered-in-dust character poll by the end of 3rd year. If you haven't voted, please vote now :D I'm surprised at the results so far myself really…

I really hope I haven't poked out too any plot holes so far. As you can't help but know, third year had been on-going for quite a long time and my memory is kinda bad… This would probably make more sense I guess if this year was read in one reading? Unfortunately I don't have the time to review it that way at the mo…


	68. Book 3 Chapter 25

Synopsis: Neville's plan went underway, successfully tricking Pettigrew into feeling he must escape from Pansy. Like all plans though, unforeseen incidents crop up one by one: Lupin couldn't participate, Pansy abruptly grew a brain, Draco was bombed by the fact Lucius was behind his manipulation all year. And now, Neville is left facing off with McGonagall as Pettigrew flees further away by the second…

Chapter 67 – Fighting for – Pettigrew to be brought to justice.

"Bring it on Minnie!" Neville flung his Cloak back and channelled his Floating Magic to maximum capacity. He sent a few stunners over as a decoy and trained his eyes on the jagged little rocks around McGonagall's feet.

"I know what you're trying to do Neville," McGonagall said, raising Neville's apprehension. She moved faster than her age foretold, deftly avoiding all of Neville's spells and sending at least five back in the space of a few seconds.

Throwing a few counter spells to intercept the spell barrage, explosions shone beacons into the dusks as the spells collided. The bright light did not stop either combatant though as their spells criss-crossed across the smoke and sparks in midair, none managing to catch their swift targets. Neville used Occlumency to keep an easy smile on his face and asked, "And what would my plan be, Minnie dear?"

"Attempting to make an opponent lose their temper in a duel. A tried and tested duellist strategy," McGonagall commended, but also poked through Neville's intentions. "But to try and lure me into a fence, or levitate a few stones to my ankles to draw blood – now that is far from sporting."

_I'm not trying to be sporting! I'm just trying to get away quickly and save the world from Voldemort's return damn it!_

"Rise!" Neville shouted. The dozen sharp-edge stones that McGonagall previously avoided shot up all at once. Neville had levitated and strategically landed the stones in a formation that would cover all the angles that she might be able to dodge as the stones converged. Having a plan view of the battle ground definitely had its advantages as he once again took flight.

McGonagall hollered a battle cry and slashed her wand up towards the sky. A glowing magic circle immediately formed under her feet and all the stones aiming for her immediately changed directions and shot straight upwards. Neville's frown deepened as his attack backfired into a scatter-attack on himself, taking in the rapid incoming beneath his feet.

Since coming back to his senses after his magical exhaustion episode, Neville had found something strange with his magic. For the first time, he was seriously anxious about the possible adverse effect of multiple magical exhaustion episodes, which really might cause his gradual transformation into a Squib. To his relief, his magical powers had not only gone up, but his magical endurance, control, and especially Arcane Magic capabilities had increased. Neville was no healer but he could only deduce that his magical exhaustion periods acted the same way as a very intense training regime.

Willing a sheet of Gauthidian Ice to appear below his feet, Neville watched it fall and crush the stones that were coming up beneath him without even causing a crack in the ice surface. Neville raised his face again to plan his next move but found McGonagall floating right in front of his eyes.

Neville guessed McGonagall's spell had some sort of wide-area levitation effect. The stones were light and thus shot up readily, but even at the centre of the circle McGonagall took a little time to be levitated up to Neville's height in the air. The two's paths met as Neville fell, standing on his slab of ice, and McGonagall already in a spell activation pose.

Instinctively, Neville raised his wand to McGonagall's downwards strike with hers, and his protective spell collided with her curse. Neville was sent away flying from the spells blasts' epicentre and plummeted towards the ground. Spinning in the air, Neville pointed his wand to his previous slab of ice. The ice turned rapidly into water and he water bombed into the clear liquid.

"Oh? I don't think that's a normal Transfiguration, Neville." McGonagall landed softly a few feet away from Neville, who was soaked from head to toe. He had utilised Arcane Magic, transforming the ice into water and using concentration to retain a cubical shape like a fish tank without glass. McGonagall's voice was laced with certain smugness, "Our little duel has turned out to be quite interesting."

"From before Minnie – Trying to make your opponent hurry in frustration because he is short on time is also a staple tactic in a duel," Neville said and slashed down his wand. While she was speaking earlier, he had noticed the grass on his feet transfiguring into sharp vines and creeping up his boots. He managed to freeze them before it picked his ankles during the distraction. He crushed the frozen vines under his boot and said, "But that doesn't mean I like your tactics."

"As I've said Neville. If you beat me, then you can go." McGonagall's statement proved to Neville how confident she was of her abilities.

"I really have to go at it with all I've got then?" Neville closed his eyes for a second and reopened them with renewed flare. Leaping forward, a few balls of mist could be seen forming behind his head.

McGonagall braced herself, summoning a few barrows and logs from the side of Hagrid's hut to her defence. Neville continued to run towards her as he pointed out his wand. Ice needles were expelled from the balls of mists he previously conjured at a rate like an automatic firearm, giving him cover as he tried to get close enough to the woman for a physical attack.

McGonagall swiftly changed position while stalling him with the barrels and logs, which burst with a bang as they made contact with the wasps of ice needles. With a harrumph, she pointed her wand at the wooden splinters and flocks of small birds flew into Neville's face after her Transfiguration.

Waving his arm to try and get a clear view, Neville almost got hit by a stunner she sent through the confusion. Getting annoyed, and afraid the birds will peck a spot of blood off him, he slashed down on the conjured birds around him. A cut of cruel chill severed a few of their wings, leaving behind shards of ice to fall onto the ground. The fallen birds did not dispel though, and McGonagall merged the fallen birds' bodies with the ones still alive and transfigured the mass into a larger raptor. For every bird Neville fought off, a bigger raptor dove back to haunt with ever sharper talons.

Neville assertively made a retreat from the middle of the confusion using Floating Magic. Leaning back into the air and shooting away parallel to the ground, Neville sent back a giant Exploding Charm in the middle of the raptors. He could see McGonagall's wand still pointing inside the explosion and just managed to execute a dodge from the massive book that appeared.

"A book? Seriously?" Neville ranted at her choice of Transfiguration as he dodged the book again, trying to slam him shut inside its pages. "How's this going to draw blood?"

"Don't underestimate paper cuts Neville," McGonagall did a few complex motions with her wand and the book flipped opened. Its pages started to turn by themselves and paper aeroplanes flew out from the book like squadrons of fighter jets.

"Enough!" Feeling like the mouse in this cat-and-mouse game, Neville could feel all his magical energy coursing through his veins as he dispelled the energy in the form of a tornado of flames around his body.

Although his elemental affinity was water, Arcane Magic was able to manipulate other elements. The simplest of which were Wind and Fire and the likes, but at higher mastery, Neville was sure Dumbledore could conjure poison or metal elements at will. It took Neville all his concentration and magic to create the swirling fire that protected him from McGonagall's Kamikaze planes, the twisting flames carrying them up and burning them to ash.

The paper finally ran out from the book, which disappeared, and Neville was left panting with a knee on the ground. Being at the centre of the fire spin made his breathing quite difficult, and he was sure his hair was at least a bit charred. McGonagall was not going to give him time to recover though, as he narrowly barrow-rolled away from a stunner.

"That's it Minnie!" Neville shouted menacingly and waved his wand about in the air, "time for the kill!" Neville brought down a wave of mist around the battleground, also aided by heat that was given off by his previous fire defence.

"Do you really expect me to believe that Neville? Plus, a little fog won't disguise you enough to get close to me." McGonagall waved her wand at the pebbles and debris lying between the two of them. They grew and took the form of dark ferocious lions, roaring at a rondo that demanded Neville's surrender.

Neville's mist only made the lions look more menacing, since their superior sight and sense of smell would find Neville before he took two steps towards McGonagall. However, he took a deep breath and slashed his wand as if he was holding a sword in front of him: where his wand pointed and slashed, an icicle of Gauthidian Ice shot up from the ground and speared into a lion.

The lion herd were defenceless against the attack from beneath them, but McGonagall was not just going to stand and wait for all her Transfigurations to vanish. Neville dodged a spell hurtling for him and moved to follow McGonagall's steps. McGonagall would throw a stunner for each time Neville tried to spike a lion, or even McGonagall herself, with an icicle.

Due to the icicles being Gauthidian Ice, McGonagall would have trouble trying to transfigure them and in moments, she found herself stuck in a maze of icicles. Neville's shadow would swoop in and out around her from the ice's reflections in the mist, and a few spells would be sporadically exchanged. The spells made minimal damage on the Gauthidian Ice and more icicles would take place of the damaged ones.

"Very good Neville, but how long do you think you can play hide and seek?" McGonagall asked, knowing Neville was in a hurry to go for some reason or other to chase after Ron's rat. "We can do this all day you know."

Neville did not hear her taunt though.

_Unsporting and a cheat as she'll say I am – I really am in a hurry._

Neville's exclamation to killing her, the mist, and the icicles were all a ploy to trick McGonagall, even just a minute, to allow him to escape. After all, he did not need to win the duel with McGonagall to leave. Plus, whether he could win or not was another matter. By the time McGonagall realised she had been trick, and she was the one befuddled by Neville's icicle maze, he would already be over the hills and out of her sight.

Neville was still unhappy with the delay though as he could not see any trails left by Pettigrew. All he could do was head in the general direction that Pettigrew had escaped to across the school grounds. Eventually, Neville ended up in front of the Whomping Willow, much to his frustrations.

_So Fate has finally returned to tamper things eh? _

Neville remembered this scene was pretty complex in the books, not to mention with the muddle of the blasted Time Turner thrown in the fry as well, but he did remember almost the whole cast was in the Shrieking Shack. Taking a deep breath, Neville levitated a branch to freeze the Willow and plunged down through the underground passageway he had used to visit Sirius all through the first part of the school year.

Neville slowed and cautiously floated up to the trap door that allowed him to peek into the Shrieking Shack.

"Black! I've finally got you! And Lupin! I knew you were in league with him!" Neville could see Snape's back, pointing his wand at Sirius and an unarmed Lupin. Pettigrew the rat was squirming under Black's hand, trying to escape.

The Trio was, quite unsurprisingly, in the room as well. They looked surprised and dazed more than anything, and Neville took it as a result of Snape only having recently showed himself under Harry's Invisibility Cloak lying by Snape's feet.

What happened was really not that different from the books. Pettigrew had escaped from Neville's ploy and on his way, ran into the Trio under the Invisibility Cloak, who was standing from afar trying to catch a glimpse of Buckbeak's trial. Ron of course picked him up, and during Pettigrew's struggle, he caught the attention of Sirius the dog, who was too impatient to just sit and wait at the Shrieking Shack and came out to have a nosy look. Sirius saw Pettigrew, attacked Ron to get the rat like his impulsive self, and the Trio gave chase. Lupin really was standing by, as Neville had told him to, in his office until he saw on the Mauarders Map that Pettigrew's dot was moving away from Hogwarts. In Lupin's haste to chase after Pettigrew, he left the Map on his desk, which was found by Snape, who originally came to Lupin's office to give him his Wolfsbane Potion. Lupin got to the Shack, reunited with Black, and the two explained everything to the Trio. At this point, Snape showed up under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, left outside the Whomping Willow, and took control of the situation, as Neville now saw.

"Professor Snape! You've got it all wrong! Professor Lupin isn't helping Black – actually, Sirius isn't in the wrong at all! He wasn't trying to kill me as everyone seems to think!" Harry explained, desperately grasping onto Snape's robes sleeves.

Snape's eyes actually soften for a moment but his Occlumency was even better than Neville's. By the next second, Snape said in a cold voice, "Harry. Sirius Black killed your parents. Let go of me. I'll kill him here myself!"

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" Neville decided now was a good time to stop Snape. Unlike the book though, Neville kept Snape conscious because now he might have a chance of understanding Sirius's innocence.

"Neville!" Hermione gasped as he floated into the room.

"Hey buddy! I owe you one – again!" Sirius wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I really thought that greasy git would kill me!"

Snape was glaring up at Neville from the ground as Harry tried his best to explain the situation to his petrified mentor. Neville had to take a few steps away from Snape in case his glare swallowed him up in whole. Neville said, "Listen Professor Snape, I know you trusted in me. I apologise, but it really isn't Sirius who betrayed Lily."

"My mother?" Snape's eyes widened at Harry, who was very slowly but quite surely coming to understanding of Snape's feelings for Lily from Neville's slip ups, and Snape glared at Neville even harder.

During this exchange, Lupin had picked up his wand from the ground and pointed it at Pettigrew. The rat hideously enlarged itself in boils and only gradually resembled a hunchback shape. When Pettigrew's human form showed itself, Ron was so pale he was practically acting as a light source to the room.

"I guess that should prove everything," Neville sighed. "Pettigrew is still alive, meaning Sirius didn't kill him back then. Why did Sirius try to kill the rat? Because the rat was the Secret Keeper who told Voldemort of Harry's location."

A whole scene played out with Harry letting Pettigrew live just as the books, and Neville allowed it to run. His job was done – even if it was Sirius who ultimately captured Pettigrew and not him. He guessed it was more fitting that way, as Sirius did sort of get his revenge like this.

"Neville?" He stiffened as Hermione's' breath caught his ears. The familiar smell of books and ink made him raise his Occlumency to full power. "Did you know… about all this?"

Knowing either answer possible would make Hermione angry, or worst, scared, Neville pretended not to have heard her and cut the scene short. "Alright guys. We've got Pettigrew, everyone knows the whole story, and now all that's left is to take Pettigrew to the Ministry. Hopefully this'll outweigh the little ruckus I've caused earlier today –"

"Guys?" Ron gulped and pointed in Lupin's direction. "This doesn't look good!"

Maybe it was because Sirius had been living here for most of the year, or there had been a larger scuffle with Pettigrew before Neville got here, but a crack in the window of the boarded Shrieking Shack made everyone's blood run cold. A beam of moonlight had shone through the crack in the boards and Lupin was standing limply, staring at it, with his wand forgotten on the floor. His body could visibly be seen shuddering and Neville was the first to react.

"Sirius, secure Pettigrew! Harry, take Snape away. Everyone run back down the tunnel and back to Hogwarts!"

Sirius acted right after Neville, recognising Lupin's transformation. Turning into a massive black dog, Sirius bit Pettigrew by the neck of his tattered robes and disappeared down the tunnel with the squealing man not long after Harry. Harry had already levitated Snape when Sirius was transforming and disappeared with him down the tunnel, yelling for Ron and Hermione to hurry up.

"N-neville! Why are you not –"

"Ron! Get her out of here!" Neville shouted as he blasted ice against Lupin, who was growing bigger and hairier by the second, attempting to hold him in place.

Ron dragged Hermione with him, using his Body Fortifying magic on himself to pull her along despite his injured leg, and Neville brought up the rear. Before Neville could jump down the tunnel with the others, a deafening roar and the shatter of ice erupted from Lupin, the Werewolf.

A tall hairy wolf, standing on his hind legs with yellow bared fangs drooling with saliva, glared at the only other person in the room with animalistic slits. This was the first time Neville had come face to face with a werewolf and by the muscles he saw on his thighs as Lupin leapt for him through the shattered ice, Neville knew he had to stay behind to ensure the others' safe escape.

Jumping up and activating his Floating Magic, Neville burst up through the first floor with a Reductor Curse, and sent the sharp wooden debris for Lupin's eyes. With his first assault being a miss, the werewolf jumped with his arms protecting his face, intending to ram into Neville on top of him.

"Heeaahhh!" Unlike the duel with McGonagall before, he knew this really was life and death. Neville immediately utilised all the magic inside his body and materialised a sword of Gauthidian Ice up to the length of his wand. Bringing down the sharp and heavy weapon into the path of the werewolf, they both rebounded off each other upon contact.

Lupin's werewolf regeneration and muscle mass prevented him from being cut in two, but a long gash on his arm bled profusely. Neville was knocked back, rebounded off the second floor ceiling, and falling back through a hole down to the ground floor, luckily landing on the bed – but broke through it and onto the hard floorboards.

Getting up quickly with Occlumency suppressing the pain, Neville narrowly dodged Lupin's pursuing claw. At his side now, Neville made another downward swing with his sword, aiming to severe Lupin's arm in two. A werewolf's speed should never be underestimated though as Lupin jutted his elbow out and sent Neville flying into the opposite wall.

Plaster and maybe even crumbs of brick fell down from the spider web of cracks on the wall behind Neville as he struggled to stay on his feet. Even through Occlumency, his pain was getting too great to ignore but he could see Lupin was going for him again.

Willing his ice sword into a water whip, Neville swung his wand round and lashed at Lupin's body. The whip of water circled around the werewolf's body and arms in a non-Newtonian state for a few loops, and then solidified into a lasso of Gauthidian Ice. Lupin roared at the imprisonment, and Neville pointed his wand straight at his chest, sending his prisoner hurtling back with a Banishment Spell. To secure the werewolf, now on the floor on his back, Neville conjured three thick, sharp, icicles of Gauthidian Ice and impelled them into Lupin's legs and stomach to the werewolf's howl of pain.

"Sorry Lupin. You'll forgive me in the morning." Neville turned to chase after the others to make sure they were alright, when he heard the sound of ice shattering once again to his shock.

He turned back and stared in disbelief as Lupin, who had shattered his ice lasso with brute strength, grabbed the giant icicle in his stomach and pulled it out with a roar. In another two, powerful swipes, he made toothpicks out of the icicles pinning down his legs and stood up. Although the werewolf was punctured with holes and was staining the room red with his blood, the beast man only displayed anger as his emotion.

With a wild roar, and a speed Neville swore was greater than before, Lupin punched out one arm and his claws sunk into Neville's chest and it was Lupin's turn to pin his pry into the wall. Coughing up blood, Neville could see the thirst in Lupin's feral eyes as he raised his other arm, claws sharp and aiming for Neville's neck.

_Can't use normal spells cause they're spell-resistant. Can't restrain him with ice. Can't move cause his paw is through my chest. Damn…My usual attacks are ineffective and to do something like the wave at the Festival, I need a water source… Argh… If I can just stop coughing up blood for a moment and –_

Lupin was just about to bring down his claws at Neville's vocal chords when Neville's eyes shone. Flicking his wand, Neville used his hydrokinetic abilities to summon all the blood in the room; from the floor and ceiling, from Lupin's arm, from Neville's own chest and even from the blood that just pumped out of his own heart. He concentrated on summoning the blood to gather around Lupin's head, much to the werewolf's confusion. Just as Lupin was about to make a swat at the globes of blood that was gathering all around him, Neville shot it as one at his face.

Neville knew Lupin could taste the blood he tasted now, as he was controlling a giant sphere of blood to surround the werewolf's face, drowning him in the scarlet ball. The suffocating Lupin roughly dug his paw out of Neville's body, which made him see stars for a few moments as he crashed helpless to the ground, and Lupin stumbled a few steps back. The werewolf even started to punch and claw at his own face, but Neville's wand kept a lock on Lupin's head.

Finally, with a loud thud, the werewolf fell to the ground on his back and Neville released his control on the blood torture. Lupin immediately started coughing and panting on the ground, clots of blood spewing from his jaw. A werewolf's regeneration abilities were nothing to undermine and Neville crawled back up to his feet before Lupin could get his breath back.

Neville lifted his wand above his head, eyes closed in concentration and trying his best to ignore the masses of blood flowing out from his chest and gathering in front of him. He willed for twelve massive icicles composed of a mixture of blood and Gauthidian Ice to form in the air in front of him, freezing most objects in the room during the process from the radiating Arcane magic spell.

"Ha!" With a cry Neville brought his wand down and the twelve icicles speared through Lupin's limbs to the werewolf's howl. Three icicles stabbed through each of his arms and legs, and Neville still thought it would be a matter of time before Lupin broke free. Dragging his feet with a trail of blood, in his light headedness, Neville stared down at the werewolf, whose gaping mouth was roaring profanities in the beast's language.

Pointing the tip of his wand down, Neville whispered swiftly the incantation to merge spells that he had learnt through his extracurricular Charms research. A werewolf might be resistant to magic, but he really doubted their internal organs would also be resistant of spells. Incantation finished, a merge of five stunners in one gathered at the tip of Neville's wand in a vibrant red spark.

Deeming it as Lupin's last roar for the night, Neville shot the spell down his throat. A magical red puff of dust spread in a wide circle as the werewolf's head finally fell onto the ground, motionless. Neville did not even bother checking for a pulse because he was sure the werewolf powers would heal Lupin by the next morning.

Although the only thing Neville wanted to do now was to lie down, he knew this place was definitely still too dangerous to relax. Although most of the room was frozen over, and even he himself shivered at the dip in temperature, Neville sealed all the windows and exits with Gauthidian Ice, just in case Lupin broke free before day break. He almost tumbled into the passageway back to Hogwarts, and sealed off the trap door behind him with both magic and ice. He would get Dumbledore to free Lupin tomorrow if Lupin could not make his way out – Lupin's wand was still there after all.

Neville mumbled the incantation for all the healing spells he knew as he wobbled along the dark passageway. He even crashed into the wall a good few times, making his earlier shabby healing spells obsolete. He never had a knack for healing spells. He just hoped on the other side of the tunnel, he would get a better form of emergency treatment. Digging into the pockets in his cargo pants, he just managed to grab a few emergency Blood Replenishing Potion capsules he always had on his person. He stuffed them all in his mouth when he climbed out of the Whomping Willow.

"I don't know what that potion you're taking is, but I'm saying that's definitely overdose." Neville swallowed the potion, immediately feeling a bit more clearheaded.

"Ron, what happened?" Neville asked, saying goodbye to his hopes of getting sent to the Hospital Wing.

Ron was sitting just a little away from the Whomping Willow, with Snape still motionless beside him. Ron said, "In our rush to escape, Scabbers – I mean, Peter Pettigrew managed to escape. Black took my wand to chase after him, as did Harry and Hermione. I didn't know if I should…"

Neville recognised Snape's wand in Ron's hands, but knew Ron was even worst at healing spells to even heal his own leg. Like Ron, Neville was hesitant about rejuvenating Snape, especially since Neville was the one who petrified him in the first place. Neville figured since he could hardly stand, he should not turn away any source of support even if the particular support might kill him first before heading out after Sirius.

"_Enervate_!" Neville pointed at Snape, and the bat's menacing look was enough to make Neville faint. Neville actually lost his balance and fell on his back though. He was still conscious but the fall opened up a lot of wounds again. After all, his fights with McGonagall and Lupin had worn down his magic – a lot.

"Foolish boy!" Snape grabbed his wand back from Ron and rushed over to Neville. Snape pulled out a test tube and flicked the stopper away, emitting a strong smell of herbs and grass. "Drink this!"

The potion tasted spicy in Neville's mouth – not to mention mind-numbingly bitter. He thought his taste buds were permanently damaged after that, but he did feel a warmth going down his throat like alcohol, going on to relief some of the pain that had been searing around his body.

"Thanks," Neville coughed and sat up on his own.

Snape took gratitude in anger apparently as the man grabbed the front of Neville's torn robes, "Don't even _think_ about petrifying me again or it'll be the last thing you'll ever do!"

"Head for the forest. Harry is there." Neville diverted the bat's attention and he was gone within a heartbeat. Who knew if the Dementors would still be here or what Pettigrew was doing in the Forest, but he worried for Sirius, who was still weak from being on the run since the Festival and lacking proper nourishment.

Neville slowly climbed to his feet and was about to go after Snape when a hand gripped his wrist. He found that Ron had hobbled over to him with a determined look on his face.

"I know I'm the only one without a wand here, but there's no way you're going anywhere in your condition."

"I guess you're right." Neville waved his wand over his body, where a large patch of ice appeared over most of his chest, freezing up the wound caused by Lupin's claw. Neville shivered and broke out a grin, "The bleeding should be stopped with this, now let go of me."

"Well then… At least have a sit down with a cripple. For old time's sake." Ron uncharacteristic persuasion really did stop Neville in his tracks.

_This guy would never use to voluntarily assume this sort of stance. Is he really… growing up?_

"Ron, you're no old timer," Neville sighed and sat down next to Ron.

0

0

0

A/N: A great big round of applause for the wonderful Adonish please! As you know, I've always had little mistakes here and there, but this time, my new beta and I have gone over this with an even finer comb – thanks very much!

Actually, almost forgot to post this chapter, but again, next chapter next month is the plan :D


	69. Book 3 Chapter 26

Synopsis: After finally escaping the duel from McGonagall, Neville found himself once again stuck in the loop of fate. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have turned hostile on him at the Shrieking Shack and after Pettigrew's secret is out to the Trio, Black, and Snape, Lupin caught a glimpse of moonlight and transformed into a werewolf. Neville painfully won the fight to allow others to escape, but back at Hogwarts, Pettigrew managed to go on the run. Seeing Neville's injured state, Ron tried to convince Neville to leave Pettigrew's pursuit to the others and the two old friends sit down for a talk…

Chapter 68 – A familiar end to the battle of Dementors?

Ron chuckled, "And this is not really for old time's sake, is it? I see now. All that pureblood stuff you posed. It's all pretence for something or other behind the scenes, right?"

Neville would have felt like he was making excuses, but he knew Ron would completely comprehend now what Neville would say was the truth. "I had to get in with the purebloods and the Slytherin Council. For one, they were terrorising the school – so I terrorised them back to keep them relatively in check before taking back over. For two, I'd suspected Pansy Parkinson kept Pettigrew in hiding from some of the things she said – and she did. My little motifs had all been correctly placed and if there were just less surprises tonight – heck, like that ever happen for us."

"So. You thought your plan was next to perfect for exposing Pettigrew?" Ron asked, "But what about the Gryffindors? You should see the amount of traps set up on your bed by the twins, and Ginny welling up every time your name is mentioned. And what about your Presidency? It was only temporary before, but how can you ever take control of the Student Council again after everyone thinks you were part of the purebloods? Then what about us? Do you really think we can forgive you for keeping us in the dark about everything? You were deliberately cruel to us, your friends, just so you could trick Pansy?"

Neville sighed and messed up his hair a bit. "I don't know Ron. I really don't know how to fix any of that. The Council was just an idea I randomly started, and it'll be managed even better by someone more talented. I've prepared myself for changing to Slytherin next year; just have to watch out for a few tricks from the pureblood kids. And you guys… well, I'm sorry, it was easier to just keep you guys out of my plan and the less people knew, the better."

"One of the main reasons we've fallen out was the fact that you kept everything to yourself!" Ron ranted. "You only let us know what you think is good for us and don't trust us at all for help! That's just being a git!"

"Here comes that 'git' again," Neville had a chuckle, but stopped when his chest hurt. "You guys will just have to take it as a flaw in my personality – like how you keep saying 'git'."

"Git," Ron shook his head with a smile. "If you're going to be like that, then it's all the better for me."

"How do you mean?"

"With Hermione."

Neville paused for a bit, and asked, "What does this mean? What about Luna? Are you and Hermione… together?"

"Hermione and I are friends again," Ron said, trying to sound nonchalant. Neville guessed he had just been too quick to judge their current relationship with reference to the Lavender incident from the books. Ron continued, "After your disappearance after the Festival, I guess I was just there to be a shoulder to cry on. Then your whole pureblood pretence made Hermione and I stand on the same side. As for Luna… when she came up and spoke to me as if nothing's happened, and after I've cooled off... I kind of knew that before with you… Well – what I'm trying to say is – About telling Hermione about the chocolates as well… I'm sorry…"

_I guess Hermione was the key factor in when Ron hits maturity. If the thing with Lavender Brown came up earlier in the books, maybe Harry would have found the Horcruxes earlier after all._

As if a thought just struck him on the head, Ron hastily turned back round despite his blush and exclaimed, "Urgh, actually scratch that! I am sorry for misunderstanding about Luna, but I do not take back telling the truth. After all… I think instead of friends, I guess we can only be rivals when it comes to…"

Thinking back when Neville was reading the books, he had always been on the Ron and Hermione ship. Neville sighed and said, "No Ron, I would prefer to be friends more than rivals with you. Frankly speaking, I'm not sure about my feelings right now at all after all this happened."

"It doesn't matter what you feel. I'm sure Hermione… for you… and I'm not anymore… you know." Ron swore and spat on the ground next to him, as Neville watched on in mild-humour. _This is just that boy's personality isn't it?_

"You're not that smart you can read people's minds Ron." Neville laughed, waving his notion off. From the corner of Neville's eyes he saw a few objects coming their way through the night sky and stood up. "I'm glad we managed to talk this out Ron."

Ron saw the capsules of Blood Replenishing Potions, amongst other salves and medicine, flying through the air. "Long range summon… We aren't even supposed to know the summoning spell until next year – not to mention non-verbal spells."

"Details," Neville grabbed the incoming potion capsules and swallowed them quickly. He rubbed some healing salves and other lotions to cure some of his injuries. Snape's emergency potion was good, but not enough to get him going until now.

"With Luna before... I guess I have to admit that… I was just being jealous. Harry being famous is a given, but you and I are both from the same wizarding background and almost the same starting point – I just didn't know how you managed to pull so far away from me…"

"Harry is no different – no one starts out different Ron. Also, with most adventures being just Hermione and him, he has just as much chance of stealing Hermione away from you – just as any other person." Neville ended with a joke and stood up, "Anyway, sorry to leave you but the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-A-Pain-In-The-Ass got himself into a pinch again I think."

"Don't think you're the only one going," Ron stood up, having taken some of the medicine that came along with the others, his leg was more or less movable.

"You don't have a wand Ron," Neville pointed out.

"I'm going to go get McGonagall or Dumbledore." Ron said knowingly. "I knew you'd try and stop me some way or other."

"Don't be so smug."

"You've never won at chess against me yet, or Hoglake, your own game." Ron laughed and Neville parted ways with him for now.

Although the overdose of healing potions had gotten Neville back on his feet, he still felt magically weakened from his previous fights and injuries. Floating Magic was reserved for whatever attacks he knew he was running into and, on more than several occasions, Neville tripped over random tree roots. He shivered as he made his way deeper into the Forbidden Forest, the patch of ice on his chest making his lips tremble.

_Man… The further I walk the worst this wound in my chest feels… Is it just me or is this ice getting colder – Wait… The Dementors!_

The penny dropped for Neville and he hurried towards the direction that made him feel the coldest. He soon saw faint white flashes in the distance and ran faster – until his left arm grazed something devilishly cold. Neville screamed and clutched onto his left arm, numb by his side, and saw that he had ran right into a Dementor's skeletal clutches. Now that he had a good look about him, he was already surrounded.

Flipping his wand out from his armband, Neville raised his Occlumency to max again and shouted, "_Excalibur Patronus_!"

With his self-invented activation key for the spell, Neville's wand once again became the hilt of a sword. This time instead of ice, he was wielding a sabre of light, which the Dementors backed away from immediately. Finally activating his Floating Magic, Neville leaped for the Dementor who injured his arm and stabbed it in the chest, dispelling it into a black vapour of foul smells.

Not wanting to waste more time in the forest, Neville flew by the thin trees about him towards the clearing where he knew Harry would be. Slashing his way through the Dementor crowd, which only grew thicker as he neared the clearing, Neville finally saw Harry's fighting figure.

Utilising the Wand Magic that Snape had taught him throughout the year, Harry was levitating his own wand about in mid-air around him, shooting white mist at any Dementors that got near to the unconscious Sirius and Hermione at his feet. He was holding both Sirius's and Hermione's wand in each hand, trying to drive off the other Dementors himself.

"Harry!" Neville dove into the clearing, slashing two Dementors in one spin in the midriff.

"Neville! Get Hermione and Sirius out of here!" Harry screamed exactly what Neville was about to.

Although this would have gave him a laugh at normal times, Neville screamed, "You go! You can't kill these guys!"

"You go! I have more wands!" Neville was pretty put out by the relative childishness Harry was displaying tonight opposed to Ron.

"Then use those wands to levitate them! Go!" Neville shouted again.

"You go!"

"This is not helping!" Neville turned again and slashed down another Dementor.

"Would you stop trying to take this all on yourself? Like the thousands of other times!" Harry roared, fending off two Dementors floating in from either sides of him. "You've been doing so from the start of the year! Sirius told me! You knew the whole thing about my Godfather and you didn't even tell me!"

"I was looking out for you! I wanted to wait until all of this is settled first! Did you want to reunite with your Godfather when getting attacked by werewolves and Dementors like this?" Neville had to float back a little just due to the sheer number of Dementors around him. "You would've just thought he was trying to kill you if you'd seen him at the start of the year!"

"You could've explained! You could've been the one to tell me you were a seer instead of Lupin! I could've helped! But you went and did everything on your own! Are we really even friends if you don't let me help you?" Harry had still to master his Patronus Charm and he was forced back as well by a particularly resistant Dementor.

The two were standing back to back, too busy with the black cloaks circling around them like piranhas. Neville answered, "I know of a future. But I don't know if it'll be a future that really will come true! I don't want to drag you into it before I can make sure!"

"Git!"

"You're not Ron!"

"Git!"

Neville growled and lunged at a Dementor at the same time Harry pointed all three of his wands on one single Dementor at his side. Both Dementors vaporised due to the Patronus forms.

Neville said, "Go Harry. We can squabble later."

"Sorry Neville… I'm just glad we managed to tell you all this before… before…" Harry's voice disappeared from behind Neville, and he knew the boy had fallen from the effects of the Dementors. He was probably on his last leg when Neville appeared.

Even with the help of Occlumency and his Patronus sword, Neville could still feel his arms and eyes drooping by the second. Now without the help of Harry, Neville knew it was just a matter of time before he would follow suit.

"Future Harry! Hermione! Are you there?" Neville shouted, wondering if the books remained unchanged. No replies came from the woods around him and Neville almost got grabbed by one of the Dementors.

Neville just managed to catch a glimpse of the fainted Hermione on the ground and saw the Time Turner chain hanging from her neck. He also spotted that, probably from her falling over, the glass on the Time Turner itself had cracked and smashed.

_So much of Deus Ex Machina to the rescue._

"Snape!" Neville even called out to the man, who would never let Neville live it down for asking for help, but again, no replies. "Where the hell did you go damn it! Stupid blind bat, getting lost in the woods!"

Neville's rants of course did not deter the Dementors at all, but quite contrary, fed on his negative emotions. Neville could see the light from his Patronus dimming with each slash he made to the Dementors, who was starting to dodge them like wisps of the wind. Panting, sweating, and shivering from the large patch of ice still on his chest, Neville eventually slid down onto one knee. Neville could feel despair, in the physical form of Dementors, closing in all around him. Not only were they starved for the whole year, but with them having been attracted here by Sirius, there was no way any of them would be spared.

_Think happy thoughts! Think happy thoughts to sustain the Patronus! That's the only way to keep them at bay. Even for an extra second. Ron is coming with McGonagall. And Snape may stumble in at any time… Think happy thoughts! Without it this sword is useless! Use…less…_

Neville looked at his sword, then Harry, then back to his high-density Patronus again. Neville coughed out a laugh and said to Harry, whether he heard it or not, "Harry. You're the main hero in this book. It really shouldn't be my job to take care of you or guide you or save you."

Standing up on his feet again, and making a gamble, Neville said, "People travel to other worlds for fun – and so far I haven't had my fair share of that yet! Take back this damn burden of yours Harry! Then maybe next year I can stop worry about Voldemort for you and freely spend it picking up Fleur Delacour!"

With this solidly confirmed new perspective, Neville's Patronus sword shone again in the dark clearing. The Dementors halted their steps for the time being, but instead of an onslaught into their ranks, Neville turned and stood over Harry's body. Neville turned his wand over and the sword tip was facing down.

Neville took a deep breath and stabbed the light blade through Harry's forehead.

With that last move, Neville fell to his side and the light from his wand died. Just keeping his eyes open, he saw Harry starting to stir.

_Heh, I knew those Quidditch practices would've built up his physical strength. That brat just fainted because of the Dementor's psychological effects. Guess my gamble paid off – the high intensity Patronus _was_ pretty much just concentrated happy thoughts manifested. I wonder if stabbing him equals to injecting his nightmares with bunny and rainbows. _

"Harry…" Neville breathed out and his call seemed to have finally brought Harry back to the conscious world.

"W-we're still… here?" Neville would have chuckled at the surprise in Harry's tone if he had the strength. _Man, I hope I don't get another magical exhaustion episode…_

"Don't always expect to wake up in a hospital bed Harry. Listen. You've been around these Dementors for far too long. We don't have much time. You have a hell lot more chance in making a corporeal Patronus than I do. Finish this."

"B-but I've still –"

"Just do it! If you want me to let you help me, I will let you – now!" Neville willed himself to put out an incentive before passing out, "Hey, and if you manage to save our arses, maybe I'll take you to Rose Lane again this summer – my treat."

0

0k

0

Neville woke up in the Hospital Wing again. He was getting used to it. His first instinct was to check his wand was still with him, and his first thought was that he survived his latest near-death experience.

"How are you feeling Neville?" Draco was sitting next to his hospital bed and Neville tried to sit up.

"Sore." Neville nursed the pain in his chest, whether it was from frost bites or something internal. He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts as best as he could without Occlumency. As he turned back to Draco, trying to ignore the pain shooting up his sides, he asked, "How are you faring yourself? Sorry I couldn't be there for you… for however long I've been here."

"Don't be absurd," Draco helped Neville sit up and said, "I've calmed down now. I should be the one apologising for being useless while you fought McGonagall."

"If you didn't free me from MacNair's curse, the whole night could've been a write off." Neville asked, "Have you spoke to your father, or Pansy, any further?"

"No, I've got all I needed from Pansy." Draco looked out the far away window at the sunset, "As for my father… We exchanged a few owls."

"That bad, huh?" Neville would have put a hand on the boy's shoulder if he could lift it through the sling arrangement Madam Pomfrey had trapped it in.

Draco's stare changed to a glare, keeping his voice low, "I just can't believe him. He thinks he can just dictate everything I do? …Well, maybe he can – but to manipulate me with _Parkinson_! He doesn't even have the decency to keep it inside the Malfoy house! How am I supposed to survive in Slytherin after Parkinson made a fool out of me for the whole year?"

"What is the status of the Council?"

"I've temporarily disbanded it until further notice. There was no end of school year event planned anyway." Draco sighed in frustration, "I don't know what I should do at all… for the future or the past…"

Neville knew Draco had always been upset for how the two of them turned out through the year, and Draco deemed this would be the time to really reconcile. Neville shook his head, "I want you to know what I think. None of what you did this year was your fault. Maybe partially for having an ass of a father, but don't think you can't come down to the Hoglake Store any time you like."

Draco returned a grateful look at Neville, but stayed silent. Draco had always been proud to be a Malfoy, and for good or bad, he was always one hundred percent devoted and attached to his family. Now that he found out his father, whether it was from parental love or otherwise, had practically shattered the life he had established here at Hogwarts, without any regards to Draco's own self pride, he was left at a cross road. Draco sighed after a while and asked Neville in all seriousness, "Any advice?"

"Two choices. Tell your father you don't like it, get a good shouting and accept whatever it is he has in stall for you to 'correct your ways'. Or… cut the strings and break loose to stand on your own."

Draco probably knew the options already, but having Neville put it that way so clear cut, he buried his face in his hands. It was only expected, since the books' Draco valued the Malfoy name and his family more than life itself.

"Lucius Malfoy has his own morals and standards – plus, he does things like a true Slytherin. The unfortunate thing is that his values may not necessary coincide with yours Draco. He may not be a bad father to you, but do you really want to just live in his shadow?" Neville could not resist and added, "As far as I can guess, not just to raise the Parkinson's social status, but your father had arranged for Pansy to marry into your name."

Neville knew Draco was going to be met with worst things if he continued down his father's path, and shrewdly attempted to nudge Draco away from it lightly. Even if Neville thought he was truthfully being manipulative this time, he did not want to see his friend suffer in the future when he could help it.

Draco growled at Neville's supposed joke – or the smart boy saw through his intentions at once. "You're completely defenceless now, and with no witnesses here they won't even know where to find your body!"

Neville laughed and pretended to shudder behind his hands, "Oh, oh! I'm so sorry! Oh! I should borrow that Forgiveness Note from Hanna in case you eat me!"

Neville's fooling around stopped though when he caught the strange expression on Draco's face. Draco muttered, "It's a stupid note from first year…"

Neville raised an eyebrow and his lips tugged up at a corner, "What happened behind the scenes Draco? Tell me –"

"Nothing happened," Draco looked away, and even pouted a little. Neville was beginning to form a notion that maybe who Draco thought as his second closest friend was a timid Hufflepuff.

"If you say so…" Neville disguised his thoughts well to avoid Draco's embarrassment. In a dramatic timing, Hannah entered into the corridor by the end of Neville's bed with a vase.

"Neville! You're awake!" Hannah smiled in delight and put down the flowers she had been away to wash, setting them up in a vase on his bedside table. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Draco avoided any eye contact with Neville, but Neville just asked Hannah evilly, "Hannah. I made Draco mad a while ago… Can I borrow that Forgiveness Note he gave you back in first year?"

Draco's head whipped round immediately like a deer in headlights. Before he could say anything though, the straight Hufflepuff said, "Sorry Neville. I returned the note to Draco before since he was really hung up about what happened the whole year between you guys. I'd told him to forgive himself already because you won't blame him, and asked him to use the note on himself. I'm just glad you two are friends again!"

Draco was physically trembling during Hannah's explanation and finally erupted like a volcano. "Hannah Abbott! I'm going to kill you!"

0

0

0

Neville winced as he attached his Wand Armband back on his forearm – he just did not feel secure without it. He had been topless since he was admitted to the Hopsital Wing, since the bandages around his chest served pretty much as clothes. He was just glad he somehow managed to avoid Lupin's fangs.

Going through the fast-paced battle he had with the werewolf in his head for self-improvement, Neville did not notice Madam Pomfrey walking into his corridor. Now that was a mistake.

"_Oh_? So our Mr Longbottom here thinks he can start using magic again?" Madam Pomfrey's high pitch shrill was corrosive like high pH acid. Neville winced and did not even have the chance to apologise. "I guess you think Magic Exhaustion is a _laughing_ matter? You weren't running on magic, you were practically just running on adrenaline! Have you ever stretched an elastic band so much that it snapped? Well magical reserves may be increasing now from all these episodes, but that won't happen every time! From your little stunt the other night, I can guarantee your magic will stay domain for at least a month this time – and more! You mark my words. It may be a rare condition, but don't come crying back to me when you become a Squib!"

Neville frowned. He was going to ask the professional the exact possibility of that happening when his first visitor arrived.

"Poppy, the boy is still severely injured." Neville's surprising guest spoke up, feeling sorry for him.

"Broken bones, lung punctures, scratches, bruises – heck, he'll probably still be able to ride a broom after he loses a few limbs! If this boy is fragile then I don't know who isn't! You're his professor, you speak to him!" Madam Pomfrey stomped away in a huff like a T-Rex in her hunting ground.

"I… I really have to apologise Neville." Lupin said sheepishly, having heard of some of the injuries Madam Pomfey had to treat and seeing the state of Neville now.

"They're apparently just flesh wounds in the wizarding – or rather – Madam Pomfrey's standards. Plus, not all the injuries were your fault." Neville looked Lupin up and down, and apart from his usual dishevel look, he did not even have the tiniest scar on his body. Speaking straight, Neville growled, "Damn your werewolf regenerative abilities."

Lupin laughed out helplessly, "That's hitting a bit close to home. Why does it seem to me your words are a lot harsher against me than others?"

"We don't like each other very much, remember?"

"About that… Thank you for saving Sirius. If it wasn't for you, he would never be able to prove his innocence." Lupin smiled, "But he'd thought Snape, of all people, was the one to apprehend Pettigrew."

"Snape did it on purpose. He got lost in the woods, ran into the rat, and knowing the full story, caught him so Sirius can be indebted to him for the rest of his life." Neville chuckled at the thought, "Just wait until they see each other next time. Snape's going to gloat it over him for the rest of eternity."

Lupin thanked him again, "If you didn't believe in Sirius when the whole world won't, and set up the whole plan to expose Pettigrew, I couldn't have had my old friend back."

"It is quite a shame that Peter Pettigrew managed to escape." Lupin and Neville both turned to find Dumbledore's unannounced entrance to the scene. He was one of the only people who could get past Madam Pomfrey – and that was only part of the time. "Fudge made quite a big mess this time: Letting Pettigrew, a major convict, escape even if he'd been told Pettigrew was an unregistered Animagus; his Dementors attacking Hogwarts children and trespassing into the school grounds; not to mention sending an innocent man to Azkaban for the better part of two decades."

"You're not completely off the hook," Neville reminded him, "You never fought for Sirius's case either."

"Sirius had given up on himself back then and had confessed. If one of his best friends here couldn't tell the truth, I am only human to assume the same as everyone else." Neville supressed a sigh as Dumbledore expertly tried to divert the blame onto a guilty-looking Lupin, "Plus, I'd tried many times to get a visit with him in Azkaban, but failed due to… political reasons…"

"Forget politics and your word plays, I'm not in the mood – and never will be." Neville was done playing Dumbledore's apprentice. Attending Buckbeak's case before and the happenings through this year was enough to make him vomit at the idea. "I'm hereby _warning_ you not to scheme up ways of getting me back as President of the Student Council, or take part in any of your publicity stunts, or just generally anything other than maybe a prefect in later years."

"You've certainly grown more assertive through this experience Neville," Dumbledore exchanged a few looks with Lupin. "I'm sure Professor McGonagall would prefer this change, for you to remain in the Gryffindor house."

"What?" Neville had frankly been fully expecting to get moved next year to another house. "What happened to my house change application?"

The fox shrewdly replied, with Neville knowing full well he did not even bother getting up his ass to talk about it with the Board. "Well, you see Neville. House assignments are a sacred and integral part of Hogwarts and after consulting with the Sorting Hat –"

"Say no more. That hat hates me." Neville put a hand up.

"Apparently, the cause was because of your 'seer' abilities with Peter Pettigrew." Dumbeldore's twinkled and said, "We have a little talk at the end of every year Neville, but I feel the custom has grown obsolete. From your performance and growth this year, I guess instead of telling you things that you can figure out for yourself, it would instead become more of a session for me to ask you questions instead – and I admit I am a little too proud for that."

"Whatever. I read the Daily Prophet and got a pretty good handle on things outside of Hogwarts."

"You mean that article by Rita Skeeter?" Lupin gasped. "There's hardly an ounce of truth in that!"

"She did slag off everyone from old Dumbles here to Fudge, and I found that quite entertaining. I'd managed to filter through it and got the information I'd wanted to know. With me apparently back on the side of justice now for having stuck with the innocent Sirius, and Fudge stumbling everywhere with his slip-ups, my old defeats and the little riot during Buckbeak's trial should all bring my public reputation back to a neutral equilibrium. I've had enough with fighting against the purebloods and changing the way the wizarding world is – I'll leave that to more able people with more time. I plan to step down from the political and social scenes, and run the Hoglake store low-key from now on – leaving Old Al with the publicity stuff through his Hoglake Leauge Commissioner role. I think I'll take well to the image of a greedy businessman. For all the 'unanswered questions' Rita posed about me and my knowledge, I have my seer excuse."

"Wait. You're not a seer?" Neville thought he heard a feral tone in Lupin's enquiry.

"Of course I'm a seer, how else would I know the future and other things I'm not supposed to know?" Neville asked with a smile just to irritate Lupin.

Dumbledore smiled knowingly and said, "Thank you Neville. I am comforted, though not surprised, that you have got your own future all planned out, and telling me about it to try and get me 'off your case'. Anyway, you have done some great work this year. The media are all busy hives lately trying to find connections between Fudge's government relating to Voldemort or money exchanges below the tables now with the purebloods after Sirius's, and even Buckbeak's, case. You've made a hard and solid start to the process of eliminating the pureblood supremacy concept."

"You're overrating me. I just wandered blindly into the territory, and am just glad I haven't strayed too deep before getting the hell out of there." Neville shuddered and was making the motion of rubbing ants off his arms before he knew it. "Yuck."

"You may have things outside Hogwarts all planned out, but what about inside Hogwarts?" Dumbledore reminded much to Neville's annoyance.

"Harry did ask me if he could come and visit you," Lupin said.

Neville, quite surprised, replied, "He doesn't have to ask permission just to see me. As long as he gets past Madam Pomfrey he's welcomed anytime – I thought we had a good talk before already."

"While fighting a swarm of Dementors?" Lupin raised an eyebrow.

Neville waved his hand, "Details, details. Guys talk best during the middle of a fight."

Lupin laughed, "Has Sirius rubbed off on you a bit?"

"Are you all quite done?" Madam Pomfrey came back again, looking more and more like a dinosaur in Neville's eyes. "Even for you Headmaster – actually especially you! You constantly come in and out of the Hospital Wing to speak to my patients and it's trying my patience!"

"I guess we should leave Neville to rest Professor Lupin," Dumbledore causally suggested as if Madam Pomfrey had not just verbally kicked them out.

"Yes, of course. Take care Neville." Lupin smiled in the same debonair act and turned to go.

"Goodbye and take care Neville. Stay as long as you need." Dumbledore turned to Lupin on their way out and Neville picked up titbits of their conversation. "Now Lupin, will you really not consider staying on for another year?"

"Headmaster, you know after Snape and Rita Skeeter revealed that I am a werewolf there'd be no way the parents would want me to stay on."

"Well, I can always…"

Neville knew Lupin was not staying on, as was the curse with all Defence teachers. He was just wondering who would be next year's since, in his new perspective, Neville would probably intervene before the fake Mad Eye Moody would take on next year's role.

0

0

0

A/N: Made good (relatively) progress with writing this week. Only two more chapter to go to the end of the year (finally)!


	70. Book 3 Chapter 27

Synopsis: Finally after the defeat of the Dementors, left almost irresponsibly to Harry, Neville wakes up at the end of the year. Pettigrew was caught, though escaped again from Fudge's idiocy, and Sirius now innocent. All was well… apart from the loose ends…

Chapter 69 – Hospital Wing visits

"Psst! Neville!" Harry's voice woke Neville during the night, much to his disapproval.

"Urgh, Harry? Are you under that damn cloak of yours?" Neville groaned at the intrusion, rubbing his eyes open as he sat up on his bed.

"You've never been a morning person have you?" Ron said as the two of them took off the Invisibility Cloak.

"In case you haven't noticed, this isn't morning." Neville muttered and rubbed his eyes groggily. "See, I found it weird how Lupin asked me for permission for you guys to come here, but if he'd said it was in the dead of night then I would've said no."

Harry and Ron just smiled and exchanged a look with each other. Harry turned to Neville and asked, "How you feeling?"

"Tired, sore, and wondering why so many people brave it to visit me past Madam Pomfrey," he said. "So what do you guys want that can't wait until I get out of here?"

"Did you know how bad your injuries were? If Ron hadn't met up with Dumbledore, who came back just in time to the school, you might be…" Harry let it trail off.

"Meh, I've been here on this bed many a times before," Neville said.

"And every time you seem to have it worst than us…" Ron pointed out and Harry's face fell.

"You knew – or rather – saw all the dangers beforehand right? And you… you took it for us?" Harry looked on the verge of tears as he whimpered.

_What kind of look is that for a hero?_

"If you were some pretty girl Harry; but I don't want that sorta look from a guy. Plus, what I saw wasn't as intense as what we went through. You guys never had to battle the troll, and Tom Riddle's diary self didn't shoot spells, and Lupin was fought off by Sirius – in my future seer scene thingies."

"How come you have no interests at all in taking Divination?" Ron asked suspiciously while Harry looked flabbergasted at Neville's casual revelation of what their supposed fates used to be.

"A lot of my visions never came true – like the ones I said. I mean, I even had a vision of Draco and me forming a wizard rock band together." Neville lied of course, which had become such an easy feat. _What is a little white lie when it protected people?_

"Listen Neville… I know you didn't want to tell us before that you were a seer, and the predictions you'd seen, because you weren't even sure yourself, but we can at least help analyse it a little if nothing else."

_Oh Harry. If that's the case why did you always go on a moody tantrum whenever Hermione in the book told you to share your Voldemort-linked nightmares?_

"Are you sure you want to listen to all my dreams? Some of them are quite particular," Neville made a last ditch attempt to sway them.

"Of course we do! It's unfair you have so many pieces of the puzzle before we even get a start!" Ron said indignantly.

_He asked for it._

"Well – let me tell you this one vivid dream I had the other day. It was a warm summer's day and I was on the beach. Somehow, Ginny came up wearing a bikini that –"

"Stop it! I know where this is going! Just stop it!" Ron screamed and closed his eyes, swiping his arms in front of him at the invisible image. Harry was just blushing from head to toe beside him. Ron surrendered, "Fine. I won't bring it up again!"

"Good." Neville finished the deal with, "I _did_ just hide everything away from all of you before, but from now on, I'll try and tell you as many things as I deem definite enough to come true. I believe in you guys enough to know that you can hold your own. I mean Harry, at the clearing you were using three wands at the same time! And levitating one as well, do you know how much of a strategic advantage that'll get you? And Ron, your physical fortifying spells must have improved even on the last few months."

Neville had actually been dying to ask and partake in the combat training the two boys had gone through during his absence. Ron with his physical enhancements, and Harry with Snape's Wand Magic, could create some highly flexible battle plans in the future. Ron shook his head, "Neville… I don't like you talking like this… Did you see something in the future that requires us to…?"

Neville retracted his joking manner and said solemnly, "You guys found out I know the future now, and had asked for me to tell you the truth. Here it is. From now on I don't think my predictions would be just as accurate, but I do know one thing. Things will only get more dangerous. We're best to equip and train ourselves the best we can before the worst, even worst than what I foresee, comes to get us."

"He's still out there isn't he?" Harry said for the first time in front of his friends. He had gone through that prophecy with Sybil Trelawney about Peter, just as in the books, but had kept it to himself. Unlike in the books, after experiencing the emotional influence by Neville, he said aloud, "I'd probably known it since first year. Voldemort is going to be back isn't he?"

Although Ron still shivered involuntarily to the name, at least he did not protest this time. Neville could even feel Harry's Gryffindor glow right now blinding his eyes and he said cryptically, "Not if I can help it."

"You saw the future again? You have to tell –" Neville cut Harry off. After all, he would never tell Harry that he was a Horcrux – and how would Neville begin?

"I have yet to piece together the full details, and I can't take any action until I do Harry." Neville stated in a tone of formality. After all, it was true that Neville's bad memory had still to place and define the whole Horcruxes list.

"But you'll tell us once you plan to do something about it right?" Ron asked.

"Are you going to follow my plan?"

"Of course!" Harry said instantly.

"Okay, let's start the first steps then…" Neville contained his mirth as the two boys started to lean in closer in anticipation. "First, this summer we'll rent out a bachelor pad in Rose Lane, then after a week we'll head over to Amsterdam and…"

"Git!" Ron and Harry both shouted and the three guys shared a few more minutes of banter. The only apologies mentioned that night were only directed at Madam Pomfrey, who came in a few minutes later and convinced them she was a dinosaur Animagus.

0

0

0

Neville fumed in his hospital bed, having had a restless sleep after Harry and Ron's late night visit. Before they left, Ron left the message that, as a rival, he had not told Hermione of their nightly visit. That meant by this morning, Neville should expect a told-off Ron, and a possibly huffy Hermione coming in.

_I haven't spoken properly to Hermione ever since… Ron blowing open that Chocolate Misunderstanding from first year. I hardly count bullying her as communication while I'd maintained the front for Pansy. I may as well not expect a visit from her… Most of the school may know about Sirius's innocence, but they still remember how I was a 'pureblood elitist' for the past weeks. Even without that layer of ice, Hermione would still be intimidated by my knowledge of the future even if she accepts that I'm a seer… She had never taken a liking to Divination… Then there was what Ron said about me liking her… Heck…_

Neville rolled round on his pillow again, tempted to go out for a bit of sandbag punching by the Lake. At that thought though, a heavy stomping could be heard approaching and Neville groaned. He had no idea Madam Pomfrey was a Legilimens and now he was going to get forcefully administered some sort of Sleep Potion or something.

Surprisingly, it was a small little red tornado that tore in screaming, "Neville Longbottom! I hate you!"

"Oof!" Neville almost screamed like a little girl when Ginny threw her weight on his chest. Even if he had pulled his blankets over his head, he could not forgive her for that. "That hurts damn it! I'm a patient! Where's Madam Pomfrey?"

"Why didn't you say anything? We all thought you were a bad guy but you're actually a good guy and – and – and you're just so – so – so hateable!" Ginny rained punches on Neville with her tiny fists. Although this would be infinitely cute to imouto-cons, Neville thought he saw blood seeping out from her thumps on his bandaged chest.

"Ginny! Y-you're hurting him!" Neville noticed Hannah came with Ginny as well – as did most of the original Council members.

"Let him have it Hannah," Su shook her head coolly. "When he was playing his pureblood front, he made me so scared I didn't even dare to approach him in case he turned me into a toad."

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Neville screamed, gritting his teeth.

Ginny finally stopped struggling, but had her chin on his blanket, accusingly glaring at him like a grumpy kitten. "Draco told us all about your 'intelligent' little ploy. We were all having lunch in the Great Hall, and then he just stood up and said all that happened with the Slytherin Student Council was his fault. He had been trying to steal your President post since the start and when he had it, turned it all Slytherin and imposing because he didn't want any way for you to get back into power. And then he said you put up a front of hating the entire school, fooling him into thinking you've lost it, and had turned into a true pureblood. He fell for it and you brought down his command structure gradually from within, and he now admits defeat, disbanding the Council, and relieves all members of all posts and responsibilities."

Neville's eyes widened at Ginny's deadpan synopsis. Neville turned to Hannah, the person second closest to the truth here bar himself, and exclaimed, "Draco admits _defeat_? He _stood down_ from Presidency? He claimed _all_ that happened onto him being an ass?"

Hannah murmured under her chin, just loud enough for Neville to hear, "He told me it was less embarrassing than admitting he was manipulated by a… by a… female dog."

Neville sighed. Draco did this for him. Neville knew he would say he did this because he did not want people to think Pansy bested him, or he would not be able to lord the school as he did before et cetera, but Neville knew his friend.

"What?" Alan Harper asked, standing next to Hannah, the only one who might have heard Hannah.

Hannah replied hastily, "N-nothing! Nothing at all!"

"And then the whole school figured out that although you bullied some of us, you spent most of your time blasting Slytherins for the last few weeks instead," Ginny even pouted. "You dummy…"

Neville observed Ginny, who had actually been ballistic at him since Ron and him fought after the Festival, but since his brother and him made up, it seemed like the bad air between them also cleared. After all, Ginny was just the impulsive type, and especially took a liking to blowing her rage on Neville without a thought ever since they first met.

"And you know what the best thing is?" Su asked excitedly. Neville secretly thought she would never make up with Draco after he suffered the blame for all this on his own now without revealing Pansy's manipulations, "Draco handed the Presidency on a platter to Hannah! He named her as the next President!"

"What?" Neville's eyes stretched even wider at the news and Hannah blushed, looking down to the ground and playing with her fingers.

"I-I really don't know what I should do – I'm so glad it's the end of the school year already… Next year, you can become the President again Neville and –"

"What're you talking about? I'll never be President again now that I've finally got that off my back!" Neville sniggered. He knew this year's election was only forced on by Lucius and the purebloods, and after all this, Dumbledore would be a fool not to change a few rules to make the Council less dominant in the school – most likely pitching them against the Prefects in a more equal power struggle.

"What about Percy?" Neville asked, facing Ginny this time.

Ginny's face fell instantly and spoke in almost a whisper, "Draco also told everyone that… Percy let in the Dementors. Nina, the head girl, overthrew his position and… well, it wasn't fun to watch Percy lose it. He'll still get his job in the Ministry after he graduates, and he branded Draco's accusations as false and without evidence, but his reputation with this generation of Hogwarts is probably…"

Neville did not need to know any more. Everyone reaped what they sowed, and Percy was a tad too ambitious for his own good. He had wanted to save Percy from being disconnected with his family but now…

"Hey! Where do you all think this is? This is a Hospital Wing! Who let you kids trample in here without my permission?" Madam Pomfrey roared like a T-Rex in Jurassic Park, making all of Neville's trespassing visitors jump out of their socks. Alan Harper was looking like he would jump right out the window.

"See you later Neville, okay?" Ginny fled with the rest, but stopped and glanced back yelling, "Remember to replace my jade hair clip okay?"

"To break it again?" Neville deadpan's response did not have any effect on the, apparently, spoiled little girl.

"Maybe if you do something stupid again!" Ginny waved and ran from the jaws of Madam Pomfrey.

_I've really let that little girl get too familiar with me…_

0

0

0

"So after your heroic deed of taking the blame all on yourself and trying to preserve your pride on hiding the fact that you were drugged by lollipops for a whole year," Neville took a dramatic deep breath and announced to Draco, "You're having a sandwich next to my hospital bed as dinner."

"Shut up," Draco muttered, munching on a turkey sandwich he probably snuck out from the Great Hall.

"Do you know everyone at Hogwarts will not only be convinced you're a pureblood racist, but also without an ounce of goodness? I know you did what you did just because you think you owe me something, but I personally think you're stupid." Neville harrumphed.

Draco gave him a smirk, "Don't think too highly of yourself Neville, I didn't do it for you. I just know I won't get the total control I'm used to after all this. Plus, I don't care about people thinking I'm evil. Heck, I enjoy being a badass!"

Neville saw right through him as expected and shook his head, becoming more serious. "You do know your father have eyes and ears inside Hogwarts, to some degree. By stepping down from a position of power he tried so hard to lift you into, you've openly slapped him across the face."

Draco's looks considerably darkened and said, "I've thought about it Neville. I love my family. I love being a Malfoy. But I don't want someone to control me and be… well, so uncool. It just reminds me of people calling me mama's boy…"

"Well, more daddy's boy… which sounds way worst actually." Draco grunted and moodily took a chomp from his sandwich again. Neville asked, "Then what are your plans from now on? If worst comes to worst, you might not even be able to come to Hogwarts again."

"That's the worst you can think of?" Draco shook his head, "You don't know my father half as much as me. The worst I can think of is that he'll throw me out of the house, cancel all my bank accounts, and burn me off the family tree."

Neville's lips grimly tightened at someone doing such a thing to his own child of thirteen years old. "He can't possibly…"

Neville stopped the pathetic social protocol at Draco's look, as they both knew it was all possible with Lucius Malfoy. Neville took a deep breath and sat back in his pillow, trying to act casual and said, "You know… The Hoglake business is pretty much on its tracks now and gotten a bit boring. I've been thinking about trying some new business ventures this summer again…"

"Don't try your sympathy on me Longbottom," Draco lightly punched him on the arm, but Neville almost wept at how painful it was. "I plan on going to America for a bit, I have an old pen friend there. Maybe he can take me in for a bit and then… well, I guess we'll see."

"You have a pen friend?" Neville asked suspiciously.

"He is some very distant cousin that's older than me. I think my mother forced me to write to him when I was younger…" Draco was clearly trying to remember the person's name to no avail.

Neville worried for him and said, "How do you plan to get there if all your accounts are frozen?"

"Sneak in on the back of the Floo flame?" Draco shrugged. "I'll find a way."

Neville was not sure how Draco had gotten so happy-go-lucky all of a sudden. He was supposed to be a Slytherin after all and they tended to calculate everything beforehand. Neville hoped it was not blind egotism or Draco was so far gone he was turning psycho. Neville offered, "I can loan you some money?"

Draco looked at Neville as if he was going to stab him for a moment before ruminating on his words. "I see… A loan…"

"Yes. A loan for whatever… ventures you may have in mind this summer. I will be your investor." Neville panned it out clearly.

"I may just take you up on that offer Neville," Draco smirked, ideas running through his brain.

Neville only hoped these bold movements and gestures were from Draco growing more mature and standing on his own instead of trying to save face. Draco did try and soothe Neville a little over by saying, "I'll make sure my father regrets what he did. I'll show him that Draco is a Malfoy not only by birthright – but because he will make the future of the Malfoy name!"

"Please stop with the dramatics," Neville shook his head, never having once thought of anyway he could benefit the Longbottom name.

The boys paused for a moment, with Draco finishing his sandwich and Neville reaching over for a drink. After a while, Draco hit out with, "Although I don't like it – you really are a Gryffindor, you know that?"

Neville looked at him with the side of his eyes, "Really? A few people have said that recently, but _really_? I was just a step away from being able to change house to Slytherin, you know?"

"If you're not a Gryffindor then you won't have been nosing into my business ever since first year." Draco's unique cocky smile was really starting to take a definite shape on his, clearly to the girls, quite handsome features.

"Sorry to interrupt the comrade-y gentlemen." Neville really had his wand in his hands at the voice, even if he could not throw a spell.

Snape, in all his black bat form, stalked into Neville's corridor. He glanced at Neville as if he was just tolerating his existence and said coldly, "I would like to inform you Longbottom, Mr Gryffindor, your Occlumency lessons with me are _over_! Forever!"

Neville had figured that out already, having kept Snape in the dark about Sirius this whole year, and partially betraying his trust. Not to mention petrifying him, and indirectly letting Harry know of Snape's feelings for Lily. Neville sighed in resignation, "Okay."

"See you later Neville! Good evening Professor Snape!" Like a deserting soldier in an imminent battle, Draco left his friend to deal with Snape, who was clearly here to give a good scolding. _Some friend!_

"Okay? Just okay?" Snape ranted, as he somehow developed a habit of doing in front of Neville. "What an ungrateful little brat – just like Potter! I shouldn't have bothered wasting that potion I've researched for five years on you that night and let you die!"

"Wait – that was an experimental potion you gave me?" Neville now started to suspect that if his painful body was not only due to his injuries from a werewolf fight.

Snape apparently overlooked his point easily and continued, "Yes! The likes of you can just skip along after you recover and be a good little Gryffindor – forgetting all that I've done for you and taught you!"

"Snape, are you talking about me or Harry here?" Neville asked, once again getting ignored.

"Yes! Just like your little friend Potter!" Snape growled and paced the room. "I taught him all I knew for most parts of the past year, and what does he do when that despicable Black is cleared of Azkaban? He runs off to live with him, saying he's his Godfather and – _blah_!"

Neville fought to contain his laughter at Snape's unreserved rant. Snape would normally not be one to reveal his thoughts, but the fact that he was doing just that meant he truly believed there was no basis for Harry to move in with Sirius at all. Neville half teased and half just to let Snape carry on, "And what else was he going to do? Go back to the Dursleys who he hated? Or are you going to take him in?"

"Well if he'd only begged!" Snape growled. "If he begged and begged, maybe I will allow him a little room in my house. It would be ten times better than that Muggle place, and magnitudes better than what he'll ever get with Black! Black! Just the sound of his name infuriates me! Potter's already picking up the crassness of that infidel! Not even a word of thanks for catching the proof of his innocence! Black never turns to think if I hadn't caught Pettigrew and showed him to the Minster! Or if I just let Pettigrew go even! The nerve of that mutt!"

Neville finally could not contain his laughter and Snape's eyes shot out two Avada Kedavras.

"And the next time you see Potter, tell him to never set foot in my dungeons again!" Snape shouted and turned to leave with a throw of his robes. That dramatic exit was halted by, quite timely, the entrance of Harry. Snape immediately shrunk, metaphorically, a few foot and said weakly, "Oh. Harry - I mean Potter… Shouldn't you be at your dorms by now?"

"I-I…" Harry looked like he was about to cry and Snape looked as baffled as a buffalo in the ocean when Harry shouted, "Please let me continue studying with you! I really will be forever grateful to you for being my mentor!"

Snape probably used Occlumency to look indignant again, and just brushed past Harry without saying a word. Harry's face looked completely crestfallen at being ignored until Snape said, without turning around, "Tonight is Thursday. Thursday night is supposed to be our lesson night. What are you still doing here? Caring about a lout who got himself injured this much?"

Harry quickly got a smile on his face again and ran after Snape out of the Hospital Wing, "I'm sorry Professor Snape! I'm sure Sirius is very thankful – no, I thank you for proving his innocence –"

"Shut up Harry and just move!" Snape's roar echoed the castle as the young and old disappeared from Neville's view.

The last of Neville's chuckles gradually faded as he smiled at the change in Snape, and Harry's outlook of the man. Neville still believed that although Snape had a lot of personality faults, he really was not that bad of a guy to the people he cared about. Plus, Harry would always benefit from one more mentor and 'father' figure.

"Neville?" Neville's rumination about the changes he made in this world was broken at the voice that called out to him. Hermione hesitantly stepped into the moonlight, her head bowed, and said in a quiet voice, "H-how are you?"

"I… I am fine." Neville replied awkwardly. Hermione and he had not spoken properly since the Festival. Not to mention they did not have a heart to heart under severe blood loss like with Ron, or the yelling tirades while fending for their lives like with Harry.

_Women are always so much more difficult to deal with…_

Hermione gave a weak laugh and said, "I guess so much for dragging Harry here…"

Neville visibly felt a tug in his chest, and not because of his injury. She still looked as if she was scared of him. He sighed and asked politely, "Have you recovered from before? Dementors leave quite an aftereffect. You shouldn't let your guard down."

Neville had no idea why that seemed to be the spark to a barrel of gun powder and Hermione blew up. "Why do you _always_ do that?"

"Do what?" Neville asked innocently.

"Look at the state of you!" Hermione's eyes started to well up, her lower lip quivering and her voice breaking. "You've once again been carried here unconscious and wearing bandages for clothes! Do you even know what an end of year feast looks like? You fought with trolls, basilisks, and this year, a werewolf and a hundred Dementors as a dessert – and all you ever do is ask me if _I_ am okay?

"Well you know what Neville Longbottom? I'm _not_ okay! I'm not okay with you hurting yourself to protect me! I realise now why I was scared of you when I found out you knew the future. Not because I'm scared you'll use that knowledge to do anything bad to hurt me or others – No, I knew deep down you'll never do that. Not even because of the impossibility of me ever understanding what you do! It's because – I'm scared because of the millions of things I didn't know you've done for me in the name of it being for my own good!

"You've seen it all haven't you? The trolls, the Chamber of Secrets, and now a hundred Dementors – which year is it that I don't come back to my senses to find you lying here after dancing with Death just to save me? Yes, I'm scared of you Neville Longbottom. Because I'm scared one day, I'll wake up to find you dead because of me, and never understanding why!"

"Calm down Hermione," Neville was about to reach out to the tear-flooded girl when he winced in pain.

"See? You stupid idiot!" Hermione finally started crying without restraint. Neville desperately looked over her shoulder to see if Madam Pomfrey would come in and stop her from going berserk. "Stupid! Stupid! Self-absorbed idiot who thinks he's always right! Idiot!"

_Why is it that girls always throw tantrums and gets angry near me…?_

Hermione rushed in, taking Neville off guard, and squeezed him in her arms with a sob. Neville tried his best not to let off a painful whimper, as Hermione sobbed out through her tears, "I-I I don't like it! I'm not okay with it! I don't want you to get hurt! I don't want you to get yourself into danger without me knowing! I won't allow it! I won't! I won't!"

"C-can you please loosen your hold for… for just a moment…" Neville gasped with tears in his eyes – from pain of course.

Hermione abruptly remembered his injuries and finally released him, stammering, "Sorry! Sorry Neville! I forgot! It's just… I – I –"

Involuntarily holding a hand to his chest and coughing, Neville choked out, "I'm just glad that… you've forgiven me…"

Hermione's downcast eyes at that worried Neville. She whispered in a comparatively quieter voice, "Can you please tell me what all that was about, from your own lips?"

They both knew this was about the Chocolates Misunderstanding.

Neville took a deep breath and tried to explain very quickly to get through this, "Back in first year you helped me and to repay you I thought I'd give you a birthday present – the chocolates. Then I saw into the future and knew you and Ron would get together. With you having thought first thing the chocolates were from a secret admirer, and you talking about how you liked Ron all the time…"

_Why are you derailing yourself by trailing the explanation to sound like it's her fault? She wasn't heedlessly talking about how much she liked Ron because she wanted you to give up on her – she didn't know your feelings then and… _

Neville stopped himself there and blocked out his paradoxical thoughts. He was lucky that the seemingly short pause was not picked upon by Hermione, "Anyway, I thought I'd get you two together quicker by saying that Ron liked you back. My forecast never involved him going out with Luna at all or him being such a numbskull…"

"…I'd figured that much." Hermione raised her face to stare deeply into Neville's eyes and asked, "What I wanted to know is why you wanted Ron and me together? Was it all because you saw it in the future?"

Neville looked away from her scrutiny and murmured, "I don't know. I guess it's because I thought the two of you seemed so well-suited and happy together in the boo – future…"

Hermione looked crestfallen at his words and shook her head. Putting her hand on her forehead, her hair partially covering her features, she said almost to herself. "I don't understand you Neville. I never did in first year, and I probably never will…"

"I'm sorry Hermione… Everything bad that's happened to you has entirely been my fault." Neville stopped Hermione from interrupting and went on, "Not just the relationship between you and Ron, but also last year… Last year, Ginny was supposed to have the diary, and you never even knew where the Chamber of Secrets was – let alone be inside. Then this year, I was trying to both keep everything unchanged, and alter to the future at the same time that I've put you in danger again… I'm just glad you're okay."

"How many times do I have to tell you – I'm _not_ okay!" Hermione exclaimed, slamming her hand on his bedside table and standing up. "I am fully able to take care of myself!"

Neville paused and just nodded solemnly, "Okay."

Hermione was quick on the uptake, knowing Neville was just emptily complying with her. "Does that mean you're going to do combat training with me just like you do with Harry and Ron?"

Neville shouted in exasperation. "You're different!"

"Why different?" Hermione repeated in spite of herself. And in the silence that followed, she blushed a deep shade of red, which also made Neville turn away his gaze. Whether he was blushing as well was something he could not tell of course.

"Just think of me as a chauvinist." Neville broke the awkwardness hastily. "You can help us all you want with research and deductions, but don't go running to a dragon."

"I'll have you know, I've spent most of my year with a dragon thank you!" Hermione said indignantly. "I even trained Norbert to do a few tricks."

Neville laughed out loud at the image of Norwegian Ridgeback fetching a stick in the Chamber of Secrets. "Okay. I'll go for a visit with you later."

"Later? Don't you know the Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow?" Hermione asked with a sigh of derision. "Seriously! You'll have to stay here for a bit of the summer holidays even."

"Well that's got to be a record for Madam Pomfrey." Neville shrugged irresponsibly.

Hermione just sighed, and to Neville's surprise, took his hand on the bed. She said, looking right into his face, "Please don't make me do this again next year. I want us to… chat and hang out and see Norbert and…just go somewhere outside of the Hospital Wing. Let's finally be able to have a full end of year feast together."

"I'll give it my best," Neville, this time, replied genuinely.

0

0

0

Word of Neville waking up, and the notion of visiting him, did not come into mind for his friends at Hogwarts until Draco's declaration and that made his stream – or rather – waterfall of visitors the following day a nightmare for Madam Pomfrey. Even with her full dino-powers she was unable to stop Neville's closer schoolmates from turning up in Neville's corridor to say farewell before leaving for the Hogwarts Express.

"Nina, you've been a strong Head Girl this year, it's a shame to see you go." Neville shook hands with Nina Jones, who was comparatively less cheerful.

She blushed in chagrin and said, "Now you're just being polite. If only I'd done a better job to lead the prefects instead of letting Percy sway them against you, the last few months might have been a better place here."

"What do you plan to do now that you've graduated?" Neville asked.

"I'm going onto further education." Nina added cheekily, "But after that, maybe I'll see what business you've cooked up?"

As everyone knew, Hogwarts was for student of the secondary school age range, and there were no universities as such in the magical world. There were company sponsored research facilities or wizards offering mentorship for fees, but there were no centralised system. After all, Hogwarts taught all the general knowledge, supposedly, that a wizard or witch would need in their life – later specialisation was heavily dependent on occupation.

Saying a final goodbye to Nina, Neville beamed at another older girl that graduated this year. "Penelope –"

The girl with curly hair that he had always been attracted to bowed her head, "Neville, I just feel… feel really bad that I wasn't able to stop Percy… After finding out he was the one who let the Dementors in, him and I…"

"Penelope, just because you won't be at Hogwarts anymore, that doesn't mean we're not friends. Keep in touch with an owl and tell me if you ever need help with anything, okay?" Neville said encouragingly, but internally sniggering like a classical villain at the two's failed relationship.

_Hahaha! This is the perfect chance! A recently-single girl definitely demands my attention! And then…_

"Aw! Look at my little brother taking care of me!" Neville's evil scheme hit a brick wall right here as Penelope petted him like a puppy. "Okay! I will! You take care and get well soon too!"

"Pen –" Neville was cruelly cut off by a graduate Ravenclaw.

"Penelope. We have to hurry and pack up before the train leaves." He said, in the clichéd hunk-ish sort of way from Hollywood.

Penelope flipped back her own Hollywood-style hair and said, "Goodbye Neville! Take care and remember to owl me!"

Neville murmured something back in his heartbreak, and handled his next waiting guest. "What'd you want Colin?"

"Come on Neville! You don't have to be so cruel!" Colin Creevey whimpered. "And to think I came here with this year's yearbook…"

"Bah, yearbook pictures aren't eye catching at all."

"That's what you think!" Colin's glasses glinted in a flash of genius, "I'd left one page for each graduate, with a full bodied picture in an assortment of modified robes. Even under the Slytherin Council, my camera skills and perseverance produced this legendary ground-groundbreaking yearbook that captures the beauty of youth way more than any before in Hogwarts history! Not to mention, this is my personal Hotties Edition of class 1993!"

"Give it to me Colin! Hand it over, my dearest fellow dreamer!" Neville and Colin both sniggered like perverts in a strip club.

"A – hem!" A very artificial and pissed-off clearing of the throat brought them back to the recognition that there was another visitor in the room. Cho was standing there in an alluring S-shape, a hand on her waist and a cocked eyebrow at the pair of disgraceful boys.

"I-I've got to go! The Hogwarts Express is going to leave soon!" The blushing Colin fled on his own as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Leave the yearbook damn it!" Neville hissed, but to no effect apart from apparently stoking Cho's nerves even more.

"What do you think you're even doing while still in your hospital bed?" Cho gritted through her teeth. "And to think I've been worried about someone like you."

"Ha…Ha… How you been Cho? Any plans for the summer?" Neville tried feebly to divert the subject.

"I want to hear what your plans are for the Fashion Club and my place in the Hoglake Shop!" Cho said with an exasperated sigh, but then softened a little.

Neville played cute and asked, "So we haven't spoken to each other for so long and the first thing you ask me is only about the Fashion Club?"

Cho's face burned up at that, in frustration, "How can you say something like that when you're the one who looked at me like scum just because you were pretending to be a pureblood!"

Not wanting to comment on Draco's escape plan for him, Neville shrugged and diverted the subject, "I heard the Fashion Club was one of the first clubs to be abolished thanks to its links with me, which was sort of a good thing since none of its members could be blackmailed."

"And no work towards my new line was done!" Cho complained.

"That's why I want to offer you a summer job opportunity," Neville smiled like a benevolent boss. "I want a new line of Hoglake robes to be ready and pushed out for Christmas, and I want it to be a big hit. I will allocate the resources and men for you and they can be left with the finishing up when Hogwarts starts again."

Cho's eyes sparkled at the opportunity, and she was nodding away frantically without hearing Neville's devilish end of the deal.

"And the catch Miss Chang," Neville smiled at Cho's immediate fall of the face. "What? You think you can get away with such a good deal for nothing?"

Cho's lips slowly curled up and her gaze changed. Neville's hairs slowly stood on end when the girl slid onto his bed, sitting there with the curve of that small waist, and reached out for his hair. Leaning in much closer than necessary, Cho purred, "And what would you want from a girl like me, Mister Longbottom?"

Neville gulped, memories of how dangerous he felt being close to Cho was back, from when they did not know each other as well. He indignantly said, "I want you to be my personal secretary."

Neville's attempt to steer the conversation back to a respectable mood seemed to have sailed way over her head as she purred again in an even more magnetic voice, "And would you like me to wear a thin white blouse and a tight little skirt for work?"

Neville could feel her sweet breath on his ear and just managed to control a shiver, "No Cho. I'm going to spend less time on the Hoglake Store this year so you'll be my representative. I also want to get away from the media as well so I'm leaving a good few things in your hands. That-is-all!"

Cho pouted and got back up, mood spoilt, "So you just want to leave all the heavy lifting to me? Well what is it that you'll do with your summer then?"

Neville sighed, though a bit relieved that mischievous Cho finally backed off. "I haven't decided fully yet, but at least I'll have to stay here a while longer. And unless you want to do the same, you have to catch the Hogwarts Express back – now."

Cho slyly took a prominent step closer again and teased, "There are worst places to be…"

"Just go!" Neville finally begged, wishing for the day he could use Occlumency again.

Cho giggled, ignorant of his plight, and said genuinely, "I'm really glad you're back Neville. During your little acting session in front of the whole school, you've come to make me realise something."

"What's that?" Neville asked, even if he felt the moment after the question came out that he really should not have asked.

"That I want to go out with you." Cho said, very casually. Her red blush was apparent though, even for a flabbergasted Neville. Cho did not say any more before heading out of the Hospital Wing, leaving him with, "Watch out for my payback starting next year Neville. I'm going to start my direct assault to ensnare you!"

When Madam Pomfrey came to check up on Neville the next time, she really thought Neville was in need of a Mandrake Potion.

0

0

0

A/N: Thanks for the reviews people! Been a bit busy lately to write much, though I sorta have 2months to settle for a first chapter as year 4. Will see what happens :)


	71. Book 3 Chapter 28

Synopsis: A massive string of visitors came to see Neville before the end of the school year at the Hospital Wing after Draco publically took up all the responsibilities for the Slytherin Student Council. He had finally made up with Hermione, helped Draco with this summer plans, caught up with the old Council members and got a 'threat' from Cho.

Chapter 70 – Finally – the end of third year! 

Neville had spent the first few days after leaving the Hogwarts Hospital Wing solely with the Longbottoms. His Gran really looked ready to eat him alive when he turned up outside Longbottom Manor in a Muggle Taxi without warning, but embraced him with wet eyes the next moment. He was still recovering from magical exhaustion for weeks after though, but he had occupied himself with business paperwork and discussions with Old Al – after all, the happenings through the year, and even before, was something Neville had never troubled the Longbottoms with where possible. He would have happily kept Old Al in the same information access level as Gran if it was not for his temporary magical incapacity, and his need of Old Al for various businesses outside of Hogwarts in the wide wizarding world as part of his future plans.

One day his great uncle actually managed to talk Neville into going to a Hoglake League match, saying it was his duty as the CEO of the Hoglake Shop. That was why the two of them were at the newly built Hoglake stadium of the Tottenham Gentlemen, who were to play the Glasgow Spitfires this weekend.

Neville watched on warily as Old Al handled the social waltz between some aristocrats and Neville joined in reluctantly, making small talks here and there – he had not been on the scene for a whole school year after all. He had taken an Ageing Potion again in this semi-business occasion, donning a smart-casual dress robe popular amongst young entrepreneurs.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Neville made an excuse to Old Al. Truthfully, Neville just wanted to take some air.

Old Al nodded in comprehension, and Neville walked down from the guest boxes on the second floor. The stadium was pretty much like the Roman Coliseum in layout, with two floors for audiences around the circular 'chess board' battle area in the middle. The ground floor were actually less crowded than the higher tier seats next to the box, since there were only limited seating by 'court side'. Neville was walking down the path on the perimeter of the ground floor seats, underneath the ceiling that supported the sloped seating on the second floor.

Hoglake rules had developed without Neville's knowledge, and he ducked as one of the Hoglake players was captured by the opponent and flew out into the stands- as sign that he was removed from play.

"Alright! Go get 'em Gentlemen!" Neville gave a glance at the overly-enthusiastic spectator, only to see a familiar face.

"Oh! Mr President! I almost didn't recognise you there." Luna Lovegood, a pleasant surprise as always. "Those robes you're wearing aren't your usual colours."

"Hello Luna, yeah, I just got these recently. Um, I guess this must be your father." Neville looked at the Xenophilius Lovegood, who was the person previously screaming at the game.

At a chance of meeting one of Luna's few friends, Xenophilius ripped his attention away from the game for a moment and shook hands with Neville. "My, my! Luna, is this your schoolmate? What an upstanding looking young man! I can see the Fluffalos floating around that halo on top of your head!"

Neville wondered when he had died with that halo comment while Luna introduced, "This is Neville Longbottom, dad."

"What? The glorious man who invented this amazing sport of Hoglake! What an honour sir! What an honour!" Xenophilius hastily kidnapped Neville's hand in a death grip of a handshake. "I would've thought you were younger! Luna talks of you all the time! I ask you – no _beg_ you to do an interview for the Quibbler when you have time!"

"What? Is this… Why yes! The _legendary_ boy! Neville Longbottom!" Their attention was diverted to a bespectacled woman who was coincidentally sitting beside them at the match.

The woman had curly mid-length hair, busily getting fixed at the moment from a pair of bony hands. The most memorable thing about her was her huge, bug-like eyes and Neville thought the worst fashion choice she made was to have accented them with her flashy spectacles. She looked to be middle-aged, but polished feverishly to appear less.

The woman proceeded to release a floating quill, clearly equipped with personally charmed auto-write abilities, and offered her hand. "Rita Skeeter, freelance reporter. What stroke of luck I managed to run into you! I've been admiring you for just the longest time! The young entrepreneur who took the wizarding world by storm and almost _wrecked_ Hogwarts within a year! Even digging into your, _much_ more than ordinary past, there're still so many unanswered questions about you –"

Neville shrewdly interrupted her with a hand held to her face before she naturally stirred him into an interview. "I'm sorry Ms Skeeter. You should know I dislike interviews and you're practically raping me with unwanted attention. Plus, I gather you've been fired from the Prophet, freelance reporter, now where would you be able to print any interviews?"

Rita Skeeter looked taken aback and sighed, forging the look of a frail woman. "Oh, Mr Longbottom. Observant as you are, you've hit me in my weak spot. I have been requested to leave the Daily Prophet under… Oh, I would not be allowed to tell you the full story. It involved… people in high places…"

"Fudge's control is spreading quite nicely in the Prophet, isn't it?" Neville thought about the article Rita had written before, and she had not written one good word for the Minster's mistakes at all.

Rita appreciatively nodded. "Well, well, Mr Longbottom. You really are every bit as surprising as your rumours. That Fudge should know I've ruined not just a few wizards with – oh, look at me rambling! Now, I do say, if you'll just spare one afternoon – no, one lunch time with me and we can get ourselves a 'Life Story of Hoglake Boy Extraordinaire – So Far' and –"

"Oh, and we can publish it on the Quibbler!" Xenophilius cut in, much to Rita's disapproval and hostility. She did not want a potential interview to be stolen by another journalist after all.

Unfortunately for her, Neville was not the interview type – not to mention he had decided to try and die out of the limelight. He was at the moment thinking about Fudge, with a grudge, and wondering how he could possibly get back at him. Granted, Fudge probably thought Neville hindered his way quite a lot already, but Neville felt he would be doing himself a great injustice not to repay the man in some way for what transpired during Buckbeak's trial and last year.

_It won't be long until an election is called for the guy anyway, and he fully despises me now, probably, after Sirius and everything. Now how would I…_

"…Trust me on this one Mr Longbottom!" Rita Skeeter was still prattling on about securing an interview with Neville. "I will be able to paint such a marvellous word picture of you – and not to mention without hindrance! You know from my reputation that I never bend my words when I have something to say!"

"Nor do I!" Xenophilius Lovegood cut in again, having somehow gotten serious in his bid to secure an interview. "Have Luna given you a copy of the Quibbler before Neville? Have you read an edition? The articles are all written by me and only I would dare to publish some of the most candid conspiracies the Ministries hide from us!"

"Yeah, only you would be _nuts_ enough to do that." Rita Skeeter laughed shrilly like a witch – well, a muggle's idea of a witch.

Neville exchanged a glance with Luna, who probably read his disinterest in the subject. Substituting goodbye with a nod, Neville left the two arguing pair. He was a good few meters away before he felt something splat against his back.

"Mr Longbottom! Please think about the interview. You can find my Floo and details on my card!"

Neville had to ask the help of a few nearby wizards, trying several few complex spell combinations, before he could remove the business card Rita Skeeter had sent flying after him. He was quite sure that if it was not for Dracula's Cloak, the card would have been constantly stuck on normal robes with whatever personalised concoction or spell the woman had put on her resilient card. Even when he tried to trash the card, it flew right back and hit him in the face.

_I may not feel much for the woman, but she is classically good at her job all right… too good in fact… Not to mention being an unregistered Animagus… Hm…_

Neville's mind started spinning as he felt he was chasing after a few idea fairies in the air, his legs already taking him towards the stadium exit for him to check out a few things.

Later on, Old Al was not very happy at being left alone at the stadium – and neither was Neville because Old Al had apparently requested a lost child announcement.

0

0

0

Neville came out of the fireplace with typical Floo soot on his robes. He was welcomed by an almost unrecognisable man with open arms.

"Neville! How you been buddy?" Sirius gave Neville a bear hug.

Neville forced out a grin. "Not bad, even if you've just crushed my ribs and my lungs may be bleeding again."

"Sorry again about that…" Lupin was also there, smiling in chagrin.

"Sirius! Where are all the cups? Have you left them all in your room again?" An irked voice shouted in from the kitchen.

"Seriously, what've those Muggles done to my godson?" Sirius sighed, "He might look like James, but he cleans as much as a house elf – and that just makes old Kreacher mutter all the more often."

With Sirius now an upstanding wizarding citizen, he reclaimed guardianship of Harry and, from Harry's owls, Vernon Dursley was probably still suffering from the run-in and rough talking-to Sirius gave him after Harry got off the Hogwarts Express. "I'm glad Harry seems very much at home here." Neville said with a smile at how neatly things worked out.

"It's all thanks to you Nev!" Sirius clapped him on the back, as real men did to convey emotions instead of a thousand words of gratitude.

"You know, I prefer you weak. So you can't send me flying with a small slap," Neville growled, coughing a little. Neville asked out of curiosity, "How was that trial by the way? Did you have a good time?"

"Loads," Lupin rolled his eyes. "You should've seen how angry he made Fudge."

"Angry? I think I should be the one who's angry for being holed up for over a decade in Azkaban!" Sirius complained in a rebellious tone. "He should be glad I'm not planning to assassinate him in his sleep!"

"You asked for his wife to be transferred under your name and become your concubine as compensation!" Lupin exclaimed.

"I knew it was an old law but I really thought I had a few of them convinced!" Sirius waved it off. "Then again, I won't touch Fudge's wife with a Death Stick – have you seen how big a chin she's got?"

Lupin shook his head. "That's beside the point."

"Not to mention that idiot Fudge managed to let that rat to escape! How incompetent is the Ministry these days under that sorry excuse of a Leprechaun?" Sirius's tone had grown a sharper edge at the notion of Pettigrew still at large. "I'll catch Peter Pettigrew under my paw, and feed him to the Kneazles if it's the last thing I do!"

"If you have time for that, why not first try and make this place more habitable?" Neville pointedly raised an eyebrow to the ripped and worn sofa by the side of the room.

_This is no longer a hideout or headquarters and Sirius should really make this place look like a house that's got residents. After all, this place can be a real estate wizard's dream once he gets some DIY warlocks in… _

"Well guess what Neville? This dog's put all the things like sorting out his money, meeting his lawyers, and regaining his social status to me – while taking Harry down Rose Lane till all hours of the morning." Lupin muttered.

"I've been in jail for over twelve years! Of course I'm going to be lavishing out all my regained inheritance when I can!" Sirius returned to his playful self, lost in his memories. "Plus, you can't disagree on me spending time with my godson! I'd told him so many stories of James and my little adventures down Rose Lane when Lilly wasn't looking!"

"Yeah, I wish I hadn't known…" Harry finally appeared in the lounge with a glass of water. "This is the most respectable beverage you'll get I'm afraid. I'm so glad you can come round for dinner Neville – and Sirius… please, can you remember to bring your kitchenware back down from your bedroom?"

_Harry's taking this well, didn't he throw a complete emo tantrum in the book when he found out James was some sort of jock bully? I guess now he is younger, and was told of this from James's two best friends instead of Snape, who he did despise. Not to mention right now, Harry is living in a situation where the book's Harry could only dream of. A life with his godfather, a life without an immediate threat to his life, a life with almost unlimited freedom – yep, right now Harry's living the dream indeed._

"We'll just buy more cups and glasses – throw in a few forks and knives!" Sirius clearly deemed he had better things to worry about. "You're not with the Muggles anymore – get Kreacher to do it. You do know what a house elf is right? You'll only make him hate you more if you do his job of tidying up!"

"You don't even like Kreacher," Lupin interjected.

"And the feeling is mutual," Sirius replied calmly.

Ignoring the irresponsible guardian, who now Neville deemed a far too free man, he turned to Harry, "How you been since I last saw you? Rooming with Sirius has got to be a pain."

Sirius made a yell of protest that everyone in the room ignored.

"This place is brilliant. I've still to completely clear out my room of… whatever it was that was left there from before, but I'll get there eventually. Sirius even said he'll get me whatever I want to redecorate it!"

Neville saw Harry's genuine, ear to ear smile and returned it. "Good, good."

_If my bumbling this year made Harry's dream come true, then maybe it was worth it._

"Damn Harry Potter. Damn him for taking Master Regulus's bedroom!" A sneaky high pitch voice came by from the door and Neville looked past Harry to the stalking, muttering shadow.

"Don't mind him, he's our house elf." Sirius said, irritation evident.

"You know, I can always just use that other room on the first floor." Harry offered quickly.

"No! I will not have that thing push you around," Sirius stated with finality.

"Neville, what's wrong?" Lupin asked his expression a little suspicious at the sight of a thoughtful looking Neville.

_I remember now… _

Neville quickly covered his pause with, "You should treat house elves a bit better Sirius. They can be very sensitive. It may cost you dearly one day."

_Though I don't know if Kreacher will indirectly cause Harry and co to burst into the Ministry Offices again with Sirius being a free man now… but who knows?_

"Neville's right you know." Harry agreed.

"Bah! Enough about that house elf! Neville, would you like a little tour of the house? With the pad you've made out for me in the Shrieking Shack, maybe you can give me some ideas as to how to make this place less gloomy. But first – a drink!"

Harry groaned, holding his head, and Neville wondered how usual this occurrence was and if Harry would be left with any brain cells free of alcohol after this summer.

0

0

0

Neville stayed at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place for dinner, enjoying a dinner full of liberating laughter from the two Marauders and Harry. After the Fire Whiskey and Flame Vodkas left the cabinet, it was already too late for Neville to go back and he stayed the night. The uninhibited bachelor-style dinner party ended only in the small hours of the morning.

Neville guessed it was about eight in the morning when he woke up in the lounge, with a mop on his head. He remembered faintly he was using the mop as some sort of air guitar when Sirius blasted up his seventies wizard rock. With neither Neville nor Harry knowing anything about wizard rock though, they would not even have an idea if it was nineties or stone-age wizard rock Sirius was playing.

_I'm glad wizards don't have to worry about complaints from the neighbours of loud noises – cops would've shut us down ages ago if we were in normal flats. _

Neville spent a few minutes waking himself up, before gently laying the mop back onto the ground. He did not want to worry Gran by staying out all night unannounced, but being here alone now made up part of his spontaneous plan.

A plan concocted right after he remembered R.A.B. at the sight of Kreacher earlier.

Neville commended himself for keeping his dagger of Basilisk fang stowed away in his boot at all times and headed towards the pantry. Neville's stroke of luck ran out when he got there though, since apparently Kreacher was asleep there in his den. He sighed and figured out he had to pretend to be a pureblood elitist one last time this year.

"What sort of disgrace of a house elf are you? Sleeping to this hour and waking up later than even the guest of the house!" Neville growled, kicking the side of Kreacher's make-shift basket.

_If this gets back to Hermione, she'll kill me under the name of SPEW…_

Kreacher jumped up with a yelp, glaring at Neville, "What is it that you're doing? You are not my master!"

"But I am a wizard and a pureblood. Neville Longbottom. Now go and make breakfast." Neville commanded with a glare back.

Blue eyes glared back to round grey ones for a long time before Kreacher finally bowed. "Kreacher of the Black family is at your service. I see although you are friends of minor wizards, you are indeed worthy of your heritage. It will be an honour to serve you as a guest in the noblest house of the Blacks, o' noble heir of the Longbottom clan."

"Go Kreacher," Neville commanded and the house elf disappeared with a crack. Neville let go of his poker face and sighed. Who would have thought being an ass to Kreacher would get this effect – not that Harry would take his tip if he offered it as a way to get on with Kreacher.

Neville got back to the important business at hand and soon spotted a pile of Kreacher's things underneath a roughly patched blanket. Rummaging through it quickly, Neville found the exact thing he was looking for.

One of the seven Horcruxes – Slytherin's Locket.

Neville pulled his Basilisk Dagger from his boot and stabbed down at the locket without hesitation, not even giving it a chance to send out any fabricated visions that deluded Ron in the last book. A black puff of smoke floated into the air, forming the shape of face resembling Munch's The Scream, and dissipated into thin air. Maybe it was because the locket did not have a chance to steal power from many wearers, which made Neville relieved to see its destruction did not bring about any sharp screams to wake the entire house.

Neville replaced it back into its original place for Kreacher, and pretending to be unperturbed, Neville slowly walked out of the kitchen and planned to sit and wait in the dinning room for his breakfast.

He could have made a big scene, or demanded the poor elf to handover a memento of his old master, but he figured sacrificing a bit more of this morality was the best way. He decided it was still too early to let Harry know about the Horcruxes, even if this made himself sound dangerously like Dumbledore.

_Unlike the old fox though, I have the abilities to clear out more than just one Horcrux without Harry's help – and not getting a dead hand in doing so._

Neville sat down at the dining table, gathering his thoughts on the seven Horcruxes. He had already found and destroyed three – the Diary, Ravenclaw's Diadem, and Slytherin's Locket. He remembered Voldemort had all four founders' relics – Harry standing in for Gryffindor, which had jotted Neville to remember about Hufflepuff's Cup at the bottom of Gringotts Bank last year. That left two more Horcruxes for Neville to recall and locate. From this process of elimination though, his memory finally deducted the rest – Dumbledore's dead hand ring; and the snake that served as a climax for the original Neville's heroics.

Neville sighed, "I seriously didn't want to do this… But like how Dumbledore said he'll no longer treat me like a kid… Maybe this year I'll have to trust him to help with one of these –"

"Well, you're up bright and early," Sirius appeared in the kitchen. "You really are a heavy weight after all – unlike Harry. That kid needs to be exposed to more drinking. He whimpered like a wreck on the first morning after I forced five _real_ beers down him. Butterbeers – really, at his age."

"Kreacher is making breakfast." Neville said light-heartedly, "and kids should be lightweights."

"How'd you managed to order that elf around so easily?" Sirius protested, "And you just revealed that you are no common brat. At least, I will never believe you're as green as Harry."

"I hope you can help with that this summer," Neville started but Sirius put his hands up.

"Of course I will! He's my godson! I plan to bring him on a good long holiday abroad, round a few countries." Sirius told of his summer plans, very typical for a prisoner who wanted to see the world after staring at the same four walls for years. "Brothels, strip clubs, lap dances –"

"I don't mean growing up that way!" Neville exclaimed, sighing when he figured out Sirius was just winding him up – so he hoped. "What I mean is I want you to train him in some battle techniques. You've been through the war, and been on the run – heck, even pranking people as a Marauder. You'll be able to teach him a lot of things books or Hogwarts can't."

Sirius retracted his grin and leaned forward with his arms on the table. "Harry said you're a seer, part of the reason why you believed me so readily before. Lupin and I have discussed it, and even though we know you're on Harry's side – who do you think we are? Seers are crazy old wind-bags like Trelawney, but _you_ – you are definitely not that type. If my godson is going to be in danger – I demand to know about it! I haven't been doing so for the past twelve years, but I damn well plan to start now!"

Neville gravely stared back at the excitable man, "I have no doubt you will take care of you godson, Sirius. I will also do my best to prevent harm… as far as possible to my friend as well. Even if I do tell you what I am preparing for in the future, you may just laugh at me."

"Try me." Sirius said, staring into Neville's gaze resiliently.

"Voldemort is going to come back." Neville stated, scrutinizing the shiver that ran through Sirius at the name.

"You're being paranoid." Sirius dismissed the notion quickly.

"Harry believes it too. We don't have much evidence, but even Dumbledore knows Voldemort is always there… In the shadows, hiding…"

Black growled and slapped his table in frustration. "That old bag should just go to hell, damn it! If he does rise up again I'll just take him down as my revenge for James and Lily!"

Neville posed, "Don't you think it would be more suiting for Harry to do that instead?"

"But Harry's just a kid, unlike you who's –" Neville raised an eyebrow at whatever Sirius was about to say.

"Should I be honoured of having your respect or offended that you think I am some sort of bloodthirsty monster?" Neville sighed.

Sirius just laughed, leaning back and putting his feet on the table. "You are a freak indeed Neville Longbottom, a freak of a Gryffindor."

"Again? Gryffindor? Me?" Neville frowned and took a deep breath, "Really? I keep telling people that I'm not, but no one listens!"

"Don't call yourself bloodthirsty Neville," Sirius actually sounded as mature as his actual age for once. "I know you'll charge straight into battle, kicking and screaming, if a war breaks out – not because you want to. Just like how you freed an innocent man, or helped your friend get out of an abusive family, or try so hard to think up of a plan to get Fudge off the top as you've leaked last night! You take on all these burdens willingly, without anyone urging or forcing you. That's what us Gryffindors do."

"You really would've fooled me into thinking you're serious if it wasn't for the last part… And yes, I'm trying to make Fudge look bad, but that's kind of just because I want revenge." Neville shrugged. He had told them the outline of a long-term plan he was cultivating since that day at the Hoglake game.

"I want revenge on him too, and not many people actually like him that much as a Minister. He's just someone no one would object too strongly to in times of peace." Sirius turned solemn again and asked, "So you even expect a war time government to come once again? And booting Fudge off would get us more prepared for that? Is it really going to turn that sour?"

Thinking back to the Death Eater's control on the Ministry and everything magical, Neville nodded but said, "I won't let that happen – to my best abilities. I know that's not saying much…"

"Urgh… My head… Good morning Sirius. How can you even _look_ okay Neville?" Harry stumbled into the room. Sirius swung his chair upright again and stood up laughing.

"Harry! Good morning!"

"Please don't shout…"

"Get used to hangovers! It'll get better the more you drink! And drinking is what we'll do for most of our holidays Harry, my boy!"

"Ooohhhh…" Harry sat down at the dinner table and covered his head with his arms. "I just want to continue with my mum's research…"

Sirius looked physically hurt by that statement, looking to Neville for help, "I know it was Lily's final year project and all – but for the summer holidays? Wasn't it some sort of formless transfiguration or something?"

"Immaterial Transfiguration," Harry managed to murmur through his arms. "And you promised to help me figure it out a bit more this summer…"

Sirius leaned over and whispered quietly like an imprudent kid, "Can you believe the boy threatened to stay with Snape if I don't? That smarmy ass actually invited Harry to stay with him through summer – like over my dead body! I really won't want to bother with research stuffs like that otherwise – James only did it for Lily and I'm proud to say I've never _ever_ acted like a bookworm just to get a girl!"

"I don't think that is any achievement to be proud of…" Neville said.

"I understand Snape's been getting his nose into James and Lily's research last year through Harry though," Sirius growled, "What's he been telling my godson? I know he's been his teacher since the start of Hogwarts – but what's Snape trying to do? He hated James and Lily was the girl he never got – not that he ever had a chance. Anyway, we have to do all we can to separate those two!"

"He does have his own problems, but I don't think Snape is that bad a guy really," Neville said and Sirius gasped, reeling back in disgust.

"What's happening to kids these days? Is greasy hair the figure of amity in your generation or something?"

0

0

0

On the South East of the British Isles was a small remote island not many knew of or could get access to. For the past few decades especially, there had always seemed to be some sort of undercurrents around the nearby waters that deterred the bravest sailors. Otherwise, it might have made quite a temperate paradise for retirement. If you were to zoom into the island using Google, you would see a small hill in the centre, surrounded by sparse green lands and trees, with a beach to the south.

If you were to zoom into the island using magic – then you would be where Pansy Parkinson was for the summer.

Pansy's hurried footsteps brought her quickly away from the private portkey landing spot, the house-elf maintained gardens, and into the grand villa seemingly made out of French windows. She eagerly climbed the spiral marble staircase and made her familiar way round the unchanged residence, coming upon opened double doors of Victorian design.

The amount of natural light in the room clashed with Pansy's personality, but the young girl barged in, out of breath, and made her way along roles of bookcases and ingredient drawers. It was one of the most resourceful potions laboratories she knew, albeit a complete contrast to Snape's dungeon style, especially when she spotted the occupant reading a book in an antique chaise longue by in the balcony.

The woman leisurely put her black tome down just in time to turn and allow Pansy to fall into her arms. "Pansy, my dear granddaughter!"

"Grandma! It was horrible! All of them are mean and bullies me!" Pansy sobbed on her grandmother's lap – just as she did before she got her unicorn for her sixth birthday.

"What happened, Pansy? I haven't heard from you ever since the letter you sent before that blasted Hippogriff's retrial. I've read some things in the Prophet, but who can trust a garbage newspapers like that with Fudge looming behind it now. Didn't you do what I suggested in case of emergency? If Pettigrew's identity and history gets threatened, just intercept it and make the person look questionable. You did what I suggested, right?"

"I did grandma! Oh I did! And it would've all worked out, with your Slave Suggestion Potion and Draco – Oh it could've been a happily ever after with Draco if it weren't for… weren't for –"

"Who, Pansy?" Pansy's grandmother never thought a Malfoy runt could match up to her granddaughter. Puppy love wounds will heal with time.

Pansy seethed with venom as she revealed the name that would preoccupy her grandmother for quite a while until appropriate revenge was taken. "Neville Longbottom!"

Seeing her granddaughter this way, the older woman patted her head and shushed the pouting child, while staring out through the windows towards the direction of Britain. "What a stupid name for a stupid boy. But… spotting and breaking my self-invented potion, revealing Pettigrew, ruining all your plans. I think I've even heard of his name from your father before…"

"Grandma!" Pansy started bawling, "Don't praise him! He's the devil!"

"Calm down Pansy," her grandmother smoothed out her hair, the same colour as hers when she was younger, and a unique smile grew on the older woman's lips. "Why don't we cook dinner together tonight Pansy? A woman must know how to serve a good dish."

Pansy's wails stopped almost instantaneously. She knew her grandmother was a good cook – but her best dishes were always served chillingly cold.

0

0

0

A/N: I guess by now everyone would've seen the last Harry Potter movie in the cinema. With the movies having apparently spanned ten years, and the books itself was even before that, what a phenomenon indeed… Anyway, I have a lot of little bones to pick with the movie series – actually, outright snorted at the movie adaptions really until the last ones, but this last film proved an important point.

The battles. The movie really didn't do it justice. It wasn't long enough (should've cut the hormonal Helena Ravenclaw much shorter) and the epic duels never happened (Bellatrix vs Ginny/Hermione/Luna for eg)! It also showed that (with Mrs Weasley vs Bellatrix for eg) the wizard duels were mostly just flashes of lights shooting at each other and that's it.

I must say I'd always thought that even while reading the books, so I really planned for my story to be different. I'm saying this now (not just because of the movie) but the plan for the 4th year of my fic is to gradually move to a more battle-orientated set-up, very much opposed to last and this year's political stuffs.

I have to say I'm not satisfied with how third year has turned out (not having properly plotted it I guess, since I never knew how to handle this actually quite hollow year in the books – bar the last part of breaking Sirius out, and even that I kinda didn't do well enough, I feel), and hopefully fourth year would be more about the fighting and, finally doing my sub-genre justice, romance.

I kind of have 3 chapters done for next year, but with a down turn at work (really should just quite this stupid company) most of my time is spent trying to not murder people and therefore haven't been writing much. Hopefully the monthly updates can be sustained.

Next stop – 4th year!


	72. Book 4 Chapter 1

Synopsis: Third year finished in a harmony chord. Draco went to America to search for his own purpose after deciding to resist Lucius's plans for him. Harry settled in quite nicely with Sirius, who plans to bring him on a filthy holiday. And Neville, having remembered and destroyed Slytherin's Locket, prepares to put his summer project into action.

Chapter 71 – A typical summer's day 

"And Olivia Wood saved Puddlemere United's last minute crisis! And there goes the whistle! Benjy Wiliams catches the snitch to bring this exciting game to a narrow 170 to 160 finish! Puddlemere's new keeper did not disappoint!" Neville cheered along with the rest of the crowd as the commentator reported the last of the match.

He got up from the wooden bench seat and led his 'date' towards the exit, "What did you think Penelope? A good lead up game to the World Cup?"

"Definitely!" The curly brunette turned quite a few heads as her hair swayed beside Neville. He would have been able to smell the sweet fragrance from her hair if they were not at this god forsaken man-packed stadium. "I'd always known Wood was a good Keeper back at Hogwarts, but to be starting already and doing so well in his first match! Since you're my boss and all, I may even give a slight mention of the Gryffindor team for your sake in this article!"

Neville sighed at being called that, resigning that this was more of a work venture than the 'date' he had wanted it to be. "I started this business just as a past time for this summer, okay? No one's even supposed to know I'm anything more than the financial section's consultant. I really would prefer you to call me by something more endearing."

"Oh Neville, you really don't know how I can thank you at all," Penelope just smiled, completely putting him off in the way girls did. "You were the one who spotted my talents as a sports journalist and offered me a job when I didn't know what to do after graduating. You even made me the 'Sports Editor' at that."

"Even if the sports section only has one person in it… Anyway you knew I'd always liked your commentary during the first Hoglake game so long ago, and you have not proven my decision wrong yet so far." Not only that, but from the chanced meeting with her in Diagon Alley before, Neville knew the messy break-up with The King of Gits (i.e. Percy) had something to do with her still moping about after graduation. At the thought, Neville shook his head and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You just wait Penelope. Our newspapers will rival the Prophet before you know it."

The two of them got to the Floo fireplaces a bit before the rush and stepped through the familiar green flames. Neville was quite used to the sensation by now, since he only regained his magical abilities very recently, living again without Apparition. He said as he stepped through, "The Quibbler Office."

Stepping into the open air of Ottery St. Catchpol, Neville saw Penelope stumbling out the adjacent fireplace onto the white stone plateau built just recently, with similar black Floo fireplaces that looked a bit like oversized pizza ovens on its perimeter. Two circular altars were attached outside the round white plateau as Apparition points, and also a bus stop signalling for where the Knight Bus should unload any visitors. The two of them walked across the entrance plateau and headed up the main walkway, each side lined with grey stone pillars, overlooking green fields of the British summer countryside beyond. Neville had specifically made sure the front door to the newspaper office was designed to have only one path leading to it, much like how he designed many of the other aspects himself.

_Call it being morbid, but castles only had one main access route for reason…_

Xenophilius's was a little reluctant at first, but Neville's devilish logic got him to surrender his house, and at Neville's expense, refurbish the old site into a giant office and printing press – and on Xenophilius's request, also the Lovegood's new residence.

_Why he didn't take up my offer of giving him a new mansion is beyond me… Then again, this office is oh so wonderfully designed by yours truly in the fashion that won't show up until the next millennium really. I was half tempted to throw some solar panels and wind turbines up for the hell of it._

Just as Neville was admiring the long building spreading out like a proud castle wall in front of him, a massive 'boom' erupted from the East Wing. Neville shook his head in dismay and Penelope just gave him a few hesitant laughs. She decided to make her exit, "I guess I'll just go and write up the article now while you sort things out over there."

"Yeah, that's if the bloody printing machines get fixed by tomorrow. Call the  
Mage-Engs on the way way ya? It might be cheaper to just hire a unit to live here with how those two carry on."

"You'll never know, it could be one of Mr Lockhart's proposal schemes," Penelope genuinely thought that was supposed to be a sweet notion.

Either way, Neville would have a headache. "No, Lockhart's doing a photo shoot for the Hoglake Store today. Did you even know how long it took me to clean up his mess the last time without magic? And anyway, no amount of extravagant proposal plans will ever move someone without a soul."

The two came to their parting point at the main lobby, with numerous stairways and openings leading to different parts of the building – Neville considered chaos as a standard wizarding architecture rule. Penelope took the left staircase and she turned back to say before leaving, "Don't speak about Ms Skeeter like that, I don't remember having a little brother with such a poisonous tongue!"

"Part of being in journalism," Neville shrugged. _And I also resent that little brother comment – I'm twenty-nine years old in appearance damn it! I didn't drink the Ageing Potions for nothing!_

Neville stepped into an opening on the right, which was really a magical elevator. The brick platform he was standing on smoothly (sudden movements was one part of wizarding building design he did not implement) ascended and pulled away to take him to the central print room.

He could hear the two bickering already as the elevator got closer to its landing, and frowned at the black and purple smoke that was everywhere around him. Stepping off the platform as he muttered a few Finite Incantatem and instructions to open all windows, he could finally make out the two troublemakers in front of one of the large magical machines that they used to print his newspaper.

"What is it this time?" Neville called out and the two stopped bickering, marching towards him as if they were both righteous lawyers going to court.

Rita Skeeter was the first to get her word in, as expected, "What else can it be but the usual? Lovegood here wants another _three_ pages for one of his stupid conspiracy theories! The Fudge Ministry illegally smuggling unregistered Mujina from Japan to kill off and imitate key political resistant leaders? That's so absurd on so many different levels!"

"Think about it Neville!" Xenophilius cried out desperately, "With so many unwanted voices rising against Fudge, such a plan is very viable! Not to mention I heard this, or something like this, off this drunk guy that says he's Ludo Bagman's second cousin's gardener down at the King's Horse last night."

Rita gestured a 'you see?' sign and nursed her sore head.

"This is still no reason to break the printing machine – again!" Neville brushed past them and tapped his wand on the printing machine's giant control panel that spanned most of the wall like hieroglyphics.

"I can't help it if this mad woman forcefully tries to delete my manual script from the printer! Who's the Editor-in-Chief here?"

"You have no right to crop away my Gossip and Agony Godmother sections!" Rita jabbed, "Remember you have a page allowance for being Editor-in-Chief? When you sold fifty-one per cent of this paper's ownership to dear Neville, you agreed half the pages you have complete control over, and pass your objections to the content of others through a board meeting."

"Fine! I'm calling up a board meeting right now you Mere-witch!"

"Calm down! Both of you! We have 'board meetings' practically every day because of this! What are you going to do when I'm back at Hogwarts?" Neville snapped back around at the two, who instinctively took a step back. He pointed his wand at a part of the screen and stated, "Xenophilius. Take this "Introduction to Hobby-Hoppers" article off and that should give you space for your conspiracy theory. You can print this article next week since it's time-independent. Issue resolved. Now, you stay here and wait for the Mage-Engineers to come and fix this mess you two have made. Rita, walk with me."

Xenophilius had that childish 'you're in trouble' look that Neville tried his best not to roll his eyes to. Rita's mouth was already blasting away the moment the brick elevator left its platform with the two of them.

"Why did I take this job in the first place? I'm a house-hold name that only a few months ago have five sectaries just to do my nails! Now I'm reduced to arguing with a lunatic man that's somehow the Editor-in-Chief!"

"Remember you're the Assistant Chief Editor, after I gave you five per cent of the shares. I really don't think you have much to complain about, considering Fudge made sure you were unemployable after being fired from the Prophet."

"Oh? And should I grovel at your feet to thank you? I practically run this newspaper! How that idiot Lovegood managed to make a living off the old Quibbler is beyond me!"

"He's experiencing a rapid change to his life and career right now, as is the Quibbler – and before you say it again, I can't scrap the name, Xenophilius put it in a clause. From Luna, I know he's enjoying the raising reputation of the Quibbler and his Editor-in-Chief position. He's going out to dinner with some buddies again tonight at Monsieur Chefian, and he'll be lavishing on having prime box seats for the World Cup I'm sure."

Neville listened to his own diplomatic voice, some would say devious. It was just business after all. Instead of printing a lot of useless fictional articles, to then get it shut down and blackmailed later after Voldemort took control, Neville thought he was giving Xenophilius quite a chance to change his future for the better. Also, because he did not trust Rita Skeeter with a bargepole.

Rita flashed that professional paparazzi smile, "You and I both know I'm tolerating this just for now. You needed a name and talent like me to make this into a proper newspaper, and I need a job to last me through until Fudge is finished. Oh, don't mock my intelligence with that innocent face. You and I both know the public's opinion of Fudge is lower than ever. I haven't published it yet to stay out of the Ministry's limelight, but I've even heard rumours that inside the Ministry there are whispers of an uprising force to usurp Fudge's administration."

"Now you're exaggerating things Rita. Fudge may not be very bright at a lot of things, but he has power firmly in his grasps with money and ties with the purebloods." Neville shook his head, "Anyway! I'm supposed to stay off politics remember? Hurry up and find me a political columnist! I'd even changed myself to look older than last summer to disassociate myself. Just remember Xenophilius is supposed to be your boss."

The two stepped off the elevating platform as it came to its landing and walked through the main office. This was a room filled with bulk standard desks and cubicles, with large auditorium-like flooring, but unfortunately next to being empty at the moment. Neville really held high hopes for this newspaper in a year or two, but right now the atmosphere was a little cold and unnerving. Then again, that was always the thrill of taking on something new, like when your RPG character was just level one or when an author had just written the first chapter of a book.

"Yes, I know, I know," Rita cleverly knew not to question too much, in hopes of Neville letting his guard down around her and spilling titbits of information. Neville expected to have a field day when she eventually leaves the Quibbler – even if he still held her unregistered Animagus secret as a trump card. "Harry Potter's interview was just because of Luna Lovegood's school ties, and that world-exclusive Sirius Black interview was also just so happens Remus Lupin was again Luna's professor last year. The semi-regular Charms column by Phileas Gamp, Head of Department of Magical Transportation, is just because he liked sharing his part-time interests and this was a free platform. Not to mention Algie Longbottom's exclusive permission to publish all Hoglake League's news was just because we apparently strike some advertising deals with him. Nothing to do with you at all."

"Precisely." Neville had used the social ties he built up so far very lavishly at the start-up of the new Quibbler. Apart from drawing massive interests with exclusive interviews, columns by renowned names, Neville really did not know that much about journalism. That was why even if he did not trust her, he still tried to learn as much as he could with the experienced Rita Skeeter.

The two of them finally arrived back at Rita's office, the outside adorned with a golden star like a Hollywood Celebrity. Just as she opened her door to step inside her large office, popping noise showered her with magical laces and frills.

"Rita! Oh my gorgeous Rita! Your beauty is that of a million golden suns! Please accept my proposal!" Gilderoy Lockhart was on one knee, again, with a flashing diamond ring the size of a pig's knuckle. A wizarding choir somehow managed to squeezed themselves into the, otherwise spacious, office and repeated his proposal in harmony.

"At least this time no one has to chase down a hundred Wigglytuffs," Neville nodded behind Rita's back.

Rita waved her wand without a sound and cleared off all the frills and sparkles, not mention the massive animated teddy bear in the corner, to Lockhart's dejected face. The choir took the queue to escape through the window, with quite the tricky Apparition techniques, when Rita's glare fell on them. She then asked in the coldest tone for a man who just proposed, "Lockhart, have you finished the weekly chapter of your serial yet?"

"N-no my dear but –" Neville had utilised yet another one of Lockhart's talents this year, and asked him to write a serial story in the paper, which had gotten quite popular already. After all, only with a gifted literary flair could he have gotten so famous with the books – not to mention Neville had read his book on how his year at Hogwarts and it was quite an amusing bedtime read.

"THEN GET OUT AND START WRITING DAMN IT AND STOP WASTING MY TIME!" Rita screamed and both Lockhart and Neville made their escape.

"Why Neville? I'd thought it would work this time!" Lockhart exclaimed dramatically.

"I thought you were at a photo shoot," was Neville's deadpan reply.

"I cancelled of course!" Lockhart said as if that was the most logical thing in the world. "What's more important Neville? A man's proposal or a silly photo shoot?"

"I'm going to fire you and restrain you from this place if you slack off on your Hoglake Store duties," Neville growled. "What do you see in that crocodile anyway?"

"Crocodile? What's that? Oh, Neville, you're not there yet my boy, but when you are, you'll know it. Just like when I first set sights on Rita here! Her hair, her nails, even her spectacles!"

"You're a strange strange _strange_ man." Neville sighed at this completely unexpected side-track from the books.

"I guess I'd better go hurry and finish my story for this week to see my goddess once again! See you later!" Lockhart rushed for the entrance, but not before turning to say, "Oh, and the Weasleys came by again and wanted to see you. They should be in Luna's room."

With Ginny and Luna's friendship having grown comparatively to the books after working in the Council together, and Neville being here most of the time, Ron and Ginny dropped by pretty frequently through summer. It was not a far journey, and Neville had modified their brooms as for them to be undetectable by Muggles, much to Mrs Weasley's disapproval.

"Hey mate!" Ron greeted him as he walked into the Lovegood's residential area on the top floor. Neville had wanted to go for the modern penthouse with a walk out balcony, but Luna vehemently (in her airy standards anyway) rejected the idea and fashioned her room into more of a cosy girly room that looked too suitable for tea parties.

Sitting on the cushion on the floor, he greeted Ron back as Ginny and Luna continued talking about something to do with the Council. Seeing the wooden-like pieces of puzzle blocks sprayed about the table, Neville asked, "Still no luck with the puzzle? It's already been a year man. I'd thought it resembled something I'd seen before, but I guess it just had that stereotypical Egyptian eye pattern."

Ron still had not given up on solving the Millennium Puzzle look-a-like. He said as he picked up another piece for it to click onto a bigger piece, "I'm sure I'm on the last hurdle Neville. Once I solve this, the puzzle will fall together on its own within minutes!"

Neville did not know why Ron refused to believe it was just a scam toy he had brought on holiday, but he was no experts in magical artefacts after all. At this moment, Ginny turned to Neville and asked, "What do you think Neville?"

"What?" He asked dumbfounded at the little redhead, wearing her new jade hairclip. _I spoil her too much… It suits her though._

"What do you think they're talking about at the camp Mr President?" Luna asked, still calling him by that.

"I told you, Hannah's the new president. That reminds me, she's away to camp with Su and the Head Boy and Girl, isn't she? I think they're just going to plan what's going to happen this year, and how the Council and Prefects are going to split responsibilities. Kind of like what we did during summer after first year I guess."

"Are you really not coming back to the Council, Mr President?" Luna asked in her usual vague tone, with her head tilted to the side. A lock of her long blonde hair fell over her eyes at that moment in a natural dryad-like resemblance.

"Have you ever thought of being a Hoglake robes poster girl Luna? You have that Elvish quality –"

"Is that the same line you use to all the girls down Rose Lane?" Ginny cut in, deadpanned.

"Hey, I'm serious! Luna is pretty! Ron won't have gone out with her otherwise right?" Without Occlumency, Neville was prone to say something stupid things at awkward times. Sometimes, he really regretted the decision to let his emotions out a little, but he feared both the lengthening magical exhaustion period and the unexplained black aura from last year.

Ron cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "I need a trip to the bathroom."

"Wait up Ron, I have to refill the kettle anyway." As always, awkwardness flew over her head and Luna added an extra layer to Ron's discomfort, "Plus, I can protect you if my father sees you. He doesn't like you very much after he found out we've been dating."

The two, one oblivious and one awkward, friends walked out to leave Ginny and Neville with the rest of Ron's Millennium Puzzle. Neville absentmindedly played with the puzzle blocks as Ginny rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you blurt out stuffs like that. You knew they were ex-se! Not to mention you were partially at fault for them splitting up."

"I'm not good with that stuff, and they're friends now anyway. It wasn't that bad a breakup between them," Neville muttered, reaching for his cup of tea.

"If you don't shape up in this 'stuff' then you're just going to waste the opportunity with Hermione tomorrow." Ginny said so casually that Neville spat out and choked.

"Aren't you supposed to root for your brother? _Tergeo._" Neville coughed as he cleared the tea.

_For the record, Ginny was good with this 'stuff' and apparently Ron was so blatant during summer that a brain-damaged troll could see his feelings for Hermione._

Ginny absently played with the jade hairclip on her red hair and said, "Well you're different. You two decided to fight fairly for her so I'm not taking sides! It's partially because of you that she didn't come to the Burrow, so you've kind of won this round."

"How was that my fault? Of course she wants to spend more time with her parents after a long year away at Hogwarts! Plus, I only offered to pick her up at Diagon Alley because the Hoglake Store has a bus to ferry employees there for the World Cup match. She's going to Grimmauld Place with you guys after anyway." Neville saw a chance for a counter attack and teased, "And I bet you're looking forward to that. Spending a nice little week with your Harry."

Ginny's defence visibly crumbled at Harry's name and she blushed deeply. She stuttered and tried to change the subject back onto him, "W-well you just be careful Mr Longbottom! You hardly spoke to her after your little act last year that made you Hogwarts' public enemy number one, right? This could make or break your relationship with her! Many a times I've seen two couples breaking up because of a grave misunderstanding, even after it's been cleared up."

"Pray tell Mrs Potter reserve number one, when have you seen this 'many times'?"

Ginny growled, "Fine! I just meant friends! But that's what happened with Alison Meliflua and Maisie Toothill! They were friends to start off with, and then got into a big fight about some shoes, then even after they've re conciliated, the atmosphere never was the same and they just drifted apart!"

Neville could not help but chuckle at how typically cute the young girl was, and almost wanted to lecture Harry on forcing her to mature in the books. He only laughed louder when Ginny's face reddened with frustration. Neville patted her head and said, "It'll be fine. Hermione and I had been owling all through summer."

Ginny suspiciously stared up at him behind his arm, "You seem far too confident about this."

"What's there to be scared of with two friends meeting up? It'll just be like us hanging out here."

"Friends?"

"Above all else, we are friends." Neville replied simply.

Ginny was going to ask something else but the other two arrived back with more tea and Merlin's Biscuits. At the sight of wizard food of course, Neville had forgotten the little girl and dashed right in.

0

0

0

Neville hurried through the front doors of the Longbottom's Manor and shouted a greeting for Gran. She shouted something back but Neville did not hear her, instead he was quickly rushing towards his home office. He wanted to dim the ties he associated with the Hoglake Store to the public, and thus had been 'working at home'. He had just received an owl earlier regarding an issue with the production of the new line of Hoglake robes and wanted to make a few conference Floos before the end of the working day.

His office was mostly occupied by a massive crescent shaped desk of fine oak, facing a long balcony with a pole across the middle – for the owls. On one wall covered massive bookshelves, and the other was lined with small Floo fireplaces for conference Floos. Neville frowned once he entered, and decided his conference Floos would have to wait for first thing tomorrow.

His bookcase had been opened. Literally.

For his convenience, especially when he was without magic, he installed a cliché stairway behind the bookcase to reach the underground cavern the Longbottom seniors had used for Arcane Magic research. Neville was still carrying on with that magic research every morning, which was where he kept most of his research notes. _For someone to break in like this without anyone knowing… But who knew about the place? And why?_

Neville snapped his wand out from his Wand Armband and activated his Floating Magic. He flew out of the window and plummeted for the sea level, making a ninety degree spin and kicking at the waves with his boots, Neville flew into the cavern from its mouth connected to the sea. _The trespasser could have been watching the stairway._

Careful to hide behind the jagged cavern walls, he peered behind a stone spire to look across to the shores of the stream pool of sorts. By the everlasting-lanterns, he could see a figure browsing through the make-shift shelves where he stored his research notes. Neville lowered himself slowly into the water and propelled himself like a torpedo silently towards the shore. Creeping out of the water like some sort of sea monster, he crept up behind the small figure, engrossed in his notes.

Just as Neville was going to throw him a stunner, a feminine voice asked, "You think you can sneak up on me?"

The figure fired three curses almost instantaneously under her arm at Neville, which he narrowly dodged two and shielded against the last. The trespasser robbed the initiative though and she already finished her incantation before turning around to throw her fourth finishing spell.

"Neville?" It was too late and her spell hurtled towards him, who was on the ground from the impact of her third spell on his Shield Charm.

"Who else can it be Elena?" Neville shouted and made a desperate horizontal slash with his wand. As if following the tip of his wand, water from the underground lake leapt in front of Neville's body like a mini tidal wave and washed him away just in time. Of course, the tide also crashed into Elena and the two's mangled bodies collided with each other in the waves.

"You idiot!" Elena gurgled as the two finally got washed up at the far side of the cavern. "Why can't we ever have a proper greeting?"

"Whose bloody fault is that? I still remember that time you tried to scare me by pretending to be a ghost!" Neville scrambled to his feet and used a charm to dry the both of them off.

"I can do it myself!" Neville observed Elena's haughtiness had not lessened at all even after she had spent a year in Phillip's famous potions lab. She was muttering Bulgarian or French something or other. Neville had learnt a bit of French in his past life. _I guess she's not very happy her planned meeting didn't go well, or something. Did she plan something to try and scare me again?_

"Why are you here? It's not Christmas yet," Neville said.

"You're still just as rude and crass and English as you've always been!" Elena grumbled in her usual accent, directing her wand to dry her hair.

"And you are still as vampire as that long canine teeth sticking out of your mouth right now." Neville commented, knowing her teeth only bared because she was annoyed at him.

"I'm just going to take that as a compliment." Elena huffed.

"Again, why are you here?" Neville asked.

"I'm here to watch the Quidditch World Cup of course! Do I need permission from you?" Elena snapped.

"But why are you here, at my research office?" Neville asked. He knew she was with him when they first discovered this cavern, and was probably just snooping around out of curiosity. Elena really had that stereotypical cat-like personality. "Not to mention my office upstairs."

Having been caught in the act, Elena's face reddened and she shouted to try and hide her embarrassment, "I was just waiting for you at your office but got bored, okay? Geeze, I don't know why Philippe talks so highly of you. I heard you bothered him with some potion analysis or other a few months ago?"

"Ah yes, thank your boyfriend for me." Neville said with a genuine smile, "He really helped me out of a pinch when –"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Elena grabbed Neville's collar and protested, her face inches away from his.

Feeling how tight his collar was around his neck, Neville gasped, "Okay, fine, he's not – let me go!"

Elena released her grip and strode out of the cavern in with a great harrumph to end all harrumphs. Neville just sighed and guessed she had some big row with Phillip or something.

0

0

0

A/N: I feel I've already started at a slow pace at the first chapter of fourth year. Maybe it's cause this year has a lot to do with relationships as well so it may seem like there are a lot of useless interactions, which is really how characters get on with each other. I'll try and hurry the pace, but work again sucks and I'm on crazy hours again… :(


	73. Book 4 Chapter 2

Synopsis: Neville pet project for this summer turned out to be revamping the Quibbler into being a proper newspaper. Recruiting the help of Penelope, Rita, Lockhart and other friends of his, the paper is starting to take a turn upwards despite its internal struggles between his employees. On a personal note, Ginny pointed out Neville's 'chance' to spend time with Hermione when picking her up for the World Cup, but as always, Neville was not foretold of a certain cousin who dropped by…

Chapter 72 – A classic Neville shopping trip (date?)

Neville was just finishing his final owl when Old Al came through the door. Attaching the parchment to an office owl, flicking Trevor a treat in the process affectionately, Neville said without turning back, "I know Old Al, I'll be right down. We'll take a small trip to the Hoglake Store offices first to make sure everything is okay before setting off for the stadium."

"Neville, relax! You're going back to school next week. I'll take care of things here. You just enjoy the World Cup and then a week's vacation." Old Al said, still doting on his great-nephew.

"You'll get busy yet – as the Head of a department my great-uncle," Neville said and summoned Dracula's Cloak over from his room's window onto the balcony.

"If you say it like that when Ludo Bagman is still filling that position then you make it sound like we're doing some bad guys stuff." Old Al laughed, ignorant of the fact that the gesture added to the effect.

"Bagman is simply not the best person for the job." Neville stated. "I heard the opposition to the Fudge administration is brewing up quite nicely."

"Yes, my buddies and I have started to form a bit of a clique at work." Old Al commented lightly, "Griselda Marchbanks, Amelia Bones, and Tiberius Ogden, Phileas Gamp, amongst others, are some mean bullies when they want to be."

Neville gave Old Al a smile for his efforts at humour. "I'm sorry to have asked for you and your friends to get into all this political stuff. But after last year, I just want to stay as far away from it as possible."

"You are just doing what you should be for your age Neville, while we old-timers happen to agree with you that Fudge is a complete numpty. It _should_ be up to us to put something in action." Old Al patted Neville on the shoulder. "Just remember to manage that newspaper of yours gently; propaganda is a game that can get you into some amount of troubles… in uncertain times."

"Uncertain times?" Neville never remembered telling Old Al that Voldemort was coming back. As far as Neville had leaked, he had just taken advantage of his great-uncle's feeling of injustice for how Fudge treated his great nephew, roping him into pressuring out Fudge's administration. On a personal note, it was revenge on Fudge, but on a grander scale, he wanted a better leader during the second war times of Voldemort.

Time was only running shorter after all, and he could not bag on himself being able to stop the flow of Fate after the disasters last year.

"From the way you'd said things, it seems like you're preparing us to go to war or something." Old Al suddenly turned sober, "I've done a little digging myself and apparently my great-nephew is some sort of seer of the future at Hogwarts."

"Damn Dumbledore!" Neville muttered. He had not wanted Old Al to know he knew the future. Actually, he never wanted anyone to know, but it was just the best excuse he could come up with at the time. "Look Old Al… I… I…"

"It's okay Neville," Old Al put his big hands on Neville's shoulder. "You're my great-nephew. Blood is thicker than water and whatever you do, even if it's to become the next dark lord, I'll be right behind you."

At this point Neville had to activate his Occlumency.

Neville shook his hand off and rolled his eyes at Old Al's chuckle.

_I never appreciated this man's sense of humour_.

Neville was going to summon his flask of Ageing Potions before Old Al's charm intercepted it in mid-air. Old Al answered his questioning glance, "Just enjoy yourself today Neville. Be good and act your age. I mean, even your cousin's here."

"Yes, it was great to see the Drakuls again, especially when talking about the Hoglake Store's branch in Bulgaria last night. Do you think we can ask our strategy department to –"

"Neville, is that really what a fourteen year old should be talking about?" Old Al lectured.

"Well according to wizarding law in Britain, I can get married next year, so yes, I do think planning finances is something I can talk about." Neville said, which surprisingly caught Old Al's interests.

"Actually, I didn't know you know that. The Muggles say sixteen, but we wizard come of age a year before them. Of course, that's just British law Neville, so if you get married, it'll have to be here in Britain." Old Al went on and on to Neville's horror.

"Wait up. Who said I was getting married?" Neville asked, hands on his waist.

"Well, the choice is there." Neville just considered it as a father's feeling of wanting a grandchild as soon as possible. Old people tended to do these things.

0

0

0

"So this is Diagon Alley, a bit rowdy isn't it?" Elena turned her haughty nose up at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour .

Momentarily stopping in his conversation with Dracula, Neville said, "They make the best ice cream here, just so you know."

"Oh? In that case why don't you treat us to one later young Longbottom?" Dracula chuckled good-naturedly.

The Drakuls and Longbottoms were just making their way to the Hoglake Store headquarters in Diagon Alley, a bit early, before going to the World Cup stadium. After all, Dracula was here on a half business trip… even if it was Mrs Drakul who handled most of the business.

_Those two haven't changed one bit… Like how Mrs Drakul smacked Dracula round the back of his head for making a joke about the Veela and the Dementor at the dinner table last night… Now that was a good one to tell Sirius later! _

"Sure thing," Neville replied.

"Don't you remember dear? Our meeting may last quite long and we may not have time for that before the bus arrives." Mrs Drakul said.

"Oh? But then maybe you can go and I –"

"Why don't you show Elena about Diagon Alley Neville? Algie can take care of business with the Drakuls," Gran timely suggested as Mrs Drakul ripped Dracula a new one, probably for trying to slack off one too many times.

Neville did not miss Elena's expectant gaze, making a note of definitely remembering to get his child cousin a sundae later before they left, but said to Gran, "No, I must go to the store. It's been a long time since I've checked up on Cho and I need a progress on Line Fifty-Five."

"Wait, Cho? From Christmas Cho?" Elena narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, the Cho you cursed when you first met her and works for me, as you knew when you saw us last Christmas." Neville did not know what Elena's problem was with Cho.

"Yeah, the one you were on a dinner date with!" Elena harrumphed.

"Oh? Is that how it is?" Old Al asked in genuine surprise. "Cho's been a massive help this summer with the both of us hardly being at the Hoglake Store – she's practically the next chain of command after us. Frankly I've been very surprised and impressed by how she handled the store for someone so young. I'd just thought you were trying to groom a young and beautiful assistant Neville, but I'd never thought…"

"What did you say Algie? This Cho girl I've been corresponding with about the store is young Longbottom's lover?" Dracula swished his cape back and proclaimed, "Let us go forward to see how she compares to my little girl and show young Longbottom who is the fairer of – urk!"

Needless to say, Mrs Drakul effective shut Dracula up again. Neville gave Gran a suspicious look, and she very expertly pretended to look at some robes through the windows of Gladrags Wizardwear. It would be stupid after all these years for Neville not to have thought there was something behind the Longbottoms and Drakul seniors, but he kind of blocked it out with habit.

_We were in the twentieth century after all, no matter how much of a pureblood family the Longbottom name was. _

Neville peered over at Elena, who suddenly looked very determined to reach the Hoglake Store and he shook his head to clear it. No, someone like Elena would have no reason to bend to others' wills – not to mention she was never mentioned in the books.

Once they got into the Store doors, Cho was already there to welcome them. Before Cho could say anything, Dracula was already lunging forward.

"Ah! Cho Chang! I am Count Vlad Drakul and I shall – urk!" Elena actually had to rush to her papa this time to untie the magical ribbon that materialised around his neck.

Mrs Drakul acted as if nothing was wrong to a, quite baffled Cho, "Nice to finally meet you Cho. We have had quite a few correspondences before and I'm so glad we can actually visit here today."

"Of course, Mrs Drakul, the pleasure is mines." Cho replied more handsomely than any other executive Alan Sugar could groom.

Old Al sighed, almost in pride, and whispered to Neville, "How did you find her Neville? She's so young and yet, run this place so well despite us two slacker executives. I've heard quite a few managers from the high-classed families at the Store had asked their sons to befriend her as a possible marriage option. Old Dougie even asked me to introduce her to his grandson some time when we were playing Hoglake last week."

Elena had by now freed Dracula beside Neville, and she promptly stepped forward, offering her hand to Cho. "Cho! Such a pleasure to see you again. I've heard a lot from Neville on how well you've managed our Hoglake chain this summer."

Cho took the hand but very briefly glanced at Neville. Neville saw the slight question in her eyes and gave her a shrugged, since he also had no recollection of telling Elena much about this during their owl exchanges through summer.

Cho overlooked it quickly though and, continuing in her professional tone, started leading the Drakuls on a tour around the main Hoglake Head Office, introducing the key managers and different parts of the office. In a year, the Hoglake Store had grown quite healthily. The store front now spanned another two large shop spaces on either side, with three extra floors on top for offices. There were also a large number of Hoglake arenas for hire at the back of the store for friendly and semi-professional games.

It was a good experience for Neville, fabled young CEO of this company, to reintroduce himself and see the current situation around his office, and he was generally very satisfied and impressed with how Cho had carried out his instructions. It was also his job to introduce the Drakuls of course, and after a few times, added Elena into the equation as well as Mrs Drakul had done the last few times when Neville had missed her out. After all, he never thought Elena had taken part in the Hoglake business and had no interests in it. Neville observed now that Mrs Drakul thought otherwise, and very surprisingly, Elena switched to the polite and business-like mode that fooled all Neville's managers into thinking she was to be the future owner of the Buglarian branch.

_I see… So this is the reason why the Drakuls brought Elena here as well? I guess they do want some sort of financial backup for Elena in case her potions career didn't go well, or she could do this part-time like me. I don't think the Drakuls have much to worry about though from what Philippe had told me through owl. If she could get recognition from the genius potion master, I doubt she can't run her own potions lab somewhere._

Reaching the conference room where they were going to discuss a few issues relating to further collaboration between the Bulgarian and British branch, Neville turned to Cho, "Can you let the managers and the Drakuls talk amongst themselves for now? I want to have a look at Line Fifty Five."

"Certainly Neville, please excuse us for a while." Cho nodded and held the door to the conference room open for the Longbottoms and Drakuls seniors.

Neville could see Elena's usual spoilt personality ready to erupt and would have asked to follow them if one of the managers had not asked her a question just then. Neville took the opportunity when Elena was forcing a smile and replying amicably to make his escape.

Cho was not far behind and said, in a very ambiguous tone, "I never knew Elena was coming to visit as well."

"Yeah, she's here for the Quidditch World Cup," Neville said, omitting the sombre business issues he had assumed. "So how have you been, my lovely assistant? Old Al and the other managers have quite a high opinion of you."

"Oh Neville, don't think I don't know you've been trying to flood me with work ever since the start of summer." Cho's throaty put-on laugh sent the hair on Neville's neck up. He literally jumped when Cho put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm assuming you did it because you seem pretty hung up about what I said in the Hospital Wing at the end of last year."

Neville gulped and stuttered, "I-I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Relax Neville, it was just something impulsive I said for fun." Neville let out a sigh of relief at finally solving how Cho really felt. He had actually been pretty troubled as to what he would do if his assistant, who had grown into such an attractive woman that took Harry's Potter's first love, were to chase after him as… "At least that's how it was initially."

"What do you mean by initially?" Neville almost screeched, turning around to confront Cho. _Bad move…_

Cho had agilely gotten quite close to Neville during their walk and she was practically nose to nose with him after his sudden turn. As Neville was almost suffocating by the familiar pear scent unique to Cho, she purred, "Who would've thought the wizarding world's youngest most eligible bachelor is so weak in defence. You shouldn't take those strolls down Rose Lane with Alex Brandon and risk your weakness getting found out."

"I was just down there because that old leech wanted to talk about the business deal with Quality Quidditch Supplies – Hey! Why am I even explaining myself to you?"

Cho took a step back and put a hand up to cover her giggle. Like taking off a mask, she resumed the slightly mischievous but natural look that Neville made friends with from Hogwarts. She teased, "Really Neville, for someone who looks so smooth in the media, you shouldn't get this flustered just because a girl tries to get close to you."

"You were trying to seduce me like a minx!" Neville protested.

"Hey!" Cho pouted, taking a step forward again. Neville leaned backwards, finding his back to a wall, and Cho reached behind his head, ever so slowly.

"W-what are you doing? We're in the office and –"

"Just opening the doorway to Line Fifty Five Neville." Cho looked as if she's just had a go at her favourite arcade game, talking a step back again and pointing at the opening in the wall that led to a staircase. "Come on, I still have to go back to the meeting."

Neville grumbled to himself as Cho whistled a victory tune to herself down the stairs. _I knew she didn't mean it back at the Hospital Wing! Because I was so mindful of it, she's not going to stop teasing me this year! I thought she's supposed to be the shy type in the books! Why is she so determined to make a fool out of me in front of her? I really should help Harry with her… but then what about the assassination by Ginny if she found out? Oh…_

"Why are you nursing your head Mr Longbottom?" An employee Neville could not remember asked as they entered the underground research facility.

"Nothing my good man. So, how's the progress of Line Fifty Five?" Neville asked, giving a quick browse about the room.

This 'Line' is pretty much just a code name for Neville's own research ventures. Inspired by Cho's clothing idea from the Festival, and remembering the Shield Hats that the twins made during the books, Neville started this as soon as the idea hit him.

"We have ran through about eighty per cent of the different rare materials on our initial scope," the wizard, whose name was Alfred, looked at the long piece of parchment he was holding. "We are still collating and analysing the data from the prior experiments as well."

Neville looked appreciatively at the witch shooting fire out of her wand like a flamethrower at a piece of shiny cloth against one wall, and almost clapped at the range of Severing Charms another researching was using to mangle another cloth on the other side. Cho said as Neville looked about the exotic wizarding research methods about him, "Unfortunately, we are still recruiting the necessary talents to conduct our runes and charms research. The purchase of the large magical machinery that needs to be fabricated and charmed in Brazil is also underway, but wouldn't be delivered until November at the earliest."

"Yes, I expected that Cho. Alfred, keep an eye on this, owl me monthly reports on progress, just a brief foot long parchment maximum. I really didn't expect to see much result now, but this is going well."

After another few moments, Cho and Neville returned back up the stairs, the special access doorway closing behind their back as they walked back towards the main office. Cho asked, "Just out of curiosity, why are you doing this research? This is pretty much just moving the company funds for your own interests."

"Don't make it sound so ugly… After all, if a war breaks out, protective equipment and clothing is going to be a complete sell out. Let's say we're just investing for a future market." Neville tried his best to be cryptic.

"A war? Really? With who?" Cho sighed and shook her head, "Hoglake robes will never need to withstand the conditions and damage we're getting those wizards to test back there. Tell me honestly Neville, I've heard a few things when mingling with others, but are you really trying to build an army to fight against Fudge?"

Neville would have comically face-faulted if he was in a manga. "No Cho… I'm not…"

0

0

0

Neville slipped off before getting back to the conference room and told Cho that he had prior arrangements, which he had. Seeing the familiar grey and great looking bank of the wizarding world, Neville once again entered Gringotts.

Despite being such a big client now with his businesses, he had still to meet the fabled bank manager in those fanfics, or think up of a heist that would get him Hufflepuff's Cup. Whackbock apparently still remembered him from last summer though, and tried to get him to join some savings account that Neville of course declined, for his sole purpose here was –

"Neville!" Turning round from Whackbock, who understood his time was too expensive to spend on a customer not buying and stalked away, Neville spotted the brunette who almost made him activate his Occlumency again today.

"Hermione!" Neville took a few quick strides and the two met in the middle. Hermione had her arms half opened for a hug, while Neville had one arm half raised to pat her on the shoulder. Seeing each other's gestures, they changed to try and match each other, but ended up kind of just awkwardly leaning against each other for a second before taking a quick jump back.

Neville silently cursed Ginny and what she predicted from yesterday, hoping he was not blushing.

"So… How've you been?" Hermione asked, gaze somehow taking a keen interest at Whackbock's waddle away behind Neville.

"Good, good, I guess. Yourself?" Neville asked.

"Good. Yeah… good." Hermione and Neville stayed silent for a few seconds before Hermione abruptly pointed behind him, "My parents have just finished changing money. We can go and get our school stuffs."

Of course Neville did not need to get his school stuffs personally, but that was the plan before they went to the World Cup. Neville turned to see Mr and Mrs Granger for the first time. Hermione's father was the tall, thin and lanky type, a little bald and sporting a bushy moustache. Neville could tell that was where Hermione got her brunette hair from. He carried himself in what Neville called the 'boring stance', like he was just in the office and about to get his third cup of coffee. Hermione's mother however…

"The Grangers, how nice to finally meet!" Neville almost skipped over to the pair and took Mrs Granger's hand, "And Mrs Granger, I can certainly see where Hermione gets her looks from."

Before Neville could bend down to kiss her hand, Mr Granger snatched his wife's hand back and interrogated, "Now boy, tell me what your intentions are with my daughter."

"W-what?" Neville was stumped immediately.

"Dad!" Hermione was mortified and quickly pushed her dad as far away from Neville as possible, not that he budged much.

_I don't remember Ron or Harry getting this treatment!_

"I demand to know what the first boy to take my only daughter on a date is like!" Mr Granger exclaimed and Neville's face flushed completely red this time. "I'm sure it's written in the Human Rights somewhere, if wizards know that sort of thing."

"It's not a date Dad! We're going to see the World Cup with Ron and Harry!" Hermione protested.

"But are you two not going shopping first? It was different with two other friends, but with you two alone – That's a date to me, young lady!"

"Dad! You're embarrassing me!"

Neville could not even choke out a laugh as the comical father-daughter display went out the door with Hermione's insistent shoving. Neville was not even aware that the very attractive Mrs Granger was still standing next to him when she spoke up, "Neville is it? Hermione talks a lot about you, ever since first year. I do wish you two will continue to get along with each other from now on."

"Y-yes! Of course, Mrs Granger." Neville's proposed smooth first impression was of course completely annihilated by Mr Granger's interruption, but Mrs Granger smiled nonetheless and patted him on the shoulder.

"Look out for my daughter for me this year as well, will you?" Mrs Granger then motioned for the door, "I guess it's time to go check upon my overly protective husband. I do hope you're not offended Neville."

"No Madam. Of course not." Neville could only catch up to the woman walking out of the big gates, feeling completely like a little boy again. Mrs Granger had that English Rose, Nigella Lawson feel about her that probably made everyone look like a little boy.

"Ah ha! There he is!" Mr Granger was going to say more but with the help of Mrs Granger's restraints and Hermione grabbing Neville's sleeve and dragging him out of there, the Grangers were out of earshot within moments.

"I'm _so_ sorry for my Dad Neville! I never thought he'd embarrass you like that!" Hermione panted as the two stopped in front of Flourish and Blotts.

"It's okay Hermione, every Dad would do that I guess," Neville laughed. "And you really should do more exercise if you're panting from such a short run."

"Hey!" Hermione gave him a quick slap on his arm and went inside her favourite shop. "Let's start getting our books or else we'll be late. By the way, is that your bus outside?"

"I did hire a double-decker bus. How did you know it was a magical bus? I went out of my way to ensure the driver knew Muggle traffic rules and would not park on the double yellow lines!" Neville said as he handed a piece of parchment to a shop assistant and motioned for him to pack two sets for them.

The two wandered around the bookshelves as their essential fourth year texts were being gathered and Hermione explained, "The bus itself was painted in such bright colours that only wizards would use, and I had to help the driver with parking meter. Anyway, how do you plan on getting all your employees into a single bus?"

"It's magical, it's pretty much like the first class cabinet of a plane inside," Neville explained, taking a random book of the shelf that caught his interests.

"Of course!" Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed in chagrin "Should've known. I guess I've just been thinking as a Muggle for a bit too long this summer."

"Wow, get this," Neville pointed at book he was reading, "Napoleon was a wizard!"

"Well," Hermione's all-too-familiar tone of voice signalled that she was about to correct him again, which she did. "Napoleon was actually a Squib."

Before Hermione can smugly receive praise for the knowledge, she was aghast that someone corrected her, "That's completely incorrect! Napoleon was a wizard you silly girl. He just lost his magic due to magical exhaustion at a young age."

Neville groaned weakly, half for Hermione and half for himself. He was reading a book about magical exhaustion, after all due to his own predicament, now confirming that Madam Pomfrey was telling completely accurate truth. He turned back to the interruption and asked, "Why are you here Elena? Shouldn't you be at the meeting with other managers?"

"It's finished already! Gran Longbottom was just wondering where you went and asked me to look for you." Elena brushed past Hermione and grabbed hold of Neville's arm, "They're waiting on us for lunch."

"Elena," Neville did not budge and turned to Hermione. "This is Hermione, one of my friends from Hogwarts. She's pretty much the smartest witch you'll find in my year. I've already promised her to go shopping for school stuffs together. Hermione, this is Elena, my distant cousin of sorts from Romania. She's here for the World Cup."

Elena's face reddened and said to the thin air to the side of her head, "I'm Elena Drakul. Apologies for before, I'd just thought you were a random girl Neville was picking up."

"What gave you the impression that I'm someone who picks girls up at bookstores?" Neville protested.

"By having Cho as your assistant, I'm quite convinced you have quite an eye out for girls."

Neville ignored Elena's dig and said, "Hermione and I have still got school things to get, I thought Gran knew already. Can you go back and tell her I'll just grab lunch with Hermione and meet you guys on the bus?"

"What?" Elena was going to say something but Neville thought it was probably going to be something stubborn.

"Hermione and I planned this already, before I knew you were coming for the World Cup. Seriously, why do you never owl me whenever you come over to Britain?" Neville sighed, wondering why Gran liked springing surprises to his schedules.

"Well I'm coming with you two," Elena state self-righteously. "I haven't had a good look round Diagon Alley yet and you promised to show me around before."

"Ah ha!" At this point Hermione looked up from another book that she had picked up off the shelf. Displaying it like evidence in a courtroom, she said, "Napoleon was thought to be Squib at birth! Then he managed one single spell, but casting it gave him magic exhaustion that he never recovered from, making him a Squib! I don't think you can say I'm 'completely incorrect'!"

Neville knew it was just Hermione's personality to get to the bottom of things, which was cute, especially with her she puffed up her cheeks in triumph. But he knew in the face of the thin-skinned Elena, this would only bring out the proud vampire in the dark haired princess.

"He's done a spell right? That means he _is_ a wizard!" Elena initiated what would be the classically comical 'he-is-he-isn't' game and Neville swiftly interjected.

"Alright Elena. We have to hurry, Hermione. The store clerk's probably got our books bagged by now."

"She probably thinks Mage Grass is an insect just because it was hatched as a worm." Hermione murmured under her breath, but Elena of course picked it up due to Murphy's Law.

"I happen to know about Mage Grass, _Hermione_." Elena's accented way of saying her name meant that Neville was not going to enjoy the rest of this trip. "I happen to have brewed quite a few potions with Mage Grass and some required it at its seed, insect, larva, butterfly, and plant form. Now I wonder if you know what happens when it welts."

"It welts and its remaining energy is burnt up to emit a bright magical light and leaves behind a seed. Of course I know! Elementary school witches know that." _Why did you have to reply Hermione?_

"Oh yeah? Well I bet you can't name the potion that requires all five of its life cycles to brew correctly."

Neville paid the slightly apprehensive store clerk for the books, and shook his head. _So much for my reunion with Hermione, or a 'chance' as Ginny called it. Let's just get this over with… Apothecary next – I think we can take a short cut if we take the second right._

0

0

0

A/N: Thanks for my avid reviewers guys. I don't know why the pace of this story is so slow, but somehow it is... I'm trying my best to speed things up… That's the reason for the quick update. Again, haven't written much, and even though I'm on holiday, I somehow still have assignments hanging over my head to finish. Work sucks.


	74. Book 4 Chapter 3

Synopsis: Surprised by the Drakuls' surprise visit, the Longbottom made a trip to the Hoglake Store with them to discuss some business. Neville caught up with Cho, and finally reunited properly with Hermione. A chance for Neville to spend alone time with Hermione was promptly spoilt by the little half-vampire, and the girls apparently have no chance of getting along…

Chapter 73 – Arrival at the Quidditch World Cup… campsite

"What are you doing here Neville?" Neville snapped his head up like a frightened squirrel at Hannah's face.

"Hannah! How you been?" His face calmed down again and slid into the nearby booth, checking both ways to make sure he was not spotted. "How was the Council camp with the Head Boy and Girl?"

Hannah had on a standard cotton waitress dress, with the long white apron with sauces over it like a kid's painting. It was not the first time Neville had seen her in this uniform, him having passed regularly through here this summer, with her helping out at her uncle's pub at the Leaky Cauldron, but the get-up refreshed him every time. With her pigtails, Hannah did fit that dress very well with a soothing effect.

Hannah was easily diverted from her original question, sliding in the other side of the booth and answered, "It went very well. As you know, the Head Boy and Girl were pretty much a representative of the prefects. With Professor McGonagall chairing, we pretty much decided that the Student Council is going to handle the administrative things and the Prefects will be more of the disciplinary team. It's a bit complicated and I…"

"I can see that working out, so it's like how they do it in Japanese schools isn't it? The student council and the 'discipline committee' type thing, or whatever you call it." Neville half murmured to himself.

"I knew you would understand what I mean just by that." Hannah flashed him a smile that Neville was sure dazzled quite a few customers about the pub. Tom's really got himself a good deal here with this niece.

"Now, last chance, you sure you don't want to come to the World Cup? The bus is just outside," Neville asked again.

"Thanks again for the invite Neville, but I really need to help out here. Uncle Tom's showing the virtual match here through a rental crystal ball and it's going to be very busy." Hannah said, gesturing to the particularly busy section of the pub where chairs crowded around a gigantic glass ball – currently with some famous sports commentator wizard. With that thought though, Hannah's independent cover was blown and the usual panicky Hufflepuff stuttered, "I shouldn't have stopped to talk with you for so long, there's probably a tonne of plates to deliver! Sorry Neville!"

Neville called out after the girl, who bumped into various chairs and table corners in her shuffle to the kitchen, "Can you make the orders at table twelve first? I really want to make this lunch quick…"

Neville did not know if Hannah's heard her since she emitted a slight shriek at the same time as she bumped into a random patron. He took a deep breath and decided he had to go back to the dreaded lunch table.

"You okay Neville?" Hermione asked as she spotted him coming back.

"Is there a queue at the bathroom or something?" Elena asked as well, with her arms crossed.

Neville sat down beside the two girls facing each other at the square table, "No, I'm fine."

Elena, having moved on from history and general knowledge, went into the academia round. "So Hermione, I heard Hogwart's got a lot of magical creatures living about it – but the students are not allowed to interact with them. At Beauxbatons, we can all go see Madame Maxime's Abraxans any time we want."

"What's so great about horses?" Hermione uncharacteristically took up all the dares by Elena, no matter how petty, much to Neville's dismay. "I practiced equestrian when I was young, and the stables were one of the filthiest and smelliest place I've ever been to."

"Equestrian… Yes, some sort of Muggle sports." And this had been going on all through their shopping trip.

"And what sort of sports do vampires play?" Hermione snapped back.

"Hey! Hey! Look! There's our lunch!" Neville stood up and helped a bewildered Hannah with her plates, almost giving her a peck on the cheek for coming to his rescue.

"Hi Hermione," Hannah greeted with a slightly pink face. She was probably a bit embarrassed by being seen by a school mate, but she reacted like that with other school mates, slightly handsome-looking people, foreign visitors, and just any customer really. Neville still remembered how she stumbled over a table with a plate of curry when he first saw her in her uniform. It still puzzled him quite a bit how she was so unaware of her own qualities.

"Hi Hannah! Oh, that's right, Tom's your uncle." Hermione took a second to connect the dots. "Have you been helping out her the whole summer?"

Neville let the two girls catch up and started wolfing down his steak and ale pie. By the time Elena introduced herself and had a polite small chat, Neville had already finished his lunch.

"Well what do you know? You girls not finished yet?" Neville got up from the table, "I must say it's getting late. I have to check base with the Store and get everyone moving onto the bus. I simply _have_ _to_ excuse myself, but I'll catch up with you two girls later…"

"Neville, just look at your sleeve." Hermione pointed at the bit of gravy smeared there from Neville's hurry.

"Ah well, I planned to pick something up at the Store and change anyway." Neville was a step away before Elena grumbled.

"Your face as well Neville." Elena rolled her eyes and murmured, "Really."

"Here," Hannah pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere and dabbed whatever was left of the pie off Neville's lips. "You shouldn't eat so quickly, it's not good for your stomach."

"Thanks Hannah, I'll be fine. Anyway see –" Neville had just taken a large step forward towards freedom but someone had a death grip on the back of his robes at that moment. With a _SPLAT_, he made a dent on the floor in classic Looney Tunes style. "Ouch! Hey what gives?"

"Here you messy little pig," Elena was the culprit and she pulled out her wand and performed a Cleaning Charm on Neville's sleeve.

Hannah helped Neville up and offered a weak smile for Elena, "Neville's like that. He's just a bit too enthusiastic about food."

"Hannah… Abbot, right?" Neville could feel Hannah freeze with the very vampirish look Elena gave her just now. "So… you hang around Neville a lot at school?"

Neville, having a bad premonition, promptly threw Hannah away from Elena's imminent destruction path. "Hey Elena, I just remembered I have to tell you something about the Hoglake Store, come with me."

Elena harrumphed, seeing through Neville's random excuse, shot a glance at both the girls and swiped the panini off her plate, stepping out the door back towards Diagon Alley.

Neville sighed, putting his hands together begging an apology, "I'm very sorry about my cousin. Her personality is a bit…"

Hannah just shook her head and Hermione, very considerately according to Neville, considering how their shopping trip was interrupted, replied with a smile, "It's fine, I'll wait here for you guys. I'll just finish my lunch and catch up with Hannah here. The bus is just outside anyway."

Neville apologised profusely again and chased after the troublemaker who started all this in the first place. He saw Elena's figure huffing down the Alley and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, "What's gotten into you today?"

"What do you mean?" Elena's innocent act was so feeble Neville would have laughed if he was not more frustrated.

"At the Hoglake Store, you were acting all business-like, I never knew you even had anything do with the store in Bulgaria. Then when you met Hermione, that really was a bit rude, and you two grilled each other all through the shopping trip like we were on some very bad quiz show. Then back there, you pretty much yanked me to the ground for no reason. I know you're a bit brash and stubborn and spoilt – don't protest yet – but you're sixteen, and going to be of age next year. Can't you start calming down a little bit?"

Elena's face had gotten redder and redder and at this chance to bite back, Neville really thought she was going to make full use of her extended canines. "Oh? So you know I am going to be of age next year? Then shouldn't you know why I bothered coming here for a stupid Quidditch match? I _have_ to introduce myself at your company, and then you just sauntered off on a date with your smart and precious Hermione –"

"It wasn't a date," Neville responded without skipping a beat but Elena ranted on.

"… And that _waitress_, who was she to –?"

"Hannah is a close friend of mines." Neville snapped and Elena's stopped as if she had hit a hiccup under Neville's crisp note. "She's been through a lot with me before and although she's meek and shy, I want you to be at least civil with her."

"Sorry," Elena looked as if she was ready to cry and Neville immediately regretted being so intimidating.

"No, I apologise. My tone there was a bit over..." Neville scratched the back of his head, moaning to himself at how he should not deal with women. Neville saw that they were walking past Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour and said, "Wait here, I'll get you the ice cream I promised you, it really is very good."

He came back out quickly, having processed what she had said before in her mad rant. He handed her a Deluxe World-Cup Edition Sundae Cone and said, "Here. This should take a load off your mind. I think I understand why you've been so irritable now."

Elena was mesmerized by the size of the ice cream treat but was wakened out of her stupor and asked, almost in that innocent girl's voice on Christmas Eve, "Really? Y-you…"

"I didn't know before today but Mrs Drakul is probably forcing you to take over the Hoglake Store over at Bulgaria right? I have to say, she's just doing it for you own good. I know from Philippe's owls you're really good at Potions, but it never hurts to have a backup plan. Running a business is difficult, but I'll help you out whenever you need it. I'm just an owl away after all."

"What?"

"There're all sorts of wizards and witches at the World Cup I can introduce you to. Contacts that I have made for business, it'll definitely do you no harm to know those people, as you can learn a lot of good tricks just by listening in on how they talk." Neville went on as best as he could to try and help a young entrepreneur.

"Neville, I have to go." Elena murmured, almost in a daze. Neville felt a little uneasy with how hard Elena was trying to look through his eyes though.

"Um… what's wrong? Is there still some sauce on my face? Anyway, I know it is nerve racking meeting all those managers back there, but you don't have to be around me."

"I have to go speak to Gran Longbottom." Elena gave up trying to stare through my face and turned, half-sprinting up the main street, but not before turning round and saying, "Thanks for the sundae Neville."

Neville furrowed his brows, looking at Elena's back. She had never spoken in such a serious tone around him before, and he decided there must be something going on between the Longbottoms and the Drakuls internally. Neville made his way back to the Hoglake Store, thinking about what Earth-shattering plan the seniors of the two families were hatching to get someone such as Elena to take so seriously. Neville stopped in his steps suddenly when a ludicrous hypothesis came to him.

_They found out I'm not Neville and is going to take everything away from me._

Neville immediately felt like a fool and the worst person in the world for thinking that.

_Even if they did find out I'm not Neville they won't… Nevertheless, most important thing is they will never know… How would they know? Yeah, how would they find out?_

"Mr Longbottom?" Before he knew it, he was at the entrance to the Hoglake Store and one of the sales clerks that looked as if he should be posing for an Old Spice advert asked.

Neville immediately used Occlumency to rearrange his expression to a perfect neutral and reassured the clerk that he was fine.

0

0

0

Strangely, both Hermione and Elena were relatively quiet on the bus. Elena left to sit with the Drakuls and mingle with the other Hoglake higher management not long later, and Neville finally had time to talk to Hermione normally. He again apologised for the ruined shopping expedition, and she again polite told him to think nothing of it. They talked about the current events from the Prophet, and brief each other on they did personally throughout summer, the coming classes this year, and maybe the weather for a bit. Even then, the other Hoglake staffs had interrupted them quite a bit during the whole journey as everyone wanted a rare conversation with the elusive boss to try and make an impression. One particularly long-winded woman did leave an impression alright – but not a good one.

The bus pulled up at a designated spot by the Ministry operators there, where the senior Longbottoms and Drakuls decided to make their way to the 'tent' first to drop off some things. The wizarding definition of a tent to Neville was really just a portable house, and this one they had already set up was a sort of triplex that could house half a dozen people without any problems. Before they went off though, Neville of course pulled Old Al over for a round of questioning.

Old Al was as expected incredibly fidgety as Neville asked, pointing at Elena who was walking away with Mrs Drakul. "Okay, tell me what's going on. I know the Drakuls are here for business, partially. Elena obviously knows something I don't, so spill it."

"Well… We thought we'd just let it go naturally but with you being you…" Old Al fumbled along at first, but gradually straightened his back in pride as he says, "You know: the inventor of Hoglake, the Hogwart Student Council president, young wizard entrepreneur and all that. If only you had just played Quidditch."

"You are not giving me anything to go on," Neville growled, his Dracula's Cloak billowing behind him like his mood.

"H-hey, let me take your luggage to the tent for you. You still have your friend to take care of, right?" Old Al found his get-away excuse and was already half a yard away with their bags. "I remember you said you were going to try and find the Weasleys when you got here, right? Have fun Neville!"

Neville sighed as Old Al disappeared away into the distant in a trail of smoke. He turned back to find Hermione alighting the bus, and walking towards him.

"Sorry again Hermione, for that silly woman on the bus talking about her fur coat collection for about half an hour…" Neville sighed again, finding that he had done so too much today already.

"It's fine, I know it must be pretty demanding to run the Hoglake Store as a full-time student for the rest of the year." As considerate as before, Hermione replied, looking over across the field of Quidditch fans. "It's not going to be easy to find Ron and Harry here, is it?"

"No," Neville said, half wondering if Hermione was that desperate to see Ron again. "I think Ron told me they were in the North-West area of the camping grounds…"

This began the search for the Weasleys. As Hermione and Neville walked across the campsite, they had met so many classmates along the way; like Dean Thomas, or a hyperventilating Su, and even Daphne Greengrass, who had a short one sentence exchange of Gryffindor versus Slytherin rivalry.

"Can't wait for the game, see you two there! Tell Harry I said hi!" Katy Bell waved goodbye to the fellow Gryffindors and the pair was on their search again.

Hermione and he took a few steps, then another few – then a few tents down the road, Neville once again found that the surrounding noise were a lot louder than the two of them should be. This staccato in conversation, separated by meeting acquaintances, was starting to play on Neville's nerve. He never let loud noises stop him before, but now, sneaking a peek sideways at the teenage girl Hermione had grown into, he really hoped his sudden decrease in linguistic abilities was not due to simple hormones.

_Come on Neville. There is always something to talk about with Hermione! Sure, we can't talk about the Chocolate incident, or Ron just to be safe, but there is always something light-hearted to say… _

Ginny's words yesterday stuck to him like resistant chewing gum now and he fought through it eventually, "Hermione, have you ever heard the one about the merman, the unicorn and the –"

"Hermione! Neville!" Neville's feeble joke was intercepted as the Weasleys had found them instead. Ron galloped over to them like a dutiful love rival would to ruin a scheme.

"Ron!" _Well Ron gets a hug then…_

"Hey Neville," Ginny crept up to Neville after they greeted each other and Hermione was catching up with Ron. "How did your date go with Hermione go?"

"It wasn't a... whatever." Neville could not even be motivated to correct Ginny, because the truth was their shopping trip was not even half way near a pair of friends reuniting. "My cousin, of sorts, came to Britain suddenly so she tagged along… Were you telling the truth about your friends never getting back together again after the misunderstanding?"

"Wait… You're talking about Elena right? That mean girl related to you when I saw you in Romania with Charlie?" Neville almost forgot Ginny actually met the infamous half-vampire.

"Yeah. Did Hermione and she _not_ get along with each other or what? We had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron as well and even towards Hannah – but Elena's been acting strangely this visit anyway. I had to leave Hermione for a bit to try and see if she's –"

"Wait, you left a girl alone on a date?"

"Don't give me that look, I'm not an idiot! It wasn't a date and Hermione is my friend. Unlike a kid like you, she's very understanding."

"Wow. So you brought another girl with you on your date with Hermione, and then you went off with her before it finished." Ginny over-dramatically pretended to nurse her head, ignoring everything he said. "I'm starting to feel sorry for Hermione, with just my brother and you to contend for her… I really hope for her to find a proper guy soon."

Before Neville can fume at the little girl, someone else had found them for a reunion.

"Hey guys!" Neville was, pretty much, rugby tackled by a flying blur of black and emerald, which caused him to back a few steps into Ron and Hermione.

After the massive group hug, leaving Hermione particularly red in the face as Neville noticed, he found that it was the famous Harry Potter who was acting as if he had never been happier in his life. Neville also saw that Sirius and Lupin were strolling up through the camp site behind him, talking and laughing.

"How was your trip around Eastern Europe Harry?" Ron asked, slapping him on the arm and looking him up and down. Harry had indeed grown quite a lot taller, maybe because he had really started eating properly having left the Dursleys. With that usual start-off device from the books finally wiped completely with Sirius's borderline illegal threats at the start of summer, Harry looked as if he was the most carefree teenager in the world.

_Why shouldn't he be? I'm just glad he seems so happy because when reading the books, I do feel that the fourth book was a turning point when he turns all gloomy and emo…_

"It was amazing! Sirius, Lupin and I went to all sorts of places! We tried Acalica Absinthe, fought with some Vanapagans, and ran away from a tribe of Labastas!"

Neville had Sirius's collar in his grips at light speed and screamed, "What have you done to Harry? You broke him! You broke him! He's gonna turn out just like you now! Let alone the absinthe, but how can you even get him involved with Labastas?"

"Calm down Neville! Let me go… I c-can't breathe…" Lupin almost had to use his werewolf strength to pry Neville off the irresponsible godfather. Sirius got up and patted the dust and dirt off his long coat and shrugged in that Jack Sparrow sort of way, "What teenage guy doesn't get off on adventures like those? I was just giving him a summer vacation that I would've wanted when I was his age."

Neville almost frothed at the mouth and Ginny looked no better. Before Neville could try and strangle the man that ruined the basic purity of The Hero from any story, Harry pulled him back and said, "It's alright Neville, Sirius was just trying to get me to have a good holiday… Well, in a way that he knows how. I did have fun and learnt a lot from all the scrapes we had, but that doesn't mean I'm going to become a casual, chauvinistic womaniser with possible magical STDs."

"Ouch Harry. Ouch." Sirius clawed at this shirt pocket as if he had a heart. "I'm positive that woman I sacked up with had not been with a Labasta yet before I got my hands on her."

"Okay. First, I apologise for Sirius. Second, please don't tell your mother what had been said here." Lupin, in a very tired voice, said to the Weasley twins. Ginny was a lost cause by the looks of it, with her covering her face with her hands but still unmistakably blushing like the sun.

"Wicked Harry!" The twins said simultaneously and slapped the skinny boy on the back. The Harry might still have that wire-frame look, but he took the Beater's slaps without even budging. He just laughed sheepishly to Hermione's disapproval.

0

0

0

Neville stepped out of the Weasleys' tent, which they had been confined to after the combined powers of the ultimate pick-up duo, Charlie Weasley and Sirius Black, almost driving a group of young girls to do some very inappropriate taunts. Hermione was going to stay with the Weasleys tonight anyway, as they were going to Grimmauld Place tomorrow together with Sirius. Neville had to check in on Cho, since she was pretty much left with the organisation of the Hoglake Store employees, seeing how Old Al was entertaining the Drakuls.

"I've still to introduce Elena to a bunch of business associates," Neville just remembered and headed for the Longbottoms' tent briskly.

"Neville, dear, where have you been?" Gran asked as he found the Longbottoms and the Drakuls sitting around a table having tea. The atmosphere seemed pleasant enough, despite Elena not even looking up until his name was called out from whatever she was, seemingly, ruminating about.

"I was just away with Hermione to see Harry and the Weasleys. There's still a bit of time before the game starts, can I take Elena around for a bit?" Neville said, all the while Elena's expression changes did not go amiss throughout his sentences.

"Sure Neville, we will meet you in the stadium?" Mrs Drakul answered. Neville was surprised Dracula did not jump up and threaten him to not let anything happen to his little girl, but he figured from Elena's mood that the seniors had probably just been discussing some serious issue.

Walking out of the tent, and Elena's mood visibly brightening, Neville deducted that her parents probably wanted her to take over the Hoglake business very much, and she was probably having troubles seeing it as an option over her Potions career. At this point, Neville wondered what his future wizarding career would be, and just hoped when he was of age he would have a better clue.

Mentally apologising to Cho again, deducting this might take a while, Neville decided to try his best to help the rampant princess that he had known for years the best he could. He told her as they started walking, "Don't worry Elena, I'm going to stick to my promise."

"What?" Elena's scream almost broke Neville's ear drum as she interrupted what he was going to say next. "W-what are you talking about? I'd just asked them and they – they said…"

Neville's ears were ringing as he continued over whatever Elena was stammering, "I promised you to introduce you to some business contacts right? It'll make your transition into managing a business easier. You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it before long."

Instead of the predicted narcissistic confirmation at Neville's voluntarily praise of encouragement, Elena's mood instead took a down turn as her earlier smile faded. Neville started introducing her to some old and respectable businessmen in the British market, and then even some handsome up-and-coming entrepreneurs, but apart from the polite mask, Elena was dragging her feet along the mingling of other fellow wizards.

Neville sighed at this troublesome relation of his and patted her head, much to her surprise as a shriek escaped her lips partially before she swallowed it back. Elena's face was burning red, possibly with humiliation according to Neville, "What was that for? Don't mess up my hair!"

"I wasn't trying to mess up your hair!" Neville added a quip, "I don't see how those princess drill curls of yours can ever get messed up without a Blasting Curse anyway."

"Are you sure you can still do a Blasting Curse with all this play-monopoly you've been busying yourself with?" Elena harrumphed.

Neville smiled, "See, this is the type of person I think you are. Cheer up a bit. I know your parents might have brought you here to introduce you to the UK branch of Hoglake, but we are at the Quidditch World Cup! You know what? Forget about Hoglake for the rest of the day. You actually make me feel uncomfortable moping around like that. I know you have your own thoughts and troubles, but at least let me see the feisty vampire I know you for. We don't get to see each other more than once or twice a year after all."

"You think you're so smart Neville Longbottom, but you're really just an idiot." Elena's face reddened a bit, but it might have to do with the descending sun. She harrumphed and ordered, "Bring me over that way, I think we past a side store that sold candy floss."

If it was not for the candy floss comment, Neville thought she was speaking like a true princess again with her haughty tone. It suited her though. Neville resigned, "Fine, fine. Let's go, my treat."

0

0

0

A/N: Really, things will get more action-y, next chapter… I'd actually wanted to have a scene with Snape/Sinistra/Draco as well, but I think I'll divert that for later as this post-summer period is dragging


	75. Book 4 Chapter 4

Synopsis: Neville's date (?) with Hermione was of course next to a complete disaster with Elena stepping in. He was starting to get seriously concerned for her strange mood and her behaviour towards his friends though, but had put it down to the stress the Drakuls must have been putting on her to succeed the Hoglake Business. Having caught up with the Trio let the Quidditch World Cup begin! …Or end…

Chapter 74 – Harry Potter Musou 

"That was such a great game wasn't it?" Ron was still raving. "Though they lost, Krum finished the game on his own terms! Did you see it Harry?"

_I really want to record this with the Eton Ear for future purposes… That reminds me – Krum's going to be after Hermione this year, isn't he? Sleaze bag or not, that was up to opinion, but I can't deny Krum's excellent eye for beauty if he could see past Hermione's bookish façade so easily._

"I'm going to catch up with you guys later, okay?" Neville went to leave the group as he spotted Cho not far away. Neville ignored Ginny's strange look as Ron started to talk more of Quidditch to Hermione.

"Hey Cho!" Neville tapped the Chinese girl on the shoulder, "I saw you came into the box late. Thanks for directing all the Hoglake staff here."

"So you did notice I missed the start of the Quidditch World Cup because of you!" Neville thought Cho was going to accuse him of slacking off, but instead, she used the advantage of the crowd to close the distance between their bodies. She purred, "Not to mention how you've neglected me all day. I think I need some compensation for that from you – personally."

Neville instinctively took a step back, by whatever reasons his teenage brain did not know, and conjured out a laugh that he thought he needed magic to make. "Ah ha. Good one. I will make sure Tracy from accounting hears from me personally –"

Cho cut him off quite effectively by closing their distance again. "You know what I mean Neville. You know, the after party tent is set up not far away."

"We legally can't drink." Even without Cho's deadpan stare, Neville felt stupid for saying it. With the euphoria of the crowd at this international event, it was doubtful anyone cared about underage drinking.

"Come on!" Cho hugged Neville's arm to her chest and directed him to the bar tent. Neville's blush was noticed by the impish smile on Cho's lips and she asked, "Do you think we look like a couple right now?"

"Cho, is this what you said before about –"

"Yep! This is me attacking you right now." Neville was at a lost for a reply, and could only be led by her rhythm towards the big tent not far from the stadium.

Its outward physical size was already quite massive, like a travelling circus tent, with strange moving symbols on the outside. Upon entering, Neville thought he had travelled back in time to join a royal banquet of the Court. Marble floor of celestial designs left dancing space for well over a thousand people. The bar spanned both sides of the banquet hall, staffed every few feet by a Satyr, the most talented barkeep out of all the magical creatures. At the far end of the wall was an enchanted wall where the highlights of the whole Quidditch World Cup were being replayed.

Cho had led Neville to the bar, being served by a handsome Satyr in tuxedo, where she ordered them some cocktails. Cho took the chance where they had stopped greeting business associates also at the bar to say, "I hope you won't make the excuse of tending to your 'cousin' and leave just after one round."

"What's with the intonation of 'cousin'?" Neville asked, handing a few galleons to the Satyr, who went on to catch a cocktail mixer that was thrown from the other end of the bar, then throwing it to the next Satyr a way down the line.

"Who're you kidding Neville? Elena and I never had the best first meeting, but her personality is quite easy to read. Although I've never once dealt with her on Hoglake business, she acted as if she owned the company this morning. You're not handing the Shop over to the Drakuls right?"

Once again, Neville's shameful doubt about the Longbottoms having found out his secret surfaced for a moment, but he fought it back down by downing the rest of his Grey Camphurcii Martini. "It's just she's probably going to take over the Bulgarian branch."

"So that's it? You're telling me there's nothing going on between you and her?" Cho inquired, leaning forward a lot more than Neville was comfortable with.

"You're nosy," Neville shook her off with a laugh.

Cho leaned in even closer as she continued to interrogate, "I'm just saying she doesn't seem like her heart is in taking over the business. Not everyone is as mature as I am, you know. Why are you staring up at the roof?"

Neville replied while avoiding looking down at the pretty girl's 'maturity'. "Just thinking those glowing broomsticks flying about are such nice replacements for lighting and disco balls."

"Cho! I knew it was you! Where've you been all day?" A crisp male voice cut into their conversation.

"Avoiding you," Cho whispered under her breath, but Neville caught it. He spread his gaze towards the tall man walking towards them, with ridiculously long hair that looked to be groom from bottle-wholes of Lockhart's products.

The greasy fellow did not even glance at Neville, "I thought we've agreed to meet up today. I saw you in the box with my father you know, too bad that stingy boss of yours disallowed employee families into the box, or else we could have watched the game together!"

Remembering what Old Al had told him before, Neville assumed this was one of Cho's admirers. "I'd actually wanted to invite family of employees into the box as well, but there simply weren't enough room."

To Neville's civil reply to his company's good gesture, the spoilt kid snorted with barely a glance his way, "Who's the squirt? Cho, stop babysitting this brat and come with me. I simply have to introduce you to some of my friends."

Cho's face flushed bright red out of possibly anger, or embarrassment for the idiot. Neville merely fished out a capsule of Ageing Potion, popped it in his mouth, and bit hard on it.

"I don't remember my personal assistant's job description involves pretending to be an employee's son's trophy girlfriend." The fool's retort stopped at his throat as Neville's height visually stretched and his older, media-facing features grown into place with the effects of the potion. "Scram."

Neville did not even bother replying to the pompous git's apologies as he retreated with his tail between his legs. "Sorry Cho, I didn't realise the problem has ascended to this level. Give Tracy his father's name and he doesn't need to come to work anymore."

"Not only did you scare someone away with your face alone, but you plan to sack someone just through personal reasons?" Cho could not restrain a giggle, "You're like those horrible bosses in comedy sketches."

"Whoever raised a kid like that lacks the interpersonal skills and moral integrity to hold any high position," Neville knew Cho's gesture was basically just asking him to let this slide. He sighed, "I'll give whoever it is another chance. You do as you wish if that git bothers you again."

"Jealous?" Cho regained her hold on his arm, peering up at his suddenly warm face.

"N-no!" Neville almost chocked on his cocktail, and then was reminded of what Gran said. "Oh, and just look what you made me do. I promised my family not to take the Ageing Potion today!"

Neville's wished for a distraction from the feeling on his arm came in the form of a treble wail and a haze of perfume. "Mr Longbottom!"

"Ms Rosier," Neville used Occlumency a little to plaster on a grin. "Pleasure to see you again. Have you enjoyed the World Cup?"

After flicking an almost missable eye at Cho's arms linked to his, Ms Rosier practically fell into Neville's other arm, chest first, and purred, "Much more now that I've found you. Where have you been this whole summer? I've never seen you at your store, just little Cho here. Hello, Cho. I saw Chester over there a moment ago, you really should give the boy a chance – he yearns for your attention like a puppy."

Neville ignored another possible suitor for Cho, and the girl in question had withdrawn her hold on him as well at Ms Rosier's interruption to their prior conversation. He said, "Ms Rosier, it was great to see you again, but I'd just promised my valued personal assistant a dance before her many admirers steal her away. By your leave."

Neville's linguistic ploy parried Ms Rosier's dismissal of Cho, stating his intentions, and would have worked to repel normal people. It seemed he had underestimated Ms Rosier's skin thickness however, as the sultry woman growled, "Not before I get my hands on you, sexy."

Feeling an unappreciated touch on his rear, Neville decided to cut this charade quickly. In one motion, Neville pulled a disgruntled looking Cho on the arm, took a large step away, and returned Ms Rosier's favour with a light pat. "Maybe later you little minx."

For good measure, Neville gave Ms Rosier a cheeky wink and led Cho just in between two associates who were stepping in to greet each other, cutting Ms Rosier's chase behind them. Reaching the middle of the crowded dance floor, twirling Cho round into a waltz stance, Neville led to ensure their purser was truly thrown off.

"And I'd thought you were bad at defence," Cho muttered. "You handled that vixen like a pro, play boy."

Neville's genuine surprised expression, now that he did not keep up his constant Occlumency, made Cho second think herself though. He denied her accusation, "It's not like I wanted to flirt with her, but you know how she's one of the more resilient ones. It's all a social interaction thing in the business world."

"Then how come you always get so flustered when I get even a bit closer to you like this?" Cho wrapped her arms around Neville's waist and pushed their bodies together in a tight hug. Much to Cho's glee, Neville's face immediately flared up.

"I-it's just –" Neville stammered through the familiar pear scent that made his heart race. "Rosier is just business but you are – well… Forget I said anything."

Neville clammed up at Cho's red face, and the two teenagers danced with their blush amidst the crowd until a wolf whistle from the side-lines gave Neville a good excuse to lead Cho off the dance floor. Sirius and Charlie were at it again, causing destruction to witches' hearts on an international scale.

0

0

0

"I'm – I'm – soooooo happy!" Cho's drunken stupor on Neville's back made him well aware of the weight he was carrying. _Damn Charlie and Sirius for taking my attention off her! What's with teens and getting drunk? So clichéd! _

"Cho, we're almost back at your tent, stop screaming and waking people up." Neville hissed. He had almost managed to get to a level where he just heard Cho's voice and not her words.

A privilege of being drunk: a logical flow of conversation did not need to be sustained. "Don't say you didn't have fun either!"

"Yeah, yeah," Neville agreed mechanically.

"Yay!" Cho gave Neville a sudden peck on the cheek and hugged him tighter. "You know, I hate that Ms Rosier – but I want to be her at the same time. I can tease you all I want, but I know I can't keep up that seductive act if you even come back at me with a little smile. But then, you're just so cute when I tease you – I think I may get addicted."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be there soon." Neville comforted the drunk, his mind on how much he had spent tonight at the bar. _These event bars are sure a way to make money – maybe I should see if I can get my hands into it._

Cho continued to say whatever more drunken things she did, but Neville had finally attained the ultimate level in ignoring drunks. He was just thinking about the route he could take back to his tent when a sharp scream slashed through the night. Explosions, more screams, shouting, and a blaze of flames were ignited somewhere near the North East corner of the camp site.

"What the hell?" Neville turned around, and just gaped at the sudden change of events. "But this… I'd told Dumbledore… Damn old senile useless bastard!"

Neville could only assume the original Death Eater attack was taking place, and unconsciously dropped Cho onto the ground, much to the drunken girl's protests. _The North East corner… isn't that where the Weasleys tents are? _

"W-what's going on?" By now, other campers had come out of their tents and were all gossiping about the commotion not too far away. Cries of infants, and a few panicking women were steadily spread through the camp site like Dementer claws.

"Everyone!" Neville put on a Sonorous Charm and directed the crowd before mob mentality can take over. "I'd seen that the Ministry's security base is situated at the South West corner! Can everyone please start making their way over to that direction? Please try and remain calm, move in a group, and help woman and children as a priority! Come on people! Let's go!"

Fortunately, the Dark Mark had still not been cast, and the campers around Neville actually listened. Seeing a young family heading along with the crowd, he quickly asked them to take care of Cho before activating his Floating Magic. He was not Harry after all, and did not make a habit of just rushing towards the centre of chaos without first grounding the situation around him, especially when one of his friends was still drunk through the crisis. Cho, though his Hoglake assistant, was just a normal teenager after all, and should not be involved in this.

Flying in the air over tent tops, Neville felt his skin prickle as the Dark Mark inevitably ripped through the night sky, and the pandemonium of panic immediately amplified by magnitudes. Ignoring the increasing numbness of his face, Neville struggled to keep his eyelids opened against the wind to try and search for the unique Weasley.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Neville's brows only furrowed at hearing Harry's incantation of choice somewhere on his left, because the spellcaster's gruff tone was not that of his friend's. Except for Harry, who had this flawed spell choice as pointed out in the books, Death Eaters only used that spell if they wanted to play with the mice they had trapped.

Veering left, Neville dived immediately when he caught a glimpse of familiar red in the distance.

He could hear six boisterous laughs, roaring through the night like the flocks of flaming tents around him. One laugh ceased and questioned, "You're a Mudblood aren't you? And this Weasley here is even worst – a blood traitor!"

"They are young after all. Maybe we should just _teach_ them the proper way to greet their masters." A lecherous Death Eater took a step towards Ginny, no doubt drooling under his mask. "Let's teach this one here how to really take care of a wand to –"

The Death Eater had just started reaching out his arm towards Ginny when Neville's steel toe-cap crashed against his cheek, simultaneous with a red lightning shooting sideways with the scream of, "_Stupefy_!"

"Neville!" Ginny called out with tears in her eyes as she stared in amazement at the billowing Dracula's Cloak in front of her, caressing her cheek in the night breeze, shielding her against the foul men who deemed themselves superior.

"Neville!" Hermione crawled up from the ground, as the Death Eater previously between them was stunned by Neville's surprise Stunner, and regrouped with Ginny.

"One against four," Neville whispered to himself, knowing his element of surprise only bided him two down. He had already noted Hermione and Ginny's wands scattered some distance away in the bushes.

"Well, well, if it isn't the famous Mr Longbottom!" One of the Death Eaters exclaimed in malice, "Another blood traitor who doesn't understand it's best to just keep his head down!"

Neville could have dodged the curse the Death Eater hurled with his increased dexterity by Floating Magic, but as both Hermione and Ginny were defenceless behind him, he could only intercept and shield. Sparked by that one curse, the other three Death Eaters also threw their own dark curses that would no doubt cause a world of pain.

Neville had not been practicing as much this summer due to magical exhaustion, but his Arcane Magic progress did not deteriorate. Without the need for incantation, Neville shot his wand hand up, and brought forth a wall of ice in front of him. The wall shattered on contact from the combined impact of the four curses.

Neville bellowed to the girls as he shot a Reductor Curse through the shattered ice. "Run to the South West!"

The Reductor Curse exploded to the right of two Death Eaters, covering them in dirt that camouflaged the girls' escape and Neville's cover fire at the remaining two Death Eaters.

Death Eaters in this world are no tools as they were in the books however, and the two Death Eaters easily blasted through the dirt to intercept the fleeing girls. Neville's Stunner was agilely dodged by the Death Eater in front, while the one at the back dismantled the threat with a timely Shield Charm.

"Take this!" Neville shifted his position to match the front Death Eater's dodge, to where he anticipated he would land, and shot an array of sharp icicles at close range to the cold ugly mask.

Just as Neville turned to deal with the back Death Eater, the man who should be speared into a hedgehog turned in mid-air, and with a swipe of his dark robes, nullified his icicles with some sort of non-verbal spell. _Why is it Harry's spells are always accurate in the books?_

Neville put up his own Shield Charms to counter the curses sent his way from the back Death Eater, but had not expected a rusty pair of skeletal claws to erupt from the ground underneath him. Soaring high into the air before more damage was taken than his now mangle feet, Neville gritted through the pain as the caught the other two Death Eaters catching up to the girl.

"_Confringo_!" Neville almost questioned if the burning smell was from his wand and not the fire around him, as the five spells shot in quick succession hit the ground around the four Death Eaters.

Loud explosions shook the earth due to the power behind Neville's spells, and he took the advantage to swoop down and lead the girls a few steps away before the four Death Eaters regrouped from the distraction. Two of them transfigured nearby crates into sharp spears, and sent them impaling into the Neville's back.

Feeling a chill behind his neck through instincts, Neville summoned the cloth from the nearby fallen-down tent, intercepting the spears' trajectory. Just as he was about to urge the girls to escape in front of him, possibly rearranging some crates as obstacles, he felt two distinct ice blocks at the back of his neck – this time, he is actually at wand point.

"Do you really think you can best us real purebloods Longbottom?" One of the two Death Eaters mocked.

"No!" Hermione or Ginny screamed and Neville could hear them wanting to run back towards him.

"You two just get awa –" Neville's warning was choked by his own unwilling scream.

"_Crucio_!" The pain shot straight to his brain. His body was even blown a few feet forward from the point-blank impact of the curse. His taste buds could not even taste the dirt because even his tongue hurt.

Neville channelled all his thoughts to Occlumency, using the pain as negative emotional energy. Expend all his magical might into a desperation spell, he chanted, "_Videte vocationem glacies spiritus meus. Congelo inimicis meis_!"

Without even a sign of rumbling, ten geysers of water burst forth from the ground around the four Death Eaters. The geysers expanded like a column on impact with the night air, and in an explosion of frost, with an afterimage of ten armed spirits, the area around Neville and the Death Eaters was a barren Antarctic wasteland, with icicles protruding like lost weapons on a used battlefield.

Neville felt the Cruciatus Curse subside, but his frozen cold sweat proved that it was all he could do not to fall flat on his face again as his feet gave way over the thin layer of ice. His legs could not possible have sustained him after the injury sustained from the previous dark curse. Just as he heard Hermione and Ginny open their mouths to ask how he was, their words were overridden by four magical cracks.

_Apparition_. Neville cursed that this was not Hogwarts.

The four Death Eaters, after their close scrape, all decided it was best to eliminate this threat. The one who managed to splinch himself from disapparating to avoid Neville's previous spell staggered forward with a wolfish pant, brandishing his wand to the hopeless gaze of Hermione. Ginny only managed half a step as she tried to get in the way between the curse and Neville, but the hallowing green light already left the tip of the Death Eater's wand.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" With a bang, Neville's figure was covered by a cloud of dust and smoke, gone from the girls' sight.

Hermione's eyes widened in contrary to the smoke's irritation to her eyes. Before her feet gave way, and the flashes of her memories with Neville ran through her mind, her eyes impossibly widened even further. This time in surprise.

A good surprise – at the blur of red and maroon that sped out from the cloud.

Ron shot like a bullet towards Neville's attacker in magically enhanced speed that was simply unavoidable. The Death Eater had hardly registered his wand being kicked out of his hand before a blow struck his mask. He staggered back half a step, and with half opened eyes, saw a following fist strike straight at his face. In a smooth move set, Ron landed three more blows, swept the Death Eater off his feet, and robbed the consciousness from him with a finishing downward strike.

In the blur of movements almost too fast for the other three Death Eaters to follow, all of them raised their wands to try and shoot at their latest party crasher. Only one of them managed to shoot off a curse, which Ron dodged easily with a foot on the Death Eater he had taken down.

"_Stupefy_!" The other two were hit from behind before they could finish their incantation. Behind the knocked out duo now stood Harry, both hands holding out a red smoking wand each.

The only remaining Death Eater threw all his rage into his curse for Harry, who had been well prepared.

"_Protego_! _Stupefy_!" As if ambidextrous, Harry's attack and defence were both covered in one action round. It was clear that Harry had fully developed two wand arms, the rarest of conditions in the wizarding world.

The Death Eater had parried Harry's spell almost as an afterthought and was reeling to give the boy the most painful curse in his arsenal – when the air around him stood still. As his limp figure toppled forward, two levitating wands showed themselves behind him, having shot out the Stunners. Just from this display, it was clear Snape had very little left to teach in the realms of Wand Magic this year.

Harry summoned the two levitating wands, Hermione's and Ginny's, grabbing them back in his hand as he rushed towards where Neville was laying. Ron was a step before him, and Harry thrown the third wand back to its owner.

Ron asked as he caught the wand, ready to see if he could brave a healing spell, "You okay Neville?"

Neville just sat on the ground, flabbergasted for the moment. He then exploded, jumping onto his feet, and was about to let out a mighty rant before the pain from his earlier curse injury made him collapse right back onto the ground.

_Damn protagonist halo! Just because Harry's the main character, Ron and him get to take down double the amount of Death Eaters? While I get into this much trouble just facing nameless grunts? Damn it! Stupid stupid main characters! How is this even fair! _

Unaware of the childish tantrum inside Neville's head, Ron examined Neville's legs. "They don't look so good… Did that Killing Curse graze your leg?"

"If it's hit any part of me, I'd be dead by now. Though I definitely owe you one Flash," Neville used Occlumency to calm his thoughts and breathed a sigh of relief. _Unfair or not, if they weren't the lucky main characters that can take on an army, I'd really be in for it by now._

"Here," Harry helped Neville wobbly to his feet, supporting his weight over his shoulders. Both of them almost got knocked over to the ground when Ginny crashed into them.

_I guess without the Chamber of Secret incident, this little girl really has a lot of mental resilience to build up. _Neville put his arm around a trembling Ginny, who had a death grip on his robe arm, and could not even utter a coherent word with her face buried. _My robes are gonna be covered with snort and wet as a rain cloud now…_

Hermione had also gotten to the group, "Thank god! Oh _god_!"

"Chill, it's probably nothing bad enough that a medi-witch can't handle." Neville's Occlumency was also very useful for ignoring pain. "Where were the two of you anyway?"

Ron answered, still studying Neville's leg uncertainly. "Harry and I were going to try and find out what was the deal with the Dark Mark, and Hermione was supposed to get Ginny to the South West security area."

"It's better than running into a forest for sure," Neville muttered as stray passages from the books flooded his memories a bit. "But _damn_ you two are reckless. At least now, I'm a reason for you guys not to wander off on your own anymore."

"We have to get you to a medi-witch right away!" Hermione, anxious as ever and now re-armed with her wand, transfigured a wheelchair from the nearby wreckage.

Just as Neville sat down, several popping sounds made them all go on high alert again.

"Dad!" Ron shouted as Arthur was one of the Ministry officials to have apparated into existence around them.

Neville was not as relaxed though, spotting Fudge amongst the others. Fudge first spotted Harry, and was about to put on a worried grandfather mask, but the sight of the six fallen Death Eaters jolted him. It seemed finding Neville, in his Ageing Potion state, was the last straw as he screamed, "What is the meaning of this?"

"You fudged up again," Neville growled. "Didn't Dumbledore speak to you? Terrorist attacks are always likely at an international event, and because of your incompetence, harm and panic have marred the event on an international level."

Completely ignoring Neville's injuries, Fudge just pointed with a shaking finger, "You're in it with loony Lovegood and his Quibbler, aren't you! You want me to have even more bad press after Black and Pettigrew! You purposely got attacked! Did you hire these people to ruin the World Cup as well Longbottom?"

"Minister, that's hardly –" Even a ministry official standing next to him began to try and calm Fudge down, but he did not listen.

"You conjured the Dark Mark, bringing panic to the public, didn't you? Just to help your great uncle bring me down! Was it him who was behind this whole plot? I'll snap that wand of yours in two right now!"

It seemed Neville ploys really got to the unsuccessful politician's head after all. As satisfying as savouring the sweet revenge was, Neville had other things to consider at this moment. "If you're done making baseless accusation instead of conducting damage control, get out of my way you little green leprechaun."

"How dare you insult the Minister?" Neville had completely missed Percy by Fudge's side, stepping forward with his wand raised, all too willing to show his devotion. Neville was about to disarm him when a small figure stepped in between them. Percy shouted with a red face, "Ginny, get away from him at once!"

"Shut up you prat! Neville rescued us from those Death Eaters!" Ginny allowed her rage to temporarily take away the shock from the previous attack. Neville felt a little guilty through summer when he heard Percy had moved out of the Burrow a lot earlier than the books, having had a massive argument with his father on the Festival and letting the Dementors in, as well as all the other issues in the book – but not after this little display tonight.

"Just move it Ginny," Percy sighed exasperatedly, still not knowing when to give up. "Stop protecting him and listen to your brother!"

"Neville is more of a brother to me than you ever were! And I'm just standing here so you won't get humiliated when he hexes you to high heaven!" The little fireball could really dominate the scene in her rage, and Percy was left fumbling for a comeback.

"Stop making a scene! Both of you!" Arthur Weasley, a man who acted when it counts. "Neville is injured, and we need to get him seen to at once."

Before Arthur could offer Neville a side-along apparition, more popping noises indicated that another crew of people arrived. Rolling around the social circles, Neville recognised the ex-Head of Magical Law Enforcement immediately. Crouch was also with Amos Diggory, who was carrying an unconscious house elf.

_Nothing's changed then? It's the best I can assume… Anyway, I'm probably running out of time._

Having more memories of the books jolted back, Neville tugged on Arthur's sleeve as Crouch senior explained what they had found in the forest, and probably going on to sack Winky to protect his son. "Arthur, interesting as this is, would it be possible to ask for a quick ride to a medi-witch?"

Arthur Weasley was quickly reminded of Neville's predicament and grabbed onto his shoulder. He apparated after saying, "Bill, you take care of everyone when I'm gone. I'll be right back."

Almost crumbling onto the ground as Hermione's wheelchair could not be apparated along as well, Neville put his weight onto the thin-looking man. "Sorry Arthur."

"Is there a medi-witch here? I've got a boy with spell damage to his feet and legs!" Arthur shouted into the medi-tent before them before turning to Neville with a smile. "Don't be ridiculous Neville. From what I picked up from Ginny, you saved our little girl's life, yet again."

"No, Ron and Harry came back and saved me as well." Neville lowered his head marginally, but Arthur caught it.

"I know there might have been a better time for this, but please don't be a stranger to us." Neville looked up at the misunderstood man from the books. Arthur might be a Muggle-techno-nut, as demonstrated by their aeroplane discussion through first year's summer, but Neville knew Arthur had enough inner strength to be a model Gryffindor. _Why else would Bill, Charlie, and all his children look up to him?_ "Molly's been quite down with Percy leaving the Burrow, and that is why it might have felt awkward when you came over those few times during the summer. She really means nothing by it. I know you must have felt responsible for Percy, but remember Neville: whatever my son did was his decision alone. Instead of feeling you have done us wrong, I feel it was my son who had caused you endless troubles. The press really wasn't easy on you last year after the Festival, before your name was cleared."

"Till this day, there is still no hard evidence that Percy really did let in the Dementors." Neville installed a bit of hope into the balding father. "Plus, the thing with Ron…"

"From what I gathered from the others, Ron wasn't entirely in the right either! Plus, it was just boys' scuffle. " Arthur just sighed, patting the twenties-something looking man on the back. "I know you're a good and mature young man. Never forget Neville, you'll always be a friend of the Weasleys."

0

0

0

A/N: Thanks for still reading and reviewing guys! Sorry for the long wait this time, things have been hectic with job change and such – not even a chance to do anything for Nanowrimo at all.

So, no one's told me the formatting is all screwed for my earliest chapters! This has happened before with making changes – no idea why those section breaks have been nulled!

This led to an almost complete re-read of my story again. I've found some awful grammar/typing mistakes, how could I have missed during my first edits? I've re-formatted and all my previous chapters so hopefully they'll be legible now…

As you can tell, I'm really going to deviate from the books now (i.e. I couldn't be bothered looking things up and too old to remember). Hope the romance side isn't too much so far, but it was in my sub-category after all…

By the way, the title is like Sangoku Musou (Dynasty Warriors), reflecting how the main characters can always charge into armies of enemies with hardly a scratch when in reality, that really never happens.


	76. Book 4 Chapter 5

Synopsis: After the World Cup, Cho carried out her word from last year and her 'aggressive assault' on Neville officially began. Just when Neville was bringing the drunken teenager back to her tent, the Death Eater riot during the book erupted. He was even in mortal danger when trying to save Ginny and Hermione, but thankfully, Harry and Ron showed up in time. Displaying their growth from the books due to Neville's various interferences in this world, they managed to fight off the Death Eaters.

Chapter 75 – The new teacher!

Berlin, small hours of the morning, a frail-looking old man was walking down the famous Kurfürstendamm alone. There was sparsely anyone about, as even most late clubbers had called it a night, and the early bakers were just catching the last winks of sleep before another hard day. Out of nowhere, a man in his late-twenties stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed the old man by the collar of his old-fashioned suite.

The old man searched around and saw some muscular looking German men across the road, ready to come to his rescue. The old man immediately shouted, "Es ist in Ordnung! Er ist mein Freund!"

"Who the hell is your friend Dumbledore?" Neville shook the old man, as he continued to wave away the now confused nice men across the road, trying to reassure them Neville was not going to mug him ."I'm going to kill you!"

"Neville! We're in the middle of one of the busiest streets of Berlin. Can you just calm down a little bit, and find a place where we may talk in private?"

"Do you know how bloody difficult it was to find you?" Neville finally let go of Dumbledore, who was still busy waving to the men across the road smilingly, saying whatever it was in German. Neville started walking without looking back, knowing he would follow. "I guess you haven't heard about what happened at the World Cup?"

"I'm afraid not Neville. I was stuck in an International Confederation of Wizards meeting until just now. A long debated border issue regarding a fruitful ocean home to mating Isonades. I was just making my way towards a designated Floo point for the late Portkey when you showed up." Dumbledore followed Neville towards an entrance to one of the U-Bhan stations at the middle of the boulevard. "I must ask – which team won?"

"I'm not in the mood!" Neville pulled out his wand as the two of them arrived down at the deserted platform. Tapping five times against the third pillar from the East entrance, a magical portal appeared in the pillar for them to step through.

After a few steps in the darkness, the end of the tunnel was just as dimly lit. Except the two of them were now in a decorated parlour of what looked to be a very posh cocktail bar. Dumbledore marvelled at the decorative drapes that seemed to have infinite folds in its richness, to the plush carpet with solid gold trimmings in the form of great artworks.

"How may I be of service tonight, misters?" A waiter subtly asked in English, somehow already having identified them as British. The attitude with that association came with it from how high his nose was turned up. Neville pulled out his Black Gringotts Credit Card, and even the seasoned waiter's eyes bulged at the sight. Credit cards in this era, especially wizarding ones, did not only act as a substitute to currency, but also exclaimed the status of the owner. The Black Card even more so, as it was not something that could be obtained through the size of an owner's vault alone, but was only issued to those deemed a VIP and friends of Gringotts. Neville did not get one because of his blood status or Hoglake, but actually just because he was the first one to explain the credit cards concept to the Goblins.

On another closer inspection of his patrons, the waiter very quickly bowed as low as he could go. Ready to listen to all of Neville's demands, he said, "We are honoured to have you here Mr Longbottom and Mr Dumbledore! Very much honoured! Please forgive me for not arranging for a bigger welcome."

"I heard this club only catered for the needs of esteemed patrons. We require a room that would be _completely_ private. No information is to flow in, or out. You have never seen us tonight. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes Mr Longbottom. Many of our guests have private matters and business deals conducted on our premises, but I will show you to the most secure room we have on offer. Would the two of you require any companions or entertainment?"

Neville commanded with a frown, "Just a bottle of red."

It was done almost immediately, as they were led to a room behind a set of heavy curtains. Sitting in the candle-lit room, with a soft piano music as backdrop, Dumbledore made himself at home on a plush high chair. "My, my. Your lifestyle does leave many envious Neville."

"Don't play dumb you old goat," Neville did not even bother pouring himself a drink. "You know I'm not here to show off. I can only trust the charms around a club of this level to discuss Voldemort."

Dumbledore halted in his smelling of the bottle of 1985 Gorgon's Blood, and finally turned serious. "What happened at the World Cup? You can't possibly –"

"Death Eaters running amuck during the after party! I thought I'd told you to warn Fudge at the start of summer!" Neville screamed in frustration, having counted on the old goat to liaise with the stupid fool he did not get along with.

"I did Neville, I really did. You must understand Cornelius's personality. An anonymous seer's words and my voice, endearment much reduced in his eyes after last year, could only sway Cornelius into putting around fifteen percent more security measures –"

"Fifteen percent? I even had to wait for half an hour before the curse on my legs got treated! Sure, people had an emergency point to head for instead of just running into a forest, but it didn't stop anything! Not to mention, you, yourself didn't take me seriously enough to be there!"

"I have other duties in the magical world Neville. I did change the Triwizard Tournament rules as you had advised, have I not?" Dumbledore put his chips on the table.

Neville challenged, "What about that ring? Have you found it?"

"You are asking for the Resurrection Stone – one of the fabled Deathly Hallows!" Dumbledore dropped his cards completely.

Neville, not winning anything, sighed, "I told you, the key should be in Voldemort's past! And even warned you not to go into any seaside caves!"

"I do not understand about the cave at all, and Morfin Riddle, the last relative to Lord Voldemort, is in Azkaban. With Cornelius's relationship with us now, it had proved difficult to receive a meeting. Very difficult indeed."

"Weren't you the one who wanted me to tell you everything I know? I told you I deducted the whereabouts of Hufflepuff's Cup. I told you that the ring is the Resurrection Stone. And I told you about his pet snake! I don't expect the other two, but the ring is something you should get!"

Frankly, Dumbledore never mentioned in the book where he got that ring from, and Neville had given as many 'visions' as he could about that Horcrux. He had much difficulty trying to force Dumbledore to deduct most of this knowledge on his own, trying to word the information into 'visions'. For example, divination would not be an adequate excuse for Neville knowing Voldemort's father left his mother, and had been under an Imperius Curse. No seer could predict the past, or get information to this extent.

"This is the fate of the wizarding world we're talking about. We cannot act until we are completely certain. How do you know Voldemort only created seven Horcruxes? Especially when Harry was an 'accident'? We don't even have a single piece of evidence to suggest the Diary, and that Diadem you gave me before, were indeed Horcruxes, as I had only seen them in their destroyed states."

Neville sighed, knowing the key was in the seventh book, Harry's mission in retrieving Slughorn's memory. It was probably one of the main reasons why Dumbledore was so adamant in getting Slughorn back to Hogwarts, as his memory told Dumbledore that Voldemort really knew, and showed intentions of creating, Horcruxes at that age, which in turn confirmed many of his deductions.

"I understand your frustrations, and please do not take offence in me saying, but your visions have been wrong before."

"We're getting nowhere!" Neville scowled at the useless old goat in front of him, finally grabbing the expensive wine in front of him by the bottle, and took a long hard swig at the bottle.

"You are putting me in an awkward position – and I do not mean the underage drinking." Dumbledore tested the waters with a joke, but was defeated to admit Neville was one of the most difficult characters he had to deal with in his long life. "I give you my word, I will try my best with the information you have given me, and will do whatever I can to prevent Voldemort's return."

Not long into the summer, Neville had sat down with Dumbledore, and gave him a very long series synopsis – with the excuse of giving them as seer prophecies. Many little reasoning behind things that Neville knew would happen in the books were exposed by Dumbledore's quick mind, but the main banes of Voldemort was still elusive. Nagini was with that psycho at all times, Gringotts was still Gringotts, and the ring was deemed Dumbledore's responsibility by Neville.

After the revelations though, the relationship between these two old hostiles had significantly changed. Neville really did find Dumbledore to treat him as an equal, with Ageing Potions in effect or not, and his state of mind had certainly been less stressed after sharing his problems with the flagship of the upcoming war. He quickly figured it really was great to shrug responsibilities off to someone else.

Putting down the bottle, Neville gave the old man a break, "We don't have much time. I've told you to monitor Mad-Eye Moody's place, right? Please tell me you've at least done that."

"A polyjuice imposter – and Barty Crouch no less. It would make an extraordinary scandal indeed if it was true." Understanding the circumstances revolving the Crouch family, and having more sympathy than Neville, Dumbledore sighed. "Crouch senior was a good man – fought gallantly in the last war. To be a father…"

"Save your war stories old man," Neville rudely interrupted, taking another drink from the bottle. "I'm about ninety per cent sure this prediction of mines will come true, considering this mess at the World Cup more or less went through as well. Tell me how it goes, I'm leaving. I'm sure you pick up the tab."

Dumbledore shook his head as he watched Neville swagger out of the room, bottle in hand. Although he did not have to worry about his image as much as Fudge, he would really appreciate the young man's lack of respect would be less evident once they return to Hogwarts.

0

0

0

"Colin, that really was a nice set of photos. It'll definitely appear on the front page." Neville reassured the boy. "Shame about Mad-Eye."

It was the day of the Hogwarts Express, and even that morning, Neville was spending it at work. He got wind of what happened at Mad-Eye's place, and it was almost exactly as the books had depicted. The only worry was that, whichever incompetent oaf Dumbledore had coined into the job, failed to capture Barty Crouch. The Voldemort supporter was still at large after an apparently epic duel that sent Mad-Eye to stay at St Mungo's for a relatively long term.

"Yeah, from what he said, it had been amazing! If only I could've been there to take pictures!" Colin Creevy had more balls than Neville had thought to have interviewed the ex-Auror at the hospital. It did land the boy a front page article though, which would only fuel the boy's ambitions. Not to mention tying the Hogwarts Herald with the Quibbler even closer after the internship offers he struck with him and his club members. He would have started Colin like Penelope, but he was just far too young, and had just been helping out part-time through summer.

_In a few years, not just him, and his brother Dennis, but all the wizarding journalist talents would be under my roof! Bwhahahahaha!_

"Have you forgotten anything Luna? Anything at all?" Xenophilius was definitely a main worry of Neville's when he would be at Hogwarts, with the anxious father not having worked the whole day today, too busy tending to his daughter's back to school routine.

"I am fine dad." Luna turned to the others, "I really think it is about time to go to the station."

Taking Luna's hint, Neville left some final words for Rita, who had hardly paid him any attention. She had been in constant euphoria from bad-mouthing the Ministry: Not only with Fudge and the World Cup fiasco, but also Ludo Bagman's betting scandal, and now this regarding Barty Crouch. Neville of course allowed the woman to do fully what she did best, as he foresaw Old Al getting Bagman's post, and Rufus Scrimgeour getting the other.

_Scrimgeour really wasn't that bad a person, but he just had to do what he must as a Minister in the books. As mentioned in the books, and now by reputation, I know Scrimgeour is an upstanding law enforcer that is much better doing his duties than diddle in politics. Everyone's got to play to their strengths – especially when Old Al managed to get him at odds with Fudge, though it wasn't that difficult a feat after all these muck-ups. _

Another person playing to his strengths was Lockhart, who was still incessantly bugging Rita with impromptu wedding proposals. It would inevitably make them even worst now that the Weasley twins were in on it – spotting them conversing outside the Quibbler's office as Neville walked out.

"Well if it isn't our favourite partner!" Fred, as Neville decided spontaneously, greeted as he spotted Neville.

George left Lockhart, dangerously thinking on some elaborate idea, and put an arm around Neville. "Another year, another bunch of first year test subjects for our wares! You won't regret investing in our business for sure!"

As Bagman was someone who Neville disposed of on the way, and he really was quite unsuitable for his position, Neville thought he might as well do some good out of it. The Weasley twins had helped him with exposing Bagman's gambling scandal, and a little gratitude must be repaid. Following the book's Harry, Neville had invested in the twin's future joke shop financially after the pair finally committed to an unwavering commitment for starting it after graduation. Unlike the book's Harry, Neville asked to be an official partner, with shares of the company in the future, and providing his utmost assistance when it starts up in Diagon Alley.

_Another money making idea! Now even if I don't have the Hoglake Shop, I still have the Quibbler and the twins' shop to count on._

Not going down that road of thought again, Neville quickly joked around with the twins as a magical coach and driver ferried the children to King's Cross, much like a private Knight Bus. Neville hired it to save the twins, Luna, and Colin Creevy, an otherwise bothersome trip.

Pushing their carts through the ever-busy King's Cross Station after their chauffer unloaded their trunks, Neville smiled at the little first years going to Hogwarts for the first time. He remembered he was as excited as them just a few years ago, maybe even more, when he had met Harry for the first time.

_It really has flown past hasn't it? Hey wait – isn't that a… vulture?_

"Neville! There you are!" Gran was surprisingly in front of Platform Nine and Three Quarters, apparently waiting for him.

"Gran, is something wrong? We only said goodbye this morning." Neville's head swarmed through a million different scenarios that could have happened in the span of hours. "Did Fudge send someone for Old Al? Is there a mole in the faction? Did someone tamper with the Portkey the Drakuls were on yesterday?"

"No, no, no! Stop thinking so negatively!" Gran reached up to pat Neville's head. "How come there has to be something wrong for a grandmother to see her only grandson off to Hogwarts?"

Almost on cue, Neville's Ageing Potions ran out and his height dropped again to a typical fourteen year-old. The twins sniggered as they pushed their trunk through onto the magical platform.

"Gran, I'll be fine. I'm not young anymore." Neville again found letting up his Occlumency was not boding well with the circulation to his face. "I can just apparate back whenever during the year."

"As if you would – and I'd ever let you! You're there for school, and there you will stay!" Grandmotherly as she was, the book's strict side of her personality still tended to crop up on occasions – mostly as reminders of Neville's physical age.

After Gran spent a significant amount of time chiding him about not being young enough, Neville just managed to make it onto the Hogwarts Express before it left the platform. Gran still did not give up after that, and Neville could still hear her voice as the train rounded the corner, "And remember to eat properly! And don't stay up too late! And don't get in a fight with anyone or anything this year!"

Neville sighed, looking out the opened carriage door even if the platform was no longer in sight. "They couldn't have found out that I was a fake. Could they? They can't…"

With a few hard shake of his head, Neville started making his way down the train corridor, dragging his trunk. Again it was an arduous journey like last year, meeting and greeting various acquaintances. He did find some carriages shut down their curtains at the sight of him going past though, and some Hufflepuffs even cowering, trying to sink themselves into the train walls as he passed.

_After effects of my little act last year I presume. Despite Draco taking the blame, it's only natural this would happen. No idea how Harry can remain friends with so many people even after he was _truly_ outcasted, so many times, through the books. _

Neville had still to find an empty compartment when he stumbled into a crowd of girls, blocking his way down the train corridor. Seeing a familiar face, he tapped Sally-Anne Perks' shoulder and asked, "Hey Sally-Anne, what's up?"

"Hey Neville! Good summer?" the Gryffindor only spared him one second's glance back before trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening in the compartment the girls were all crowding around.

"Is Lupin back? I didn't think he would take up the post again, even if Mad-Eye can't do it anymore." Neville was just glad it was Hermione who found Lupin at the start of last year, or else who knew what some of these crazy teenage girls would do to a sleeping, defenceless bishie.

"It's not Professor Lupin, but I bet he's our new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher – and he's so dreamy! Just look at his hair! He's definitely the type that will scorch you with a kiss."

"I heard that actually happened when this guy applied that Hungarian Horntail brand chapstick – anyway..." Neville had better things to do than listen to a girls' rambling, despite being curious about this new teacher not in the books.

Pulling out his wand, he pointed over at the compartment where all the girls were trying to squash into, and made a non-verbal spell that imitated a very rude noise. All the girls fled holding their noses in seconds, despite not having smelled anything.

"Brash but effective. Then again, I didn't mind the attention." Neville set his eyes on the twenties-something man, one leg on the seat, and lazily leaning on the window.

He was tall, and had his shaggy blonde hair styled down the back of his neck to a typical nineties rock star so popular with the Muggles nowadays. His denim and leather ensemble were all black, apart from the green T-shirt and silver buckles he was also wearing. Just as Sally-Anne said, he was those 'bad boys' who could wrap numerous helpless women around his fingers, coaxing them to try and rein him down, inevitably never getting him to settle down no matter what. His relaxed and confident demeanour suggested he understood his attractiveness as well.

Before Neville could greet him, he noticed two girls remained unmoved by Neville's prior trick. As he was about to praise them for their futile relentlessness at chasing an emotional-hazard of a teacher, but halted when he recognised them. He stuttered, "Even you two?"

"You haven't changed at all. Boisterous and saying things no one understands." Su ran a hand through her boy-ish hair, again having suffered the summer graze. Neville doubted he would recognise her if she ever wore her hair long.

"Please close the door before they come back. Please?" Hannah begged with wet, shimmering eyes.

The blonde man did as she requested, and pulled down the curtains as well. Retracting his wand, put pulling out a pouch that looked enchanted, the man threw it at Neville saying, "This is what I owe you, with interests."

Neville caught the pouch in confusion, but looked inside to find galleons and galleons of gold. Studying the man once again, this time with Occlumency and concentration, Neville almost dropped the heavy pouch, "What the hell happened to you?"

"Just copying what you did through summer – it's a lot easier to move around as an adult. Not to mention I won't have made friends with Jon Bon otherwise."

"You met Bon Jovi?" Neville now fully understood the hair.

"Yeah. At Vegas. Where I won most of the money in that bag."

"You gambled the money I gave you? How was that an investment?"

"I didn't use your loan on that! I managed to stumble upon some old relics and statues – those things sell for a lot more than I'd thought. Of course, that was after I'd broken into the social circles over in the States, or else I won't have been able to get a footing in the business even with your money. That pen-pal slash cousin of mines slammed the door in my face the moment I told him I fell out with my father. Really."

"I guess you've really experienced a lot of things this summer huh, Draco." Neville stepped forward and gave him a bear hug. Even though he had seen him under Ageing Potions before, the air around him had drastically changed indeed.

"Hey! Not cool man!" Draco complained, but allowed Neville the one reunion hug.

Neville stepped back with a genuine sigh of relief, "I'm so glad things really did work out for you."

Draco laughed, finding Neville's smile infectious, "I'll tell you all about it later. I'd only just finished told Su and Hannah about it all."

"Trust me. You don't want to hear his smarmy adventures." Su shook her head and put a hand to her face, as if to forget seeing a bowl of wiggling caterpillars. "They involved alcohol, money, comically unbelievable luck, or a combination of them all."

"Don't forget the woman. There was always a woman," even Hannah laced her voice with a rare deadpan tone.

"No. I was desperately trying to forget those parts." Su continued shaking her head.

Neville's smile grew wider seeing Su's reactions to Draco. He did not know how the two confronted each other earlier, but Draco probably did not mess up his apology. After all that happened last year, Neville had worried that even with Su's very free and forgiving personality, she would not have let Draco off, under Potions influences or not.

"I feel this is going to be good year." Neville commented, sitting down next to Draco. And then he really thought about what the girls said, along with the entourage he had driven off beforehand. Not to mention last summer's experience in Rose Lane, and Draco's earliest summer adventures that he thought were fabricated. Gulping, Neville chanced the question. "Draco… I know we didn't fully verify your playboy powers last year, but don't tell me through the summer you had… gone home with a girl from the bar."

Hannah, rightfully and innocently replied for him, "Draco had said he was almost sleeping in a different bed every night."

After one self-superior look from Draco, Neville stood up and left the compartment screaming, "I'm sitting with the Trio!"

"W-what?" Hannah had no idea what she said wrong, and Draco's unrestraint deep laugh were starting to attract the previously disbanded female admirers again.

"You have got to hear that awesome night I spent with old Bon Jon in his private room at the Bellagio! I'd never known Muggles could bend that way without magic!"

Neville fled so fast he forgot his trunk.

Hermione stood up when he had finally found the Trio, and entered their compartment panting. "Neville! Why are you always late for the – You don't look so well."

"That's because I don't feel so well." Neville sat down.

"Your face does look a bit white. I think there is this potion I read about once… wait a sec." Instead of digging through her bag for a potion, Hermione of cause was just digging through it for the book that mentioned it.

"Sirius once drowned me in five bottles of scotch to 'cure' me of a suspected cold," Harry muttered, a hand to his forehead. Not to nurse his famous scar, but a hangover. "Sirius held this massive drinking party last night for us going back to Hogwarts."

"I still don't approve of that," Hermione added.

"Is that man really a good influence on you?" Neville asked, again reminded of the shady nature of Sirius's Eastern European trip with Harry this summer.

"Sirius taught me loads of stuffs! Not having to worry about the Trace aboard and all. As you know, the Dursley never brought me abroad before, and this let me see a lot of new things, meet a lot of new people."

"You mean that girl you were talking about?" Ron pushed Neville to the entrance of hell again.

"Not you too!" Neville almost burst out crying.

Harry gave Ron a red-faced frowned. "She was quite a bit older than me Ron. I've told you it was never like that. She just taught me about… life, in general."

"Found it!" Hermione finally pulled out a thick book on potions, quickly flicking through it. "I'm sure Snape would have every ingredient under the sun. If Harry just asks, he may even brew it for you."

"I wonder how Snape spends his summers. Bullies little kids at summer camp I'll bet," Ron said as he finally put down his Sherlock Holmes book, getting to the end of a passage probably.

The fact that he was the only person reading a book when Neville came in would have been a freakish sight if Neville had not known of Ron's summer obsession. Neville introduced him to the ideas of Muggle detectives one day, and he had been reading a lot of detective stories since. Ron's favourite series was still the classic Sherlock, to a point where he even went out of his way to learn Bartitsu, a martial art the famous detective that saved his life from Moriarty.

"Professor Snape's been writing to me actually. My Immaterial Transfiguration research is going by leaps and bounds now, especially after Sirius's contributing as well."

Hermione shook her head, "You're still trying to figure out how to merge that all important magical core right?"

It was only normal for Hermione to be involved with anything any of the Trio researched, but it was quite surprising for Ron to even throw his weight in. "I'm really not sure if that Wand Magic of Snape's will work – though it is cool to be able to control multiple wands at the same time."

"I think I'll keep trying and go deeper into it for now. What else is more accessible and magically potent than a wand?" Harry said, having pulled out his phoenix feathered wand to have a look in case it suddenly gave any clues.

"I bet I can solve the Millennium Puzzle before you figure out Immaterial Transfiguration," Ron challenged.

"Why do you call it the Millennium Puzzle?" Hermione asked.

Neville shrugged when Ron pointed at him, "That's the Millennium Eye on it."

Before Hermione could continue her usual habit of getting to the bottom of all questions, she finally found the page she wanted. "Here is the potion!"

"Hermione, it's okay, I'll survive. I think." Neville laughed at the enthusiasm she was displaying, holding out the book with its pages out him as if she was a nursery child showing off her drawing.

"If Snape doesn't brew it, it'll just take a few hours. It'd be great practice for our OWLs next year!" Hermione ignored Neville at that thought and started reading through the instructions.

"A few hours?" Ron and Neville exclaimed at the same time. Neville never had even an extra hour to sleep at Hogwarts.

"Why am I even friends with such slackers?" Hermione sighed, which summoned Neville unruly hand to ruffle her nest of brown hair. Upon the moment of contact, both Hermione and Neville snapped their gaze on each other.

_W-why am I doing this again? I thought she was cute and then I just… Wait. I used to ruffle her hair all the time. When did I stop?_

Before Neville answered his own inner thoughts, Hermione smiled and said, as if it was a soft reminder. "You know I hate you doing this."

_No that's not the reason… But it really has been a long time since it's been this natural between us, hasn't it? I guess it's just being back on the Hogwarts Express, with Harry and Ron, talking about something so relatively normal… _

Neville returned the smile his friend gave him, "Never stopped me before."

0

0

0

A/N: And after a very very very long time, I'm going to take down the character poll! If this was a Jump! Manga, I would have Elena fan-service painted across two pages, in colour. I am very surprised at the very commanding lead she'd gotten despite some reviews saying they don't like her. The result backed the notion I'd proposed for her this year. We'll see :D

The results were quite surprising:

1) Elena – 33%

2) Hermione – 9%

2) Hannah – 9%

3) Draco – 7%

3) Cho – 7%

3) Millicent – 7%

4) Dumbledore – 5%

5) Ron – 3%

5) Su – 3%

5) Snape – 3%

6) Harry – 1%

6) Ginny – 1%

6) Old Al – 1%

Cho's high rank was probably because of her unexpected air time, but I'm surprised about Millicent and Su. I'm disappointed about Harry and Ginny: I understand Harry, with him being so far away from the limelight for now. I should improve upon writing about Ginny. Above all else, I'm glad Draco and Hannah are popular.

Enough rant though, because the important thing is, I have another poll out! This time, it's about what aspect of the story you want to see more of! Please vote on my profile page!

Thanks for everyone who reviewed and voted!


	77. Book 4 Chapter 6

Synopsis: After revealing what Neville's set into motion, actively seeking help from Dumbledore, to change the books and stop Voldemort's plans, the cast is going to (finally) start 4th year at Hogwarts! On the Hogwarts Express, the heartthrob who was thought to be the new teacher was actually Draco, who seemed to have experienced quite a good stroke of luck in the States through summer. Everything was looking very well for Neville, especially the awkward air between Hermione and him is naturally starting to disperse with the familiarity of returning to the school of wizardry.

Chapter 76 – Just a little plaything 

"What's wrong?" Neville asked, noticing the crumpled piece of paper in Hannah's hand, which he recalled he had seen in the train compartment as well.

"She's gotten worst and worst as the train journey went on." Draco yawned, a lot more soothing to Neville's eyes now that his Ageing Potion wore off.

"She's just nervous! You know how she is." Su tried to defend her friend.

"I know. I'm not good at all. Su, why can't you be the Council President?" Hannah mumbled, with nervous tears threatening to spill from her eyes. The girl glanced out the window again, her face paler by each step taken by the carriage's Thestrals.

"Is this the opening speech for the Welcoming Feast?" Neville asked. "You'll do great Hannah. Didn't you tell me what came out of the summer camp Su and you went to before? Obviously, you have to clarify the organisation of duties between the Prefects and the Council – sorry about the clean-up we left you."

"If anyone laughs at you I'll just shoot them!" Draco said.

"Is that some sort of Americanism you've picked up – oh crap! That's really a gun! Is that even legal?" Neville screamed at the handgun actually in Draco's grasps, and wondered how the customs missed that.

"Calm down, everyone has a gun in America." Draco waved him off easily in true wizarding logic. He cupped the barrel of his gun, looking at it almost as narcissistically as he stared at a mirror, "Ah my Beretta, my summer love."

Neville aimed to transfigure the gun into something less harmful, but found that his spell was useless. He figured it probably had something to do with the runes drawn upon it, but decided to just scream, "Put that damn thing away Draco!"

"Fine, fine." Draco grumbled, but the scene still unable to sooth the nervous Hannah.

Neville would have sat next to her at the Welcoming Feast to offer moral support, but he was unlike Draco, who probably deemed the glares from the Slytherin as thin air. Neville made it a bottom line to sit in his own House table at least for occasions like the Welcoming Feast.

"This really is only the second time you've sat through a Sorting, isn't it?" Ron asked Harry.

"Yeah, second year was the flying car, and last year being pulled out by McGonagall." Harry nodded to Neville, who took the seat across from him and Ron. Hermione smiled as Neville sat down beside her, or at Neville letting Creevey throw himself at the seat next to Harry. "Oh, hi Colin."

After receiving the news of Dennis Creevey starting Hogwarts as another Harry fan club member, the infinitely boring Sorting ceremony finally started. Neville's eyes were not on the dripping wet Dennis of course, but was scrutinizing the staff table.

The seat for the Defence teacher remained empty, which made Neville a little weary. Being only trained in Occlumency and knew not much of Legilimency, he did not know if the ever calm Dumbledore managed to find Mad-Eye's replacement or not in such little time. Looking next to the empty seat, he found Snape rather pre-occupied at the moment with Sinistra.

"I know I've asked this last year, but what _is_ the deal between those two?" Neville had so much on his mind last year, he had no time to support Sinistra in her slow, albeit extremely abrasive to Snape's psych, romantic advance towards the cold Potions Master.

Harry piped up with a grin, "I think they're doing well. Have you ever seen him tolerate someone talking to him for so long continuously?"

"Not apart from you, or if it's related to your mother."

Ron just pretended to heave. "Really? I can't even imagine Snape's owl with another one, let alone himself."

"You mean Felix?" Harry was about to give the information of Snape's owl's mate, "Actually he –"

"Spare me." Ron's appetite did not seem to have waivered though. Hermione recounted to Neville how bad Crouch's behaviour was to Winky, and went on her starving streak like the books in the name of house elf rights when she found out about the Hogwarts' invisible staffs. Neville did not complain, as one less person eating meant one more portion for himself. _Wizarding food _still_ tastes so good! Got to get up early for some heavy training after this feast if I want to keep in shape though…_

Finally after everyone, and Neville, were stuffed, Dumbledore stood up to get everyone's attention. "Students! Welcome back to another year of Hogwarts! I hoped you have all enjoyed the feast, and is looking forward to another year of fun and learning inside this castle. As some of you will remember, there had been some complications regarding the Junior Student Council last year. Through the summer, the new Council President, Vice President, and the Head Boy and Girl have been working hard with Professor McGonagall to establish a fuller, more comprehensive system to make student life more enjoyable. Of course, I think it would be best for the people involved to tell you the details, as the Council had been set up on the ideal that it was ran by the students, for the students. Can I now please divert your attention to Miss Abbott, your new Council President for this term, and her official address this year."

Draco gave Hannah an unhelpful nudge, as the pig-tailed girl was obviously shocked stiff from the murmurings that only grew louder through the Great Hall because of the questions running unanswered in all the students' minds. Hannah gave a yelp, and jumped off her seat when Draco whispered something (probably a threat) to scare her to the front of the Hall.

"I – I – I…" Hannah went on stuttering for as long as the Hall decided to quiet down. It looked as if the silence was even worst for Hannah to handle as the paper she had been crumpling with all through the train was in shreds by now.

Remembering second year, when Dumbledore landed Neville with another one of his manipulative traps due to his mistrusts in him, Neville spoke up. "What social events are going to happen this year?"

Hannah jumped and looked at Neville, not quite understanding his push. "Huh?"

"You know. The Council's supposed to arrange events for the school, where all the students can have fun and get to know each other a bit more, right? Isn't that the main point?" Neville said, ignoring a few snide remarks about the Hogwarts Festival fiasco last year.

_That was how you pulled me back to the original goal in second year Hannah. Just remember why you're up there in the first place. Why was there a Student Council?_

Hannah blinked a few times, and then finally rewarded Neville with an ear-to-ear smile. "Yes. Su and I have been thinking about different small events, around the one big one, the Council could host this year. The informative orientation tours for the first years will resume as usual without the election, to familiar our newcomers with the castle. I remember it was really hard to find classes during my first year.

"Oh, and of course, we are now officially the Student Council – we will be overseeing students of all years. All students are eligible to take part in our events, unless stated otherwise. We will still be in charge of organising the events, clubs and societies. But we will be working a lot closer with the Prefects, who will be responsible for discipline and orderliness at these events and any other related activities. Although we are like two different departments, I'm sure after our summer together, and if we keep talking, we will make things run a lot smoother this year."

"Of course we will!" The Head Girl this year, a Ravenclaw, gave her full support from her House table. Hannah's blush deepened but continued to talk of the plans and logistics between the two factions.

Everything was going well until a Slytherin senior jeered, "Why's that little girl in charge? Isn't she just fourth year? If she's overseeing everyone, and we seniors are involved, shouldn't there be another election this year so we don't get landed with someone as questionable as Longbottom?"

Neville wanted to kill the guy for trying to ruin whatever little confidence Hannah was building up – but it seemed Draco went ahead with it. Before anyone could reach for their wands, Draco had already pulled his gun, and pressed the trigger. The room was stunned into shocking silence as the flash of blue light sped like a bullet into the chest of the Slytherin, who was sent flying into the back wall. The Slytherin sat back up, but looking extremely disorientated. Upon seeing his own hand, he started beating himself over the head as if he had the intelligence of a chimp.

"Who was that? Who shot a curse at him?" One of the Slytherin's pals questioned.

"D-didn't that sound like a gunshot?" A Muggleborn asked.

"I thought Muggle technology doesn't work in Hogwarts."

Unlike others who had missed it, Neville shared a look with Draco, knowing it was that handgun of his. McGonagall was apoplectic. "Draco Malfoy! How _dare_ you curse another student right in front of everyone in public?"

_Is it ok to do it in private then? Well, that slime had it coming with how he undermined Hannah. McGonagall would probably have overlooked it if it wasn't for this being conducted so blatantly…_

Draco forged innocence, and began to elaborately draw his wand from inside his robes, making it look as difficult as possible. "But Professor. I did not curse him with my wand. As you can see, it takes me quite a while to get to it. I can swear a wizard's oath that I haven't pulled my wand until now."

Although McGonagall had seen something coming from Draco, it happened so quickly that not many were able to see the spell being fired by the gun. Most of Draco's gun body was also hidden inside his robes when he took the shot. In addition, those in Hufflepuff who had see it probably turned a blind eye because of Hannah.

At this moment, Hannah gathered up her courage again to try and take the spotlight off from Draco. "I-I know no one voted me in! And I know there are a lot of people more capable than me – but my position is still challengeable. I will be standing in for the start of the year to get the Council going, and including the Council President and Vice President, there will be two Council representatives from each House, voted within the students of the House themselves very soon. The eight elected students will still be in control by the students, both standing for their own House and the school."

"Very concise explanation Miss Abbott," Dumbledore spoke up, signalling the end of this small revolt, giving her full support. "The President and Vice President, then chosen within the Council members themselves, must never be from the same house, meaning the Council will always remain democratic. As a presidential candidate, Miss Abbott had been a founding member of the Council, served the school with loyal integrity through the years, and have complete devotion to the Council's cause. I personally could not think of a more suitable member for the role in the entire school."

Dumbledore actually looked at Pansy Parkinson for a moment, which was saying a lot for what he thought of what she did last year.

"…The Council, and personally myself, will try my hardest to try and help every student the best we can this upcoming year! I promise it!" Hannah finished her speech with a very typical Hufflepuff statement, and her House cheered the loudest as the traumatised girl returned to her seat next to Draco.

_All this will only make her grow into a stronger person._

Neville thought to himself as he watched Hannah's friends congratulate her. Even though her face was in her typical deep shade of red, he could see that her smile was not just brought on by the relief of sitting back down again. At this moment, she turned her face to look at him. He smiled back, giving her an encouraging nod.

"I knew you can do it," Neville mouthed, not really sure if she could understand.

"Thank you." The smile Hannah returned to Neville helped him understand what her lips had said, where his gaze stayed for a while, unaware of the chattering at the Gryffindor table around him.

"I knew you couldn't keep yourself from the feast." Ron said from across the table, seeing Hermione with a fork in her hand. "There's still some pudding over there!"

"No, this isn't my fork. This was just knocked over onto the ground." Hermione explained absently, setting the fork back beside her and the unaware owner.

As the Great Hall settled down, Dumbledore spoke again.

"As Miss Abbott has mentioned, a tremendous International event will be held at Hogwarts this year that would no doubt require the help of all of us staffs, the Prefects, and the Student Council. This year, the Triwizard Tournament will be revived at Hogwarts!"

"You're JOKING!"

"I am _not_ joking, Mr Weasley. The Triwizard Tournament has been a long tradition between Hogwarts and the other two largest schools of wizardry in Europe – Beauxbatons and Drumstrang. It has been agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities in friendly competition with each other. That was, until the Tournament was discontinued due to the high death toll. Many attempts have been tried at reinstating the event, but this year, despite the unfortunate case regarding Mr Bagman, Hogwarts was given the high honour of finally rekindling this age old tradition!

"In order to minimalize the potential for mortal peril, a couple of small changes were made to the original rules, agreed by each of the Heads of schools and the Ministries of each country. The rule of one Champion being chosen from each school shall be increased to three, as the namesake of the Tournament allows. The magical tasks that were originally thrust upon only the individual Champions shall be changed to accommodate that. Each task will now be designed to be undertaken by all three Champions of that school together as a group. By teamwork, the dangers of each task shall be reduced, while also promoting the importance of collaboration. After all, it is very reasonable to find it unfair for a whole school of students to be represented by a single individual.

"The Champions shall be chosen by an impartial judge as per tradition. We had previously planned to put an age limit on applicants, but decided since the impartial judge would only choose the best of the candidates, there would be no reasons for an unqualified candidate to be selected. This means any student in this hall right now, even the first years which were sorted today, could put their names forward to be chosen. Of course, please keep in mind the chances any first years would be chosen will of course be quite slim. The winning team of the Triwizard Cup will not only be awarded the glory of their school, but also a thousand Galleons personal prize money.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Drumstrang are expected to arrive in October, remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts Champions who will be chosen. As now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

Neville breathed another sigh of relief as he gave Dumbledore a nod. _That old goat finally did something right from what I'd told him last year! Harry's personality change into an emo kid started with him being alienated for being a Champion. The first rule meant more than one person can be chosen, so no one would complain if there was a second Champion. Also, the second rule meant he is fully entitled to be chosen by the Goblet of Fire. Even in the books, if the Goblet had really done as it was specified, even if underaged wizards put their names in, they shouldn't be chosen anyway! Anyway… Understandably, Crouch is no longer impersonating as Moody, but who knew what will befall Harry before he was captured?_

Just as Neville was congratulating himself on keeping at least Harry's personality for the better, the doors to the Great Hall swung open before the students can stand up.

As if from the clap of lightning, a witch was sent down from the skies to pose between the doorwary. All the teenage boys in the Hall just gapped as the witch clicked down between the House tables on her black heels, echoing to a much slower pace than the boys' heartbeats. Long, firm legs ran up to a short one-piece robe that squeezed tightly on her shapely figure. A low cut down the middle of her chest showed a thin white blouse, with a cheeky black power tie between her prominent cleavage. During her catwalk, the witch flicked her hair back, and even the raindrops from outside had coupled with perfection to add to her tide of wavy black tresses. Her gaze was fixed towards the staff table though, and on a seductive lick of her lips, a few boys really fainted.

"Professor Dumbledore!" A deep and sensual voice was lapped up by all the male ears in the room, all wishing they were Dumbledore at that moment. "Much apologies for my tardiness."

"It is quite alright Evelyn," Dumbledore greeted the witch, who was obviously used to being the centre of attention whenever she walked into a room. "I must again thank you again for taking up the position at such short notice."

"No, I must thank you for the opportunity, and I'd always wanted to return to Hogwarts for a visit." After saying that, she turned to the most unbelievable person the schoolboys would have thought to rival for the beauty's attention. "Snapey! It's been a while!"

As everyone was hanging onto the new professor's every word, the whole student body, and staff, eerily turned their heads in unison to look at the completely flustered Potions Master. Sinistra's face was exceptionally comical as her big eyes threatened to let out a waterfall of Snape's worst nightmare, depending on how he was going to respond.

Snape managed to choke out, without even glancing at the woman. "Oh. So it is you. I never would've thought. Well, the feast is over. Most unfortunate for you to have missed it."

Neville could literally see Snape's Occlumency shield at maximum against the witch. Without any hint of magic, her following verbal reply obliterated his shield into miniscule shards. "Yes, maybe you can treat me to a _meal_ later, like the good old times."

With the direction of her gaze, the way she was licking her lips, and the husky intonation, only the most innocent did not understand the proposed meal did not involve food. McGonagall looked so appalled, she was almost physically sick. Flitwick on the other hand just looked enviously up at Snape as if he was going to try and style his own hair greasy starting tomorrow.

"Did you have dinner with her before, Professor Snape?" Sinistra asked in true Sinistra obliviousness.

"Ahem!" Dumbledore cleared his throat, answering to Snape's silent pleads for help.

It seemed the Headmaster had picked up a rebellious teacher however as the witched turned to Sinistra with a giggle, "Are you Snapey's new plaything? Is he just as untamed and wild as I remembered him?"

A lot of students' brains had mentally overloaded, splattering into a metaphorical mess all over the Hall like the most brutal crime scene. Sinistra just took a step back, shaking her head unbelievably at the hyperventilating Snape. "P-professor Snape! I-I never thought y-you were… just thinking I was… a plaything…"

"I didn't say it, she did –"

"And to think I'd let you – let you – use your hands to – Oh!" Sinistra ran out of the Hall after that very ambiguous message, covering her face. Frankly, not many students were left with enough consciousness at the history-revoking exposé on Snape tonight.

"Even if it was your first time, I agree you were very talented with your hands." Adding fuel to the fire, the witch caused an explosion that even blew the staffs away. Even Dumbledore was rendered back onto his seat.

"I never touched Sinistra! She almost fell into a cauldron of brewing potion during summer, and I just caught her before she fell in!" Snape gave the very believable, and to his credit probably true, claim that fell to very few listening ears.

Filtwick was the only one 'brave' enough to comment, "You only said Professor Sinistra."

"I do not have to take this!" Snape was literally frothing at the mouth, cursing all the way on the Apparition ban placed inside Hogwarts.

Dumbledore finally managed to regain some composure, standing again to tell the students. "Well. Students. This will be your new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher, Evelyn Fox."

Needless to say, it took a very long time before all the students managed to stumble back to their dorms that night.

0

0

0

"I still can't believe it." Ron repeated, cereal and milk dripping down the side of his mouth.

"Although I've been having headaches since the start of summer, I really don't think it had to do with my scar last night." Harry looked quite worst for wear as well.

Despite the school-shocking event last night, Neville was not in a thoughtful silence this morning because of that. Harry revealing casually last night that he had been suffering from headaches, probably from his connection to Voldemort, meant that Voldemort's plans must still be in motion. Despite Harry saying it was not that bad, and probably really less severe than the books, Neville deducted it was just due to Harry being happy, living with Sirius. With Barty Crouch and Pettigrew still at large, Neville nor Dumbledore would know what sort of new plans were in the making for Voldemort to reclaim his body this year.

As much as he would like to joke, or throw up in a corner, regarding Snape's personal affairs, Neville had momentarily forgotten last night to stay on alert. Mad-Eye would have been disappointed that after having mistook Draco as the new Defence teacher, when the actual one arrived, Neville had not been on constant vigilance.

_Even if she was in the form of some sort of Dark Veela._

"I understand Snape, but Sinistra isn't on the staff tables today either," Hermione observed, resuming her meals, having said that she had thought of a better way to represent house elf rights. _SPEW is imminent. _

"Neither is that bombshell from yesterday," Ron commented on an aspect that interested him more.

Hermione slapped him on the arm a few times, "That woman is old enough to be your mother."

"Mid-thirties at max," Harry gave his professional opinion. "Sirius gave me a crash course on telling women's age this summer."

One McGonagall imitation from Hermione later, Harry learnt Sirius's lessons to him were best kept for guy times. Hermione turned to Neville, daring him to make a comment for her to shoot down. "What do you have to say Neville?"

"What? Sorry, I wasn't listening." Neville truthfully answered.

"I just knew you are the most perverted one out of you three! You were just thinking dirty things about Professor Fox, weren't you?" Hermione looked ready to hit him on the head with an encyclopaedia, and Neville immediately jumped up to get away from her.

Feeling a softness around the back of his neck, a smell of perfume, and Hermione's eyes blowing fire like two Firawyrms. Neville had more pressing matters to attend to however, and activated his Occlumency shields. He knew he had no little tails for this witch to catch, and he was confident his mental shields could withstand any magic attacks.

"Professor Fox, I apologise for crashing into you in my moment of carelessness." Neville said as he was turning around, about to scrutinize the unexpected character's face for any cracks that could betray any information.

Neville's half turned face was pressed into two moulds of marshmallows before he could set eyes on the woman. "Oh! Just look at what a _cutie_ we have here!"

"W-wait! Unhand me!" Neville fumbled, wondering if this was a justified situation to arm himself with a wand.

"You're that Algie Longbottom's relative they talked about in the papers, right? You look nothing like what I'd imagined." Fox finally let go of him before he suffocated in her blouse, and Neville quickly took his distance from the dangerous witch.

_Snape never told me Occlumency shields could be attacked so effectively without Legilimency or magic! Then again, he fell for it last night too. Good thing I managed to keep my shields up with experiences of maintaining it during battles._

Making a note to owl his great-uncle, Rita, wizarding private-eye agencies, and to arrange a private talk with Snape, Neville was determined to find out all the dirt he could attached to the name "Evelyn Fox". Any unlisted character from the books required attention, especially one who replaced a significant role.

"I would appreciate not having physical contact where possible, Professor Fox." Neville's words invoked quite some raging glares from other guys at the table, who muttered about how he was ungrateful of his stroke of early luck.

"But what about lessons? It'll make it difficult otherwise to teach you about the curses and counter-charms I planned in my syllabus, right?" The witch chuckled to herself, hiding it behind her well-manicured hand.

"That would be the only time it is acceptable." Neville posed his arm as to snap out his wand at a moment's notice.

"Very well. I look forward to our first lesson on Thursday, little Neville." A chill ran right up his spine as if someone had struck his back with an icicle of Gubraithian Ice.

Neville narrowed her eyes at the curvy figure, swaying her hips as she walked away towards the staff table. He wondered what sort of trap he had been led into. He turned to grab a piece of toast before heading to the Owlery, but got the cover of a hardback slammed on his forehead.

"That's for flirting with a teacher! The shame!" Hermione huffed and left the Hall, followed by a disgruntled Harry and Ron.

"Some guys just get all the luck," Ron rolled his eyes.

Feeling how Snape did last night, Neville exclaimed helplessly, "How was that flirting?"

0

0

0

A/N: As the title suggests, this chapter was very entertaining to write. I almost thought I was writing a crack fic for a moment. Hopefully this hasn't completely put you off this story. I have my ratings up there for a reason, and considering this is now the teenage years, all holds are gone. At least, a large majority of them. By the way, some of the Welcoming Feast is copied from the book – haven't done that in a while.


	78. Book 4 Chapter 7

Synopsis: The Welcoming Feast was eventful as always. Hannah made her first successful Presidential speech, unlike Neville's terms, having Dumbledore's fully support. Dumbledore also revealed the Triwizard Tournament like the books, but explained the differences to the rules, thanked to Neville's meddling for contingencies. Just before the students went back to their dorms, the new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher arrived, stunning (bad pun intended) the school with her mysterious past with Snape. The master Occlumens was completely defeated, and Evelyn Fox even ruined whatever it was going on between Sinistra and him. How would Neville deal with this off-the-list suspicious teacher?

Chapter 77 – Most of First Week

"Seriously Ron, did you have to hit so hard?" Neville complained, rubbing his arm. The Trio and him were walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I didn't even use _Forte_!" Ron, the big oaf, tried to defend himself.

"I don't have magically enhanced strength, but see if you like it if I hit you with a stick! Who'd have thought Bartitsu had stick fighting in it?" Neville exclaimed.

Harry muttered, "You're one to talk, breaking my glasses."

It was Neville's turn to be on the defensive. "I fixed it for you though."

"Okay, okay. All of you have improved a lot over the summer." Hermione was the one who came in and acted the mediator. They had been out having a small exercise by their usual spot by the Lake after classes, and Neville was truthfully quite amazed at the progress Harry and Ron had made. _Damn that main characters halo!_

Ron went on to accept Hermione's compliment with his puffed-out chest while Neville spotted a strange sight down the corridors.

Although there were no traps in his bed, even Dean and Seamus's tones seemed a bit more distant than before due to his pureblood-fanatic-phase last year. Neville could have said no one found out on the train because of the Ageing Potion, but he was very surprised anyone spoke to Draco at all.

"… I regret it to this day, what I've done to young Jeremy last year. I had a heart to heart with the smart, sweet, little boy last night, and he had generously forgiven me for all the misdeeds I have committed. I just hope my father can understand…"

"Oh Draco! I never knew you had so many burdens!" The blonde Hufflepuff senior even gave a sniff, reaching for her handkerchief.

Draco had a tear to his eye that he was 'inconspicuously' trying to wipe off. "The burdens are so heavy sometimes… But I can withstand them on my own. I can."

"Oh you are so misunderstood!" The Hufflepuff girl threw her arms over Draco's shoulders and embraced him. "I'm so sorry I said you can't sit with us. I'm so sorry Draco!"

"It is fine, you don't need to…" Draco noticed Neville's group at that moment over the girls' back, and grinned in greeting.

"No, I insist. Please come and sit with us for dinner! Our table is your table! I'll stand up for you!" Neville wondered if the Hufflepuff would still say that when Draco gave him a cheeky wink, much to Ron's disgust.

"Thank you Joanne. Thank you so much – you are such a darling. I have to speak to Neville for a moment. There are so many amends I must make to him." Draco said with a lingering hold on the girl's hand, an expression of deep sorrow worn on his face now that the girl had her eyes on him again.

The girl pulled herself together when she realised they had an audience, and gripped Draco's hand firmly with both of hers. "Remember to come sit next to us, okay? Remember! Don't go back to those mean Slytherins who don't understand you!"

"I will Joanna. I will. Thank you so much, you kind kind-hearted girl." Draco waved the girl off down the corridor.

Harry approached his back with a frown, "I never thought you'd sink to this level Malfoy. Trying to beg sympathy points?"

Draco, no trace of tears, donning a smirk that made the Trio want to punch him, just laughed. "I don't expect you to understand Potter. Will you care to explain Neville?"

"Acting anything but the weak guy will get Draco nowhere if he wants to socially fit back into any kind of a normal school life. Slytherins are filled with pureblood families that won't give him the time of day, or worst now without his father's support, therefore he has to get support from other Houses."

Draco shook his head, "Actually, I was just going to ask you to explain to him I didn't get a chance to sample Hogwart's collection of hot chicks thanks to getting stuck with Pansy the whole year last year. There is nothing called shame if it lands you the girl in the end Potter. That's a free bit of advice."

Hermione gave Neville a look, "Really. Why do you hang around with him?"

Ron didn't even have a retort, "Let's just go."

The Trio left and Neville sighed. He did not care about people playing around as long as it was a two-way thing and nothing got serious – no one could possibly think Draco was serious about anything with his image now. Although Draco said that to drive away the Trio, he was still unconvinced that Draco was not using his playboy powers as a necessity than a pastime.

"I'm just glad you haven't been violated last night down at the Slytherin dungeons." Neville said, seeing no hidden bruises so far on Draco.

"There are so many numbskulls in Slytherin that I'd never admitted to having before. Those who are smart, they probably don't see the point in antagonising me. Crabbe and Goyle however, turned to try and bite me the moment we got back." Draco pulled out his Beretta again and gave it a kiss. "Foolish to the bone after seeing what I did in the Great Hall – now that I think about it, maybe I should get a silencer for my baby."

"What was that by the way? Last night? This gun…" Neville asked, hoping that gun was healthier than those lollipops last year.

"It's a piece of magical artefact I found when strolling around an auction one day; was selling my own wares," Draco said in an offhanded tone as if it was a flower he plucked from his back garden. He proceeded to pull out something from his robes pocket, and opened his palm for Neville to see. It was a handful of bullets, each looking quite ordinary apart from the runes and symbols on them, obviously magical. "Apparently these guns were all the craze one time in America – when there were cowboys and the Wild Wild West and all that. Wizards cast and store spells inside these bullets, and then sells them. I heard it's very illegal to do that now after this secrecy law they passed over there, and that's why I still haven't found out the exact procedures on how to manufacture these myself. Then again, American being what it is, these bullets and charmed firearms can still be purchased for the right price from the right people."

"Why do you never deal with things from the light side?" Neville grumbled.

"But I do! I've gotten very much into artefacts – now part of my main business and all – so I've become something of a collector." Again reaching into his robes, he pulled out a much disfigured hand. "This is called the Hand of Glory. It gives only its user light inside any dark place. Came in awfully handy when exploring those old Indian burial grounds where they'd set traps that activated in contact with any light source."

At this reminder of the books, Neville rubbed his chin. "You do have a thing for trinkets don't you?"

"Hey! I don't go insulting your Hoglake business as nothing but, literally, child's play!" Draco stashed his weapons again with a snort. "People over the pond call me one of the most talented tomb raiders in a century!"

"Actually, I was wondering if you can help me identify some artefacts. I'll give you part of what you've identified – it'd also be a good challenge for you." Neville found again another talent with the never-vanishing task that Sirius left last year. The pile of goods he raided from Filch's drawers and the Room of Hidden Things could still have a few treasures buried amongst them. If the book's underdeveloped Draco could fix a vanishing cabinet on his own, Neville figured he must have an affinity for this kind of thing.

0

0

0

"How are we ever going to pass this project this year?" Hannah growled, and Neville could give no retorts from the glares the other Hufflepuffs were giving him. Not to mention the drenched Gryffindors as well, all of them trudging away from their Herbology lesson.

Neville still grumbled, nursing his head, "You still didn't have to throw a hand spade at me."

Ernie McMillan, walking beside them like everyone else from their Herbology lesson, exclaimed in Hannah's defence, "You made the Shilash Tree fling its fruits over at the Gyeserias we all just re-potted, which together drowned most of the greenhouse in pus! You actually made Professor Sprout cry!"

"Well no one told me that trees can get drunk from a little over-watering," Neville mumbled.

"That was the first thing the Professor told us when we went into the greenhouse!" Hannah was still in her Herbology mode, which Neville had hope would wear off when they reached the castle, turning her back to the harmless Bruce Banner again.

"Well don't worry about the project Hannah. You should be glad we're partnered together again. I know at least five people in the Ministry who can help us with that hybrid plant project. Finding the plant's parents, its uses, and behaviours will be a snap if only I owl –"

"You can't cheat!" Hermione screamed, moving in on Neville as if she was going to pull his ear.

Hannah was a bit more tamed, but still looked ready to pinch his arm, "It's a year-long project. Even if you can write the best essay, we still have to keep that plant _alive_! Any self-aware plant in that greenhouse cowers in fear the moment you walk in."

"Then you can take care of that part," Neville said, sparking the gunpowder again.

"It's a joint project Neville!" He should never have thought that suggesting the idea would be possible considering her determination in getting a pass out of him, somehow, since first year. "You come back here!"

Neville fled back into the castle through a second floor window with Floating Magic. He could find a better time later to speak to her about the Council. Though he was not the President, he still had an interest to know how it was going before the final handover – there were Gryffindor and Slytherin representatives to be chosen after all. Rounding a corner, he almost bumped into Cho and Luna, heading towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hi President!" Luan chirped.

"I told you, you really can't call me that anymore." Neville repeated again, but not really giving it much hope. He turned to Cho, "I got an owl from Old Al this morning. There was a problem with one of the enchanted parts for the newest board version of Hoglake we release a few weeks back. Can you negotiate with that Swiss supplier to solve the problem?"

Old Al's letter did not uncover any dirt on Evelyn Fox though, with his great uncle apparently never having heard of her. Just as Neville was about to discuss more with Cho about the Hoglake Shop business, Cho stopped him with a hand to his face. "Ah-hem! If I recall, my personal assistant role stopped at the end of summer! I'm a robes designer, remember? That was how you conned me into that job in the first place!"

"Oh. Right. Totally slipped my mind," Neville lowered his head. "Truthfully I'm a bit disappointed. You were a great help."

Cho gave a start at seeing Neville's honest reaction. With a bite of her lower lip though, she crossed her arm, showing off that slim waist of her with that feminine S-shape pose. She said with a pout, "I recall someone has still to apologise for dumping me with random strangers at the World Cup."

"I had to –"

"You abandoned me!" Cho cut him off mercilessly, but then took a step into Neville's personal space. Neville was all too aware of the wall behind him as he felt her breath against his ear, "I _may_ think about forgiving you, and helping you out with more Hoglake Shop business – under a certain condition."

Neville gulped, now understanding how Snape felt about this cursed Apparition ban inside Hogwarts.

0

0

0

"What?" Hannah exclaimed, "But the Indian casinos have the most stringent spells on cheaters! If their wards caught any gamblers trying to cheat, it's not just a simple matter of losing your fingers!"

Draco's eyes lit up in a way that an otaku would at the sight of anime, "Did you go to Big Chief's last year too? What about the Golden Arrow? I completely hated the Muha Muha though – I swear that place rolls a zero on the roulette once every ten times!"

Hannah did his best to give Draco a smile and Su just shook her head asking, "America is a strange place isn't it?"

"I don't think it's anything to do with America, or Indian casinos… Just Draco…" Hannah nodded faintly in agreement to Neville's comment as Draco continued to rant on.

"Can we get back to the topic about these events?" Neville sighed, leaning against his office chair inside the Council's office. Drinking coffee from his usual mug, he went on to lay his plan on the table. "Cho Chang had proposed for a cat walk show for the Fashion Club, which would mostly be staged and prepared by the club themselves. They needed a motivation, to attract new members, and get public opinions on some of their lines. Is it a yay or nay?"

"Cho? Sure, anything for her. She taught me a lot of flying skills." Su was the first one to agree.

Draco was a bit more professional, "It won't take too much of the Council's time. We have to organise the Hall, but that can be just after dinner one day, possibly on a Sunday. They can start prep through the weekend."

Hannah brought out the calendar to see an available slot, "We'll have to liaison with the Prefects first of course. Are they going to publicise this themselves?"

"Yeah, they'll make posters or whatever, but they did ask us for a favour to see if anyone from Slytherin was interested in helping them as a catwalk model. So many of them have all the, what I call, 'pretty genes' after all." Neville looked towards Alan Harper and Vincent Urquhart. "Can you two see if you can get anything? If not, it's no biggie."

"It shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just one question though," Vincent said in a controlled voice, and then bellowed in confusion, "Why the heck are you two even here?"

Neville and Draco looked at each other, and then around the room. Neville gave an embarrassed laugh and stood up, "Sorry guys, sorry. I was just here pitching the event the Fashion Club wanted. Was also curious to know who took over our places after all. Anyway, nice pick up Vincent, you have a bright future ahead of ya!"

Vincent Urquhart was a Slytherin who Alan had managed to recruit as the new Council's Slytherin representative. He was Alan's dorm mate and was apparently the one who introduced him to Quidditch, rumoured to be some sort of Quidditch prodigy.

"Bye Neville!" Dennis frantically waved his arm as if he was testing to see if it would fall off. The over-zealous first year charmed all of the Gryffindors to vote him into the Council, and Ginny seemed to appreciate his spunkiness.

"At least you had a reason coming here, but please take _that_ along with you." Ginny pointed at Draco, who was still lazily hanging with two legs of a chair, boots on his old desk.

Draco forged being hurt, holding his heart jokingly, "Oh little Weasly, you don't have to be so jealous. Do you want me to hit on you too – just keep it a secret from that pretty little brunette you were with earlier today."

"He's out of here! He's out of here!" Neville levitated Draco out of the Council office with this chair when Ginny's Bat-Boogie Curse narrowly sailed over Draco's head.

"Too early eh?" Draco shrugged as the two boys walked down the corridor.

"You plan to re-join the Council?" Neville asked, a bit surprised, interpreting his friend's bold intentions.

"Don't know, maybe it would help me score some chicks in the process." Draco looked nonchalant, but Neville knew there was something sentimentally deeper under his façade. Draco was an efficient and smart asset to the Council, also being able to help out the straight-arrow Hannah if he re-joined, but it would be difficult considering he took on a majority of the blame regarding last year.

Not needing to go into it, Neville just allowed Draco to work hard at his own personal goals, changing the topic, "Have you seen Snape at all? He hasn't been in the Great Hall for meals at all after the Welcoming Feast. I don't want to go into Potions on Friday to find something unpleasant."

Draco shrugged, "Others have seen him, but with Sinistra on a mental breakdown this whole week, I don't think he'll be in a good mood anyway."

"True. I heard from a Ravenclaw Sinistra pointed at a girl's earring and said it was the seventh moon of Pluto."

"That wasn't the worst. I heard she used a baguette as a telescope." Draco quickly sniggered at another thought though, "But the culprit of what's happening to those two? _Damn_ she's got a pair of fine legs."

After utilising all his resources, apart from Snape, Neville still did not find anything regarding Evelyn Fox in the wizarding world. Someone without a history was even more dangerous. He decided to try Snape before heading to Dumbledore, even if asking the old goat would feel like admitting defeat.

Neville absently asked, not trusting a headmaster who hired Voldemort as his first year teacher, "Have you picked up anything unnatural about her?"

Draco gave him a look, "Where have you been looking if you haven't picked up those headlights?"

Neville groaned, "I meant during her lesson with the Slytherins!"

Draco's face visibly darkened at the mention. "By the way, I think we've waited long enough. How are we going to get revenge on Parkinson?"

Not really knowing what Pansy Parkinson did in Draco's Defence class to try and upstage him, Neville ruminated on the notion. They were both completely screwed over by her last year: Neville had put the blame on the older generation behind it though, while Draco was obviously trying to focus on Parkinson, a much simpler target than his father.

Neville sighed, "I want her to be taught a lesson as well, but I don't know how to go about it. I may be able to break someone's limbs, but when it comes to bullying a little girl, I'm still a bit out of my comfort zone."

"She's a bitch personified," Draco hissed. "I'll just see what I can come up with. Shame you don't have any good ideas."

"You sound like I'm Peeves or something!" Neville protested.

At that, the two boys agreed they could hire the perfect agent to manage their revenge plans.

0

0

0

Pansy Parkinson was trembling with all her strength not to cry as she sat down at the Slytherin table, once again scattering everyone around her as if a comet had landed. Her hair was a mess, her robes were in tatters, her face was scribbled in permanent ink, and that foul smell was the icing on the cake.

"Isn't it… a bit…" Hannah's good-heartedness was showing up again, considering the humiliation Pansy put upon her last year, but even Neville was starting to think about pulling off Peeves after this first day.

"She tried to make you eat dirt Hannah," Draco said on the other side of Hannah. Neville was reminded of the scene in the courtyard, and snapped his fingers almost as a reaction at the recollection.

Pansy decided to finish her food as quickly as possible in the Great Hall to avoid any more disgrace, already having pulled three plates of food in front of her. When her fork passed what looked like an egg into her mouth, she let out a shriek upon its contact with her tongue, fled the Hall with her hand over her mouth, which was not doing much to block the vomit. Who knew what Peeves had replaced that egg for.

McGonagall slammed her fist on the table and marched over to Neville's seat at the Hufflepuff table. "Mr Longbottom! I think enough is enough!"

"This is only my second hot dog professor," Neville said, gesturing to his lunch.

"I mean Peeves!" McGonagall's lips looked thin enough to cut paper. "I'd sent the Bloody Baron already, but Peeves still refused to stop his pranks! There is only one person in this school Peeves is scared of more than the Baron, and everyone knows full well who that is!"

As if wanting credit as well, Draco chuckled with a smile as if McGonagall had told a joke. "I'm sure Peeves had just stumbled upon a stash of pranks, and is trying them out. After all, his pranks this time involved so many different items, like that head-gnawing flying piranha pack – oh, let's not forget that ring turning her into a skunk."

"If I find out who was leaving those dangerous items around, I will make sure he gets an expulsion from Hogwarts!" McGonagall threw them the ultimatum, metaphorically.

"The Weasley twins should pack their bags then." Draco was a Slytherin after all. Neville never expected him to leave tracks, and it was expected that any tracks left would be purposely led to scrape goats. He never thought Draco had the capacity to identify so many of the artefacts already though.

McGonagall first glared at Draco, then looked ready to curse Neville, lastly looking for help from Dumbledore, which did not come. She stormed out of the Hall before a vein burst from her high blood pressure. Dumbledore's deep frown was not missed by Neville, and some other students seemed to look as if they had regained some moral conscience. Many other students still remembered some of the things Pansy had personally done to them last year though: the smart ones knew although Draco was the one who kicked in their doors last year, it was always after they had crossed Pansy and her friends.

Neville's stray glance went over the Gryffindor table. Ron was of course unfazed, but Harry looked as if he was going to act the typical hero again. Heroes always let the bad guys go – only a minority of the bad guys changed their ways. Hermione was just staring back at Neville, tapping the book she borrowed from the library regarding mistreatment of magical creatures, pointedly.

Neville retracted his gaze, seeing Hannah poking unenthusiastically at her food, and sighed. He stood up, saying quite loudly, "I keep saying I'm just a normal student. The deity of this castle is under the control of the headmaster."

Hannah snapped her head up, and gave him a bright smile. Draco frowned, but did not say anything about Neville's gesture. Neville went ahead on his own to the Defence Against Dark Arts classroom. He gradually turned on his full Occlumency shields, to tune his mind and senses to top condition. This was to be his first lesson with Fox, and he wanted to gather as much information as he could.

_I know I'll never be as squeaky clean as Harry, but there are times when I see Hannah, and I feel like I want to do something more upstanding. Being with Draco though, I understood exactly his way of thinking, and I could not fully deny the logic. Justice was like love in a way – don't try and explain rights and wrongs, it'd only hurt your head. _

He saw Hermione, and the Trio, walking towards him as he waited for class to start outside the classroom. Hermione smilingly patted him on the shoulder, "I'm proud of what you did, to a certain extent."

"Then at least you could've brought me out some food," Neville grumbled. "I only had two hot dogs."

"Alright class! Let's begin, shall we?" A voice that sounded like music to the boys', apart from Neville, ears came with an Unlocking Charm. The Gryffindors piled into the classroom before Fox, the boys grabbing all the front role seats, much contrary to the other classes.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Boys."

Neville sat beside her, his Occlumency preventing him from shaking his head at Ron's immaturity. Forgetting how Ron had proclaimed himself Neville's rival last year, Neville also followed his gaze to Fox, trotting into the room. She had not bothered Neville again after the breakfast on Monday, not even glancing at him despite eating in the Great Hall all these times.

"Alright class! I've read the notes left over regarding your progress, and it seemed you have covered a lot regarding Dark Creatures. As today is the first lesson, why don't we do some revision?"

The girls, apart from Hermione, groaned. The boys usually would have groaned louder at the notion, but they were just dreamily resting their heads on their hands today. Neville did not let his eyes stray from Fox either, as she randomly quizzed the students on various Dark Creatures, studying her every gesture and pose to see if he could find any weakness or give-away.

_I don't know about wandlore, so I can't tell if that wand of hers is inclined to which branch of magic. Her clothes were clean, new, and looked the style of a high office witch who worked at the Ministry. Harry was probably right about her age. I was never good at accents, but she's probably natively English._

"Mr Longbottom, if you would kindly stop staring at my breasts, can you please come out for a demonstration?" Neville did not miss a syllable from Fox, and neither did she address him until now. _Maybe my gaze was a bit penetrating after all – why are you laughing Dean? You were practically undressing her with your eyes!_

"All due respect. I was merely listening intently." Neville said as he walked to the front of the class, giving evidence, "You were just asking Lavender how to spot a Hinkypunk."

"I wasn't chastising you Neville. I understand how teenage boys your age are. You don't have to restrain yourself." Seamus's face was so red in comparison to Neville's neutral, Neville was surprised he was not receiving sunburn from his face.

_Her voice was indeed seductive. Using her womanly weapons to perfection, even more dangerous than Ms Rosier. Ms Rosier was only a gold-digger, but what other profession required this level of seduction? Was there an equivalent of a wizarding spy? An Unspeakable? _

"What demonstration would I be required to aid you in?" Neville asked, voice even and eyes searching for any props the woman had with her. The large cabinet behind her caught his eyes.

Fox grinned, "Not a demonstration Neville. And you said you were listening, naughty boy. I am going to quiz you on what you have learnt, and this is a practical quiz."

He would have had no time to prepare at all if he was an ordinary student, but with his full attention on her, Fox's wave of the wand was no threat. Not to mention her spell was not directed at him, but at the cabinet. Expecting a blood-thirsty Cerberus, he was disappointed at a quivering blob of shifting grey goo. It looked as if it was trying to make ten different shapes at the same time, and changing texture and colours while it struggled to decide on a form.

"_Riddikulus_." The blob twisted, wringing itself like a towel, and then banished itself back into the cabinet, closing the door. "Yes, we have covered the Boggart, Professor Fox."

The woman showed her teeth when she smiled, "Can you please show the class again Neville, but this time, letting down your Occlumency please?"

"My proficiency in Occlumency blocks any common Boggarts from reading my mind, and assuming a shape. This creature no longer affects me. I'd also performed the _Riddikulus_ spell already as a demonstration to the class."

"I see you are a _naughty boy_ indeed." Fox took a step closer, licking her lips. "I'd seen what a hard time you'd given to poor Professor McGonagall as well. I have been in school as well, and students cannot be allowed to be this unruly towards their professors. I will have to ask you to come here for detention tonight."

From the husky voice Fox had purred those words out with, any boy would gladly stand in for Neville's 'detention' tonight. Unfortunately for them, he would not mind spending a little more individual time to get to know this teacher.

0

0

0

"McGonagall?" Neville frowned.

"That's _Professor_ McGonagall!" Neville was quite puzzled regarding the absence of Fox at his detention. "Sit down Neville."

Taking the seat across the table, McGonagall passed over some tea and biscuits. With what happened at lunch today, he really doubted McGonagall was here to convince Fox to let him off after catching wind of his detention.

Taking a sip from the tea, Neville asked, "I assume Fox's passed the detention onto you. May I ask what this detention would be?"

McGonagall failed to hide her rare cat-with-cream smile behind her tea cup, which Neville had not seen since their little duel at the end of last year. "I heard you refused one of _Professor_ Fox's instructions during her class?"

Letting down his Occlumency down in front of the prime example of 'lawful good' alignment, who he had known for years, Neville sighed. "It was a Boggart. We've covered the creature. I don't like making a habit of letting people see my worst fears."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows, "I understanding the headmaster and you had developed some sort of partnership through summer, but never forget you are still a student of Hogwarts. When you are in this castle, you will be under the jurisdiction of professors, and prefects. The first week has yet to pass, but you have already conducted yourself as if you were the owner of this castle! I am disappointed in your lack of efforts in maintaining a low profile, in comparison to how you hide out from the media outside. I even heard you destroyed half the plants in the greenhouse earlier during your first Herbology lesson! Professor Pomona was most distressed."

Neville sighed in exasperation, "I didn't mean it! It's not the first day she knows I'm not good at Herbology! Why is that even a compulsory subject anyway?"

Neville was about to continue lecturing, but a tingle spread across his stomach. McGonagall frowned as she saw Neville's hand reaching for his stomach. "I doubt manual labour, or writing some lines, will not serve as an appropriate punishment to let you rethink your attitude, so you don't need to play upon an imaginary illness!"

Neville did not feel pain as such. He just felt as if there were suddenly little pockets of bubbles inside his body, the biggest one inside his stomach. It felt as if they were all gradually expanding, as if being pumped helium. He gritted his teeth when he saw his arms were physically growing bigger. "I-it was the tea? The tea was spiked?"

McGonagall's frown only raised due to her surprise, but she was more examining than searching when she seize the Neville's tea cup and casted a revealing spell. "I see… I had wanted to make you understand the reason why I have allowed this unorthodox punishment, but I see you've made Professor Fox quite mad indeed."

"You just helped Fox to distract me and fed me poison?" Neville yelled incredulously and lounged up, his chair flying backwards. His wand only grazed his fingers before he was disarmed by McGonagall.

"Professor Fox has always been an extemporary Ravenclaw, and I have full trust in her potion making abilities. Though I have no knowledge of which potion she had chosen, or for that matter, even brewed herself, I am sure the potion will cause you no harm."

"No harm?" Neville looked at his hands, now fat stubs of digits. "What do you call this?"

"Oh… I see now…" McGonagall seemed to be more acquainted with the way Fox dealt with her enemies. Frowning and unable to restrain a quick harrumph, she explained "As your Boggart form is common knowledge to the other students anyway, she must have asked what it was. I think she must have put a spin on a potion for malnutrition or an eating disorder in order to achieve this... aesthetic effect."

Remembering the Boggart form the others misinterpreted last year, Neville whispered to himself, "My worst fear is being fat."

"This is troublesome indeed," McGonagall could be seen fighting internally on whether the unauthorised punishment should be retained. "I assume the potion is causing you no pain, though I doubt you will need to eat until the potion wears off. I think it may be best for me to have a chat with Professor Fox about this…"

Neville growled at the office around him, somehow sure that Fox is watching with glee in a hidden corner, "Fox! I'm going to pay you back for this!"

0

0

0

A/N: Just to clarify, Snape isn't really a playboy – though he does attract women with whatever it is he has going on (as early as 1st year's summer if you want evidence).

I have changed the last part regarding McGonagall to reflect her straight and arrow nature, and after many readers commenting against the original. Maybe this is a bit better…


	79. Book 4 Chapter 8

Previously on HPatNL: First weeks were always busy. Draco tried to redefine his image as a playboy, Hannah slowly reorganised the Council, and Neville continued to try and find dirt on Fox. Unfortunately, Fox struck first and with the help of McGonagall, in her disapproval of their bullying of Pansy, the deputy head gave Neville a taste of his own medicine…

Chapter 78 – Dairy of a chubby kid

Neville thought it could not possible be that bad living as a slightly obese kid, and not being able to taste food for a week. He could tolerate sweating profusely at all hours, or running out of breath from climbing a flight of stairs, and even the mouth-watering aromas from the food he had no appetite for.

It was his so-called friends and school mates that were the problem.

"Hey Neville, really, stand next to me for a while. There's this sixth year chick I was trying to impress, and I'll look so much better with you next to me as a contrast." This was Draco.

"Neville! Stand still for a moment and keep your centre of gravity down. I'd always wanted to see how far my strength enhancements can go. You would make the perfect weights!" This was Ron.

"Can we take a trip outside Neville? You make such a bigger shadow than me, I have a few things I want to try out for my research?" Even Harry.

Complaining to Dumbledore did not work, "I know being overweight is not your worst fear Neville, and do you not think what you have done to Miss Parkinson to equally, if not just as cruel?"

"Hey Neville, do that grumpy baby impression again!" Su cackled.

"Stop teasing him Su! Even if he does look like an adorable baby..." Hannah had unwittingly become Su's accomplice, but still managed realise that in time. "Sorry Neville."

The one person who seemed actually supportive was Hermione, "I'd spoke to McGonagall for you – I can't believe she would be in cohorts with something like this! This is mental bullying I tell you! Oh, by the way, please don't go into the Dragon Room until your potion wears off – Norbert definitely won't recognise you and would mistake you for food."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ginny just laughed to a point of tears every time she saw him.

"Longbottom, get out of my dungeon now! I know you're useless _and_ fat now, but get a move on."

"Oh _no_! Not _you_ Snape!" Neville threw down his bag onto the floor, finally breaking. "I'm not taking it from someone who hid in his dungeons all this week since the Feast, and not even daring to give Harry a single glance all through class!"

"That's _Professor_ Snape to you! No wonder Dumbledore thinks you need to be taught a lesson on your attitude!" Snape growled, but seeing the other Gryffindors and Slytherins had left, pointed at the door with his wand to lock it. Now that they were locked in together, he asked, "I do have a shred of sympathy. After all, you have also experienced… Fox's methods. Now. Has Harry… said anything to you – regarding what he's seen at the Feast?"

"He's fine. Ron seems more traumatized by the notion of you having had sex with Fox." Neville went with the straight ball, sending Snape's face red with rage.

"It was just… Voldemort just fell… and Lily had just… the she was… It'd just been a mistake! An irrational, spur-of-the-moment, stupid mistake!"

Seeing the bat being thrown off his element so much, and pent up through his friends' recent treatment of him, Neville could not help but tease, "You always have to watch out for the quiet ones they say. One-night-stands are something people do nowadays – but who would've thought you lost your virginity like that."

"I have nothing to say to you anymore! Nothing! Just tell Harry to see me himself later! Get out of my dungeon!" Snape screamed, looking as if he was going to throw a jar of eyeballs at him.

"Fine fine, I'll tell him. However, I had waited a whole week, the least you can do is answer one question. Who is this Evelyn Fox? None of my sources got anything on her at all. You must know." Neville asked, no longer fazed by Snape's personality over the years of exposure.

Snape irritably shook his head, regretting how he had let this boy get so close to his personal life that the boy was no longer intimidated at all. "You won't find anything under that name of course. It's an alias."

Neville had deducted as much, "What's her real name?"

"I cannot tell you. It was one of her few conditions for employment under Dumbledore. There is also a strong curse put on that magical contract, whereby none of those with the knowledge of her background can tell you until her employment ended. Much like the stupid excuse Lupin gave for not ratting out Black last year."

_At least I've got it confirmed that she's got something to hide. _

Neville went with another approach. "You don't think Fox will cause harm to Harry?"

Snape replied, almost without thinking, "Of course not, do you take the headmaster as a fool?"

"Remember Quirrell in first year?"

"Remember Richmond's in first year?"

0

0

0

"You sure know how to piss people off." Cho said, but keeping her hands busy on her robes design.

Neville wrote on a piece of parchment, _Snape is just a bitch. Perfect for Fox if you ask me._

Reading it quickly, Cho laughed and continued to cut some fabric for the new Quidditch robes in-progress she had on a mannequin.

"By the way, why have you come here?" Cho took a step closer, despite his current state, twirling her finger on his chest. "Is it because you want a bit of my attention now that no other girls want you in fat and mute? Not that anyone takes this as anything more than a Weasley prank as they know this potion wears off."

Neville gave her a deadpan stare and wrote again, _I'd wanted to find a place to sit after climbing those stairs. Plus, I want to get away from Hermione's SPEW spew._

Cho pouted and turned with a harrumph back to her magical mannequin, which struck a few different poses. "Fine, now that you're rested, go then."

Neville showed that he was following her instruction with two knocks to the wooden table. Waving goodbye to Luna and the witches she was working with on another mannequin, he left the clubroom to face the arduous trek up to...

_Where is there to go? Heck, I'm so free now… I never wanna be as busy as my second year, but without the Council stuffs… I can't even practice martial arts with this damn body! Maybe I'll go and start on that Astronomy essay – even if Sinistra will probably misplace it with the state she's still in at the mo…_

Before he ran out of breath again, he finally got back to the dorms, ready to be assaulted with a lot of SPEW spew again. As much as Neville supported Hermione's passion for getting equal rights for all magical creatures, which went on to become her occupation, he really did not think this was the best way to go about it at the moment. His ears were going to grow mushrooms if she told him to get rid of his own House Elves at the Longbottom Manor again.

"Neville! Right on time! Tell them Cedric will definitely get chosen as Champion." Ron dragged him over to the Trio's table when he entered the portrait hole.

Harry explained, "I never said he won't Ron, but we don't even have a clue who the impartial judge is. Who knows what he, or she, will judge candidates on?"

"We're just saying you shouldn't bet so much money on it," Hermione said, deadpan.

"You want in on this too Neville?" Fred and George asked, springing onto them. Lee Jordan was behind them with a very big box, jingling the coins inside for emphasis.

George, Neville labelled, pointed over at the massive parchment charmed to float in front of the common room wall. "Betting tables drawn up already and Hufflepuff's Cedric is tipped to be one of the favourites to get chosen."

"He hasn't even announced he was entering yet," Harry proposed with his collected evidence.

"You're just saying that because you saw him talking to Cho Chang the other day in the corridor." Ron obviously let this titbit out to tease the boy, who immediately blushed.

Neville joined in the sniggering as Fred asked, "Can you tell us if you plan to enter as well Harry? That's going to change the odds for you a lot depending on how you answer."

Harry sighed, "I don't know. Maybe. It sounds a bit dangerous."

"Even Sirius told you to enter!" Ron exclaimed. "I'm definitely entering! Can you imagine what you can do with that prize money?"

"Are you entering Ron? If they have some sort of Chess or Hoglake tasks, then I should put some money on you too." Nandini Johar said, as her group was sitting closest to them.

"No one knows about what the tasks are yet, but rest assured that we will be running a betting table during each task for you guys to throw money – I mean – see who would get the most points in each task."

"Of course it's going to be the Hogwarts Champions who'll win! Show some school spirit man!" Sean Ogbourne piped up.

"We're just entrepreneurs like Neville!" Fred put his arm round Neville, with George on the side rubbing his hands cackling. _They make me sound like a heartless businessman in a suit or something._

"What do you think the delegates from the other schools are like?" Having dragged in the surrounding groups now, the conversation seemed to be spreading to the scale of the entire common room.

"I have a cousin at Beauxbatons, and he keeps saying the girls are really hot there."

"Are you saying Hogwarts doesn't have any pretty girls? If that judge is going to pick a Champion from looks alone, I'm sure he's going to get quite a headache with so many cute girls here."

Somehow the conversation on the Triward Tournament continued on this level until Hermione asked, "Hey, why isn't Neville on the betting table?"

There was a collected silence when everyone turned to look at the fat and mute boy, then everyone in the common room burst out laughing as if it was the set of a sitcom.

_Wow… That _stings_! Well, I don't plan on putting my name in anyway. Why bother with risking your life for a little pocket change? Gran would kill me if I entered…_

0

0

0

"No Neville, you have to rotate it. Yes, like that, just like that! Keep going, harder, do it harder! "

Neville uttered, with the most deadpan and unimpressed tone, "You are making everyone in the class uncomfortable. Not to mention me as well."

With Fox's innuendos and provocative tones, Dean and Seamus looked as if they would not stand up for a while. They always stayed quite a while sitting in their desks after she dismissed the class.

Fox gave a loud purr behind Neville, pressing even closer to his back. "Why are you uncomfortable Neville? Weren't you the one who said physical contact is acceptable during lessons? "

Neville cursed his word choice during that time at breakfast. If he had known on that first day Fox was such a… fox, he would have every word he spoke to her examined through a dictionary and thesaurus first.

"Alright class, a foot long essay on the spell Neville was so kind to help me show the wand movements for." Again Fox leaned into Neville's back, arms over his shoulder. Rubbing her face against his cheek, she said in glee, "I hope this potion never wears off! Your chubby cheeks are so soft!"

"This is highly inappropriate," Neville growled and stepped forward out of her range. "Please show proper conduct for a teacher."

"But you are just so cute!" Fox then turned to Seamus, putting on a mask from every woman's arsenal – the teary-eyed puppy gaze. "Seamus? Am I not being a good professor? Is what I am doing to Neville really so unbecoming?"

"N-not at all Professor Fox! Not at all! You are the best teacher ever! If Neville is so ungrateful, I can help with the demonstrations! I'll be glad to help!" Seamus vehemently earned the disgust of all the girls in the class as they packed up to leave.

As Dean started to volunteer for the role as well, Neville got back to where the Trio sat. Hermione was just hitting Ron on the arm, berating, "You boys are so such leaches!"

"Hey!" Ron rubbed his upper arm and complained. "How come you only scold at me every time after this class?"

"That's because Harry and Neville doesn't ogle at Professor Fox like a piece of meat!" Hermione growled as Neville swept his stuffs into his book bag with his wand. With a final look back at Fox, he left the room with the Trio.

_Nope, just a wink at me, but nothing on Harry. Is Snape and Dumbledore really that sure she won't target Harry? It happens in the books every year after all…_

"Neville was the one flirting with her at the front of the class!" Ron exclaimed in exasperation, Neville was undecided if his tone was out of envy.

"Please don't say something so misleading. I feel like I'm in some sort of porno whenever I'm in this class nowadays." Neville muttered, rubbing his forehead.

"I don't see you complaining when she calls you up every lesson!" Harry was a normal teenage guy after all, though a lot more subtle and reserved than Ron was with his wolfish mouth hanging open all lesson.

Watching Hermione frown at Harry, but giving Ron another slap on the arm again, Neville sighed, "I _can't_ complain. The last time I did, she went off to McGonagall again to say I disobeyed her again! And to think McGonagall had regretted she was used to trick me, and felt guilty enough to research an antidote before that happened! I'll be surprised if I can return to normal size again when Beauxbatons arrives!"

"Maybe I should fatten up a bit," Ron obviously never thought he had said that out loud, and earned another slap.

"That's the difference between Neville and you! He's not some sort of lecherous pervert!" Hermione harrumphed, still walking next to Ron.

Harry said, walking between Neville and her, trying to drag him in on it, "Actually, Neville's saving his perversion for the half-Veela that's supposedly coming from Beauxbatons."

"Boys!" Hermione rolled her eyes, but Neville's and Harry's arms still remained unhurt. As Ron was complaining about him needing a sling, Neville focused his mind back to his past life.

_Even reading the books, it was very plain to see who was the prettiest out of all the girls that J.K had described. Sure, Cho was Harry's first crush, and Hermione wowed the crowd at the Yule Ball. Most consistently and prominently though, the girl who I'd put on the top spot of my 'to do' list when I first arrived into this world! Fleur Isabelle Delacour!_

As Neville waited patiently, living out each day as a 'responsible' student, longing for the day he would meet the prettiest girl he could think of in the books, Snape decided to throw in quite the diversion.

"This weekend, it would be compulsory for all fourth year students to take part in an expedition to Harlan Forest in order to learn how to gather potion ingredients in the wild. This experience would of course be invaluable, educational, and in no way related to debaucheries such as drinking, bar fights, or running from Labastas!"

From Snape's last sentence, Neville was pretty sure what had re-sparked Snape's idea of a field trip that he had accidentally planted last year. Harry had heard from Sirius as well about the 'gloating session' between Sirius and Snape, spawned from an unfortunate run-in at Diagon Alley.

"Tents will be provided, and you are expected to set up camp on the site, as night time expeditions shall also be undertaken on the reserve for potion ingredients such as the Moondrop, Dew Flower, and Crescent Moon. Two people will share a tent and act as a group throughout the trip, and I trust you are competent enough to at least sort yourselves into pairs."

"Draco?" Neville asked his potions partner next to him, who looked back at him with a horrified expression.

"Really, Neville? I know you're a virgin but this is a perfect excuse to share a tent with a girl!" Draco exclaimed, and then whispered in a quieter tone, pointing at Snape. "There's no chance Snape will care about that sort of thing. I think he was pretty wild back in the day from the whole incident with Professor Fox. Fox… now _that_ is a woman I should share a tent with."

Neville pointedly ignored him and wrote their names together onto the list at the end of class without consulting Draco again. Knowing Snape had, probably quite comically, convinced Harry that his past fling with Fox was completely insignificant compared to his immeasurable love for Lily (at least, that was what Neville deducted from Harry's retelling of another 'tea party' with Snape), Neville risked asking the bat a question.

"Are you sure about this trip? I know you're pissed from Sirius bringing Harry on holiday with Lupin but –"

Snape exploded, "That werewolf was there as well?"

_Oops._

Neville continued despite the hiccup. "Isn't it a bit dangerous for Harry to leave the castle? Why would Dumbledore agree to bring Harry away from Hogwart's protection when he was so adamant with Harry living with his relatives growing up?"

"Compared to loping around Eastern Europe with an ex-convict and a werewolf?" Snape rattled his fist on his desk. "And come on Longbottom, grow a brain! If he isn't allowed out of the castle at all, why would he be allowed in Hogsmeade so many times, officially or not, and still be able to stay with _that_ sorry excuse of a human being as a guardian?"

"You know Pettigrew, and Barty Crouch as well, not to mention numerous ex-Death Eaters, are still on the loose. You can't just assume –"

"So you don't think I can protect Harry by myself if anything happens out there, while Black can handle a tribe of Labastas? Is that what you think Longbottom? Get out of my dungeons!"

Once again shown the rough way out, Neville grumbled, "That bat hasn't even given me one Occlumency lesson yet this year, not that I really need them anymore. To blast me out like that again – I'm going to pay him back one day!"

Neville met Hannah instructing young Dennis Creevy on some Council business at that moment, and waved hello to them down the corridor.

Hannah's signature smile brought Neville's lips up with it as she asked, "Have you heard about the potions field trip?"

Neville greeted Dennis back while teasing her, "Yeah, you sound excited. I thought you were always scared of Snape."

"I know… but we get to go out of the school! That's never happened before! And there will be so many wonderful plants at the reserve. It may even help with our joint Herbology project!"

Not wanting her to turn on her Herbology mode, Neville intercepted with a joke, "Well you should've said so if you'd wanted to share a tent with me! I've already grouped up with Draco!"

"You know that wasn't what I meant!" The girl's face immediately boiled up, and stomped on Neville's feet in embarrassment. Turning round, she called, "Come on Dennis! We have more things to set up for the cat walk show."

Watching the flustered girl scurrying away with the small boy trying to catch up, Neville just chuckled and turned to go on his way. He never thought he'd bump into Ginny's forehead.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going!" Ginny complained while nursing her forehead. "Your chin is still so solid even after getting so much fat on them."

"You can be very hurtful at times," Neville complained. "Is it a Weasley thing? Anyway, what'd you want?"

"I'd wanted to talk to Hannah about some Council stuffs before you scared her off!" Neville watched, bemused, as the little bombshell threw one of her mini-tantrum at him again.

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry, I'll see if I can get you a Hogsmeade date with Harry next month since our little girl is old enough to go out now." Neville jokingly patted her head.

"That's all you can tease me with anyway!" Ginny probably decided to postpone talking to Hannah and turned to walk with Neville. "Now, how's it going with you and Hermione?"

Neville sighed at how she was resuming her Agony Aunt role from summer. "We're just friends Ginny."

"I know. Are you sights set on Hannah now?" Ginny very smoothly went on.

Neville frowned, "You accepted that quite easily considering how you ranted on about how I should deal with Hermione through summer. You decided to join Ron's camp to support your brother?"

"That git is beyond help." Ginny rolled her eyes, "I guess my deductions were wrong throughout summer though. I'd thought Hermione and you may become some sort of awkward duo, then can't stand being in each other's company, finally going your separate ways. Instead, your feelings for her really just reverted back to friendship. Now, whether it's because of Ron, or if you'd seen the Chocolate Misunderstanding as some sort of rejection, or you just thought it'd be less hassle for everyone if you were just friends –"

Stopping the girl, who had yet to actually date anyone, from give her PhD thesis, Neville sighed. "Can't you drop the issue like Hermione and I did? I personally thank you for your analysis of my inner psych, but your nosiness is unnecessary. We're fine the way we are."

"…Or you feel it's most comfortable the way you two are now." Ginny rubbed her chin as if she was a professor with a beard. "Love is such a fickle little thing."

"I hope you don't want to be some sort of love doctor when you grow up," Neville moaned.

"No, but maybe a matchmaker?" Ginny devilishly grinned, "I've got a friend who, somehow, thinks you're all that. She was wondering if you want to go on a date with her – after your fat goes away of course."

"I don't do blind dates. And seriously matchmaking is… is…" Neville stopped as an inspiration hit him. "Of _course_… Thanks Ginny, I've got my revenge plan now…"

Ginny took a step back, "Whatever the twins are planning now, I have a feeling it's nothing compared to whatever prank you're about to pull."

"Don't worry kiddo, it has nothing to do with you." Still trying to contain his cackle, Neville asked, "So what is this new thing the twins are planning? A new product?"

"I don't know, but I would watch out if I were you. They started brewing some sort of potion when they heard about this field trip. I think they're jealous only the fourth years get to go."

"So very like them. Well, as long as it comes out as a good product at the end for our future shop!"

"You're going to reap what you sow one day."

Neville went on to ask, "By the way. You know that new Defence teacher, Fox?"

"Oh god! Really? Your tastes sure changed drastically since Hermione." Ginny gawked at Neville, "I thought I'd heard a few rumours about you and her."

"It's not that. Do you notice anything wrong with her at all? During classes, or anywhere else?"

"I think it's better to ask the boys that. They have probably scrutinised at every inch of her body." At this thought, Ginny went into a panic. "Does Harry do that too? Does he take off her clothes with his eyes in class? He doesn't right? He's not like the other boys!"

Neville gave up asking the little girl for help regarding the protection of her four-eyed admirer.

0

0

0

"You guys go on ahead," Neville said with a yawn, stretching.

Hermione gave him a strange look, "You're staying behind? In Astronomy?"

Ignoring the Trio's inquisitive looks, Neville ambled up to an absentminded Sinistra. "Er… Professor… your quill is in your owl's water bowl."

"Oh no!" Looking ready to cry, Sinistra immediately soothed her pet owl and changed the water in her bowl. After a while of fluttering about the classroom, she finally sat back down in front of Neville. "Sorry Neville, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"You know about this field trip we're going on this weekend?" Neville asked, knowing full well from her over-the-top absentmindedness that she had still to talk to Snape regarding Fox after these weeks. _And hell would freeze over if Snape ever explained himself to her voluntarily. That bat is still hiding from Fox in his dungeon!_

"I've heard about it…" Sinistra sighed, eyes gleaming wet again.

Neville hurriedly went on, "W-well we're going to the Harlan Forest Reserve. It's a place in the countryside, and I bet the view of the stars would be amazing from there."

Sinistra gave a choked sob, falling already into a soliloquy, "I know… And if only I can be there, lying on a blanket, counting the stars with… Oh, what am I thinking? Of course, that will never happen! I don't even know what he thinks, or near enough about this past, or the way he –"

Neville fidgeted and gave the answer to his riddle before Sinistra lost it to a flood of tears. "Listen! We're going there anyway for a whole weekend, and we can't spend it all picking plants. We can definitely do some star gazing, and we need an Astronomy teacher for that. Not only that, but another professor would mean the students get more security as well."

"W-what did you say?" From the sudden halt of tears, Neville breathed a sigh of relief that the penny had finally dropped in her pretty little head.

Whistling a tune as he waddled back to the dorms, he gave the password in front of the Fat Lady, "Spearmint."

"I am calling the prefects! You just can't do that!" Hermione was screaming the place down when Neville returned to the common room.

"In Russia, I heard it's the Muggle's imperial game of choice. That's why they call it Russian Roulette!" Fred, again baselessly determined by Neville, said.

"Is this what Ginny was talking about? What's going on?" Neville folded his arms and asked, leaning against the sofa Hermione was sitting on.

She turned around and fumed, tugging on Neville's robe arm as if she was going to drag him into a fight, "These two went too far this time! They even put Amortentia in people's meals!"

"Remember little miss, we'd never said we'd put Amortentia anywhere!" George started.

"All we said was that there may," Fred followed.

"Or may not," and the Weasley Twin's double act begun.

"Be two sets of skewers."

"Being brought to the potion camp this weekend."

"That has been dosed with a potion."

"That makes whoever eats them."

"Madly in love with each other."

"Most Amortentia makes whoever takes it fall in love with a designated person, or the first person they see. Not to mention being able to be hidden in food, preserved for days, this potion would be quite the new variant." Harry, surprisingly, supplied the rational trivia.

"How the heck did you know this?" Ron asked, just as awed as Neville.

"I picked it up from Sirius," Harry's shoulders slumped. Shrugging, "He said he was a master at Amortentia when he was at Hogwarts, and I needed to know a bit about them, if not just for avoiding them alone. I wasn't seriously learning it, but some things stuck… Apparently, they're very hard to brew."

"Precisely," Neville took the reins. Putting his arms around the twins, he asked, "Now guys, is this Amortentia still experimental? If we perfect this before the other schools arrive, we can put it on our order forms and…"

"I see our partner has already got his mind set on listing this as a strong future seller!" George exclaimed.

Neville steered the twins away into a corner of the room while saying, "Of course! Think of the sales we would get on Valentine's Day, or when a celebrity comes to town?"

"Neville! You'd better not scheme about marketing this!" Hermione screamed behind them, but was pointedly ignored.

"Let me guess, you guys asked the House Elves to put the experimental potion in for you right? Ginny told me you two were brewing something last week. How long did it take, or would it take, to make a portion?" Neville gradually lowered his voice, as if they were indeed making some sort of business transaction.

"I see our sister is quite the blabber mouth!" Fred laughed.

George answered his question, "Yes, the House Elves would never tell!"

"Are you two confident this potion will work?" Neville quizzed.

"Of course!" They answered simultaneously.

"How strong is it? Actually?" Neville asked again.

"Quite strong indeed, our good business partner!"

"Probably strong enough for the two who's eaten the dinner to snog passionately up a tree for the entire night."

"At least that long, my dear brother."

"Yes, maybe all the way back to Hogowarts!"

"That would be a sight!"

Before the twins got carried away with their double act again, Neville interjected, "So you don't know the effects for certain? Hm… Makes it a bit difficult to market that way, when we can't detail its full effects. You must've specified the spiked portions to be allocated to Ron right?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Our little Ronnie-kins does need a lot of help in the girls department."

"But we won't let only him try out our experiments!"

"The food for that night is chicken skewers!"

"And the spiked one would be the one with red peppers only!"

"So it'll be completely random who gets it!"

"I see," Neville faked a reliable expression. "In that case, I will monitor whoever takes those two skewers, and record their effects."

"Very well our dear business partner."

"Here, take this, it's a form that we want you to fill out." Neville had a look at the form, which listed questions such as 'how long did the longest snog last', or 'how red did their faces look'.

"Leave it to me guys," Neville lied. Of course he would not let a prank like this happen – even if he could use it as a comeback on Snape.

"Are you guys done? Now if you don't promise me you'll take out the Amortentia from our food, I'm telling the prefects!"

The twins went back to dancing around Hermione's oppressing demands, but everyone knew there was no way Hermione could stop them. Neville was just glad that no matter what, he would be left out of the fry.

0

0

0

A/N: I never thought I'd get such significant response about this potion thing. I concede maybe having McGonagall involved wasn't a good idea, but last chapter she had actually wanted Neville to take the potion willingly, and it was Fox who spiked Neville's tea before she had a chance. Instead of the effects of the potion, I would rather have liked the readers to have taken attention to Fox, as Neville is dedicated to doing during this period of time, which in turn again explains his oblivious attitudes to being fat. Neville has other prioritised issues to think about than Dumbledore wanting him to stop playing king of the school.

Plus I'd wanted to fit in a punishment that is appropriately severe, considering how the teachers saw him bullying Pansy. True that Draco helped, and Pansy was evil last year, but the teachers thought only Neville were involved because of Peeves, and Pansy should be treated as another normal student as everyone else. I'd actually written the part regarding bullying Pansy first, and thought it was a bit harsh.

By the way, I'm not meaning this to be a filler chapter(s). I want to get more character interactions going for the romance aspect, as well as demonstrating what Neville's life is like now. He is just living the normal student life, for the first time since the start of first year, and I'm trying to have more fun and playful atmosphere to this year, apart from the Triwizard related stuffs.

Haven't written this long an A/N in a while… now for the bad news – no more buffer chapters, i.e. may not update next month. Just hadn't been writing very much as had been busy with other things. Maybe I'll finally get something done by next month's end…


	80. Book 4 Chapter 9

Previously on HPatNL: Hogwarts fourth year gone underway for Neville, quite surprisingly with nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from the new Defence teacher of course, as he had still to be able to find out much about her. Snape was still hiding in his dungeons, but to rival Black's summer holiday with Harry, arranged a field trip for Neville's year. The twins, jealous of not being included in the trip, got their year in a panic by arranging a prank that Neville was sure he could keep under control…

Chapter 79 – Harlan Forest, Herbology, and Hannah

Neville had figured that it might be different from Beauxbaton's carriage or Drumstrang's submarine, but was very unimpressed by the unimaginative way they travelled to the reserve, which some might call a magical forest.

"No really! I'm just a step away from getting it! Just a step! I can feel it!" Ron growled, scratching his head vigorously as he continued to try and fit a few pieces into the main body of this Millennium Puzzle. He had been doing that all through the train ride.

Neville heaved his bag over his shoulder and wobbled down the steps behind Ron from the Hogwarts Express. The train tracks had magically stopped them at a clearing in the middle of Harlan Forest. He knew of no magical national rail networks, but decided it was part of the Hogwarts Express's functional specification to get to anywhere. _Isn't this pretty much Dumbledore's inland private train? I wonder if the Order of Phoenix used this once upon a time as a party wagon... _

Neville stopped as the rowdy fourth years made their way gradually off the train, turning his head from side to side to observe his surroundings. The crisp fresh air was a refreshing contrast to the Forbidden Forest, giving Neville hope that not all magical forests in this world were creepy. Wandering off the stone platform for the Hogwarts Express, which Neville doubted was permanently there, his feet padded along the natural grassland that was akin to a shortened wheat field. A breeze called up the sandy rustling of the majestic trees connected around the clearing, welcoming their tour. Neville's mood was spoilt though as he felt two soft mounds press up against his back – though it would have made every other school boy's day.

"Neville! There you are!" Neville sighed and upped his Occlumency as the voice confirmed who those mounds belonged to. "Remember not to get lost now Neville, anything can eat you up in that forest we're going into."

Seeing the smug look of Snape in the distance, Neville really did not think the bat had it in him to make this desperation move in answer to Neville's revenge. _It's his fault if he ruins whatever chances he has left with Sinistra after this stunt!_

"Fox. Do not touch me."

"It's _Professor_ Fox, Neville." She only managed a proper tone for one second before winking. "I understand you want to be more familiar with me, but we're teacher and student. You know as well as I do that such a relationship is strictly forbidden… in the public eyes."

Neville sighed, shaking his head at the envious teenage boys looking this way. He saw Sinistra in the distance, alternating her gaze between Snape and Fox, biting a handkerchief with teary eyes. Though partially meant as a prank, he really had thought Sinistra could clear up whatever it was between Snape and her through this trip. He guessed Snape thought the possibility of Sinistra sneaking in and cornering him in his tent at night was far too high, and had recruited Fox on the trip at the last minute to keep Sinistra under watch.

_Sinistra and Fox sharing a tent though… Sinistra doesn't look the type, but who knew what a woman is capable of when it comes to love… Yanderes are called Yanderes for a reason… A murder during the first school trip in millenniums won't sound good for Hogwarts…_

Struggling away from Fox, who waved him goodbye amicably, Neville's mutterings were met with Draco's shaking head. Draco tutted on approach, "Really? The hottest piece of MILF in the school is begging for an amoral fling and you just give her the cold shoulder. You're dragging this hard-to-get play way too long."

"Draco, from the way you suck up to Vector in Arithmancy, only Crabbe and Goyle couldn't derive that you have an Oedipus complex."

"Shut it you!" Draco haughtily snorted, "Arithmancy is very useful for practicing my numeracy skills, which is very useful for my antiques business. Also I'll have you know, Professor Vector is a very well-learnt expert and lady. _You_ on the other hand, are looking a gift horse in the mouth."

"You saw how she bloodlessly defeated Snape. She's the type that can chew any man up, spit out the bones, and raise his skeleton up again from the dead to do her bidding."

"A conquest indeed… indeed." Draco's contemplative expression made Neville take a huge step back.

"I don't care how much truth you were telling regarding those twin Veelas you met in San Francesco, but this Dark Veela is not something you want to touch with a barge pole."

"To conquer women like that, you have two approaches: The fresh meat, or the deceptive salmon -"

"Curious as I am, I am positive this is something I would not like to image you doing – and Terry, why are you copying this down?"

Draco casually waved off the frantically writing Terry Boot, who had snuck up to them a while ago. Draco yawned while saying, "This issue won't help you Boot. Just remember when you see a shrub of lovage, let her have it with that fabricated piece of history I'd told you about. You're a Ravenclaw, so play to your strengths and sound convincing and knowledgeable when you say it. Love, romance, diamonds – all of these words gives girls wild connotations so I'm sure you'll do great."

Watching the back of the Ravenclaw, who perked up significantly after Draco's pep-talk, Neville dubiously asked, "Really? Dating advice?"

Draco pretended to straighten his imaginary tie, "I'm more of a… consultant. A few of our peers have, all too late, recognised my expertise with the opposite sex, and I deem it almost a duty to aid those less blessed with the gift. I can give you a hand too, you know."

Neville wondered if he should laugh or cry at how this unorthodox power of Draco's managed to get him back on the positive side of the student population after last year. For a smart boy like Draco, Neville knew the boy understood this was a windfall breaking point for him to get back into the Hogwarts social scene, burying the past in people's mind with their gratitude or admiration. Frankly, Neville could not have done it better.

"Follow me in your groups, and don't get lost!" Snape had casted a Sonorous Charm. "Though, strictly speaking, I am under the obligation to find you if you do, there is no telling when I will. Your stupidity may perhaps get you so hopelessly lost you have to spend a night and day alone in this wild magical forest, filled with unknown plants and creatures, until I eventually find you. If I find you. Now, I shall guide you into the 'safer' depths of the forest, where in your groups you will harvest the potion ingredients on your lists by nightfall. If you cannot do so by nightfall... Let's just hope you do. Anyone returning back to the campsite without all the listed ingredients will be given an F for Potions this year. Potter! You come up to the front! Yes, even that weasel partner of yours – Merlin only knows he needs more remedial potions lessons."

"Hey! I never had any remedial lessons!" Ron protested, earning him a slap on the head.

"That's why you are barely passing my class! Now all of you follow me and listen carefully if you want to collect all your potion ingredients on time! Over there – yes over there Harry, just by that pink and yellow flower there – is the Fluxweed. When picked at the full moon, it is one of the key ingredients to make the Polyjuice Potion. And over there Harry, is a rare splice of Shrivelfig in this reserve, used for many unique potions, from healing wounds to causing day-long delusions."

Neville sighed, "I can literally hear over Snape's rant 'Isn't this trip both fun and educational Harry? Much better than your wild European summer holiday with Sirius!' – It makes me feel so lucky I don't have him as a head of house."

Draco nodded next to Neville, "I know… Then again, he does make a good start-up topic when talking to the girls. Speaking of which, you really sure we can't pair up with another group? A double date will work wonders for something like this. Seeing someone who you see daily in this out of ordinary environment – a girl's heart flutters roughly five per cent faster."

"I'm not looking forward to wading through this forest in my fattened state as it is, let alone layering on top of that you flirting frivolously."

Snape had led them much deeper into the forest by now, with the students all following rather closely after his earlier threat, though no one but Harry seemed keen on humouring his lectures on the passing plants. The tall trees around Harlan Forest were not as dense as the Forbidden Forest, the sun rays breeding a variety of eye-catching magical plants nearer to the ground level, blooming along the side of the leafy path the students' feet were crunching.

"Alright, everyone but Harry and weasel here come up and take a list of potion ingredients. Pair up and get out of my sight. We will reconvene at the clearing by nightfall for supper, if you can make it back in time."

"Why do you have to come with us?" Ron wailed at the prospects of spending the day with Snape.

"Good luck," Neville patted Ron's shoulder as he collected the list from Snape. _As if this whole trip was not just for him to spend time with Harry as Sirius did._

Turning back to find an empty space where Draco should be, he sighed as he spotted Draco chatting up a few girls by a large tree with spiralling roots. _Can't even leave him alone for one minute these days._

"Oi! Come on Cassanova, time to work!" Having made him climb over those giant roots in his current state, he roughly grabbed Draco's collar and yanked him away, much to his protest. Pulling out the parchment Snape had given out earlier, Neville read off, "We have to collect some Monkshood, Screechsnap, Sneezwort…"

Draco finally got Neville to stop dragging him after pulling out a small wooden box. "Chill out. All the potions ingredients are stored in this tiny little box I've prepared beforehand."

Neville almost welled up some tears in gratitude. "You're the best Draco! Frankly I really wasn't looking forward to this scavenger hunt in this body. I promise I'll remember this when I'm writing up my Christmas presents list."

Draco laughed, almost in chagrin, but thick skinned enough not to show it. "I've only one group's worth of them though."

Neville sensed what Draco was going to do next and ominously drew out his wand, "Depending on what you say next, I may have to hex you."

"You see, I've paired up with Mandy here, and we really have better things to do in this nice and secluded forest than hunting for potion ingredients." Draco dodged just in time before a Stinging Jinx hit his face. "See you later Neville!"

"Come back here!" Neville would have given chase to the foolish girl and the eloping Draco, but tripped over one of those tree roots that left him with a lingering smell of dirt and grass up his nose as he cursed.

"Are you okay?" Su's hand came along and helped Neville up. "I guess I got ditched by Mandy as well. At least I know she'll be regretting it – on top of what I'm going to do to her after."

Neville sighed, "I'd thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart. Guess it's just you and me now buddy. I think we have to head North first from this map Snape gave us earlier…"

"Actually…" When Neville looked up to see Su scratching the back of her head, squeezing out a few hesitant laughs, he did not have a good premonition to what she had to say. "I've changed my partner with someone else as well this morning when I noticed Mandy mentioned Draco unusually often. I think Draco's been working her over for a while now."

"What?" Neville dreaded the thought of suffering a whole day with someone like Millicent. Slowly turning around to see the group of people Su was waving and walking towards, he saw Megan Jones and Hannah kneeing next to the trunk of a tree to determine if the mushrooms growing underneath looked like the ones Snape wanted them to find.

"Hey Megan! Remember what I asked you last time?" Megan said hi and was promptly linked in the arms with Su. Throwing back a wink at Hannah, Su said, "Sorry Hannah, I'm stealing your partner. Make do with Neville for today."

"What?" Hannah screeched, hurting much of Neville's fragile self-esteem.

Neville sighed, "I know I'm fat now, but do you girls really have to have these sorts of reactions when you're forced to pair with me?"

0

0

0

"How is that even possible Neville? We are in Potions, not Herbology!" Hannah seemed to have realised after the words left her mouth that they were gathering _magical_ _plants_ and growled to warn Neville not to say be a smart ass. She resignedly pointed her wand at the Grwneybulb Neville crumbled accidentally in his hands to try and recompose it.

Wanting to take a step back from the Herbology-mode Hannah, but scaring she would curse him for pulling away with the Grwneybulb, he just murmured to himself, "I'd never have thought I'd have to deal with the Hulk transformation on a Potions trip either."

"Did you say something?" Hannah's slicing tone pretty much answered that question for him.

"Not at all Hannah! Not at all!" Neville quickly said, wiping the sweat off his forehead both from exhaustion and her tone.

"Well come on! We're running out of time! With you having mistaken a Yorkshire Gobbler for a Midlands Sytheflower, we'll be lucky if we can gather all of them again!"

"I said I was sorry! I didn't want that Gobbler thing to eat up half our ingredients either. And I'd never put one more thing in the pouch again before your say so since I've made that promise."

"We'll need a miracle, or find a cavern of Briar Crystals growing next to a colony of plants."

"What are Brair Crystals?"

"Do you really never listen in Herbology? Brair Crystals are almost like the Philosopher Stones in the plant world." Hannah grumbled, still highly irritable, "Oh what's the point? Now you just come on!"

Hannah stomped on ahead, looking up at the forest canopy for a Floathusbloom. They had walked around Harlan Forest for a few hours now, and were nearing Snape's pre-decided dinner time. Neville had to be there for the dinner to intercept Fred and George's latest prank after all for the more justified cause (at least even Hermione agreed) of getting Snape and Sinistra together again.

Neville shook his head to clear out the disagreeable possibilities of what might happen if he missed dinner, and kept his eyes opened for any plant that he assumed was on Snape's list of ingredients. He thought he saw a glimpse of something that looked red and yellow, which must be one of the ingredients they had picked up before. Waddling over to it, ecstatic at his good luck that there was somehow a stray Afrbshroom so far from its last colony before, Neville bent over to snatch it up from the ground.

"Look Hannah! There is an Afrbshroom here! I've at least replaced one ingredient!" Having learnt his lesson before, he held up the Afrbshroom for Hannah to have a look first before putting into the pouch. "Though why does it feel like it's getting hotter in my hand?"

Hannah turned around and her eyes widened, "That's because you're holding an Astone Blasphyte!"

"What's that?" Neville asked, instinctively bringing it closer to his face to examine it. "Well it looked the same as an Afrbshroom – wha?"

Hannah had swiped the strange shaped plant out of Neville hand and flung it as far as she could behind them. Neville's 'why' got caught in his throat as Hannah seized his hand and pulled him behind her, "RUN!"

Stumbling behind her as best as he could, Neville was amazed at the almost action-heroine reaction from the usually timid girl. Just as he turned to the front to see where Hannah's dodging through the trees have led them, he yelled uncertainly, "Hannah! There is a pond – no, a great big lake in front of us!"

"Hold your breath!" Hannah gasped.

At the next moment, Neville was breathing in big gulps of water. Splashing and spluttering, Neville banged his knee against the water bed as the lake was relatively shallow. Just as he was about to poke his head out of the lake surface, a resounding explosion boomed from the direction where Hannah had chucked the Afbshroom. He could even feel the seismic waves through the water, as well as debris splashing into the lake on top of them. Managing to eventually stand up, he coughed out some water, as the water level was went up to his chest.

"I – I guess that wasn't an Afbshroom then." Neville sneezed out, the sour feeling in his nose that was making his eyes water.

"You think?" Hannah blurted out, coughing and heaving next to him in the wild lake.

Neville's eyes fell on the low waterfall that tumbled down from the knoll behind her. "Just as well this lake is clean mountain water. At least I hope no magical goats were peeing down the stream from up in the knoll top."

Hannah's expression contorted for a moment, as if she would fly into a fit of rage and drown him in the lake, which then burst out into a wave of inhibited laughter. Neville was infected with it and the two of them, against the weird look from a nearby owl, spent the next few minutes alternating between laughing and catching their breaths.

"Seriously Neville…" Eventually, Hannah let out one big sigh of relieve, probably for not having been blown up. Rubbing her face again to clear the water, she said, with her hands still over her face, "You never change."

Neville started wading towards the edge in his now heavy and cold robes, "I hope I do! I can't wait till the day this potion wears off!"

Neville heard the splashing of water behind him as Hannah followed, "I kind of like you like this –"

"Like a grumpy baby, I know." Neville grumbled, especially when Hannah had overtaken him to get to the edge of the lake.

"N-no, I didn't mean it that way. I just like you like that." Hannah tried to push herself with both arms out of the water, and then realising her word choice was a bit ambiguous for a teenager, tumbled back into the lake beside Neville with a shriek.

"Hey!" Neville turned his head and spat out the mouthful of water he got from her re-entry.

"I-I didn't mean it that way, it's just –" Hannah gasped the moment she re-surfaced, rapidly trying to regain vision by blinking the water from her eyes.

Neville shook his head to get the water off his own face. When he could see again though, he realised the nose his nose was almost touching was Hannah's. He step back somehow halted half way as Hannah still struggled to brush her blonde hair back from her eyes.

_I never realised how button-like Hannah's nose was, quite like the final full stop of a poem. It suits her face shape, especially now with her signature pigtails draping down the sides of her chin. Most blue eyes were striking to me, but hers really gives a connotation of the ocean, where all life came from, geeky as that is. Actually, she's really filled out quite well through the summer. And did the forest suddenly smell like Gardenias? Maybe there's a bunch of them nearby…_

"Neville?" Neville's internal ramblings were interjected when a breeze carried Hannah's voice to his ears. Maybe it was a contrast with the cooling lake water, but he really felt the heat off Hannah's face.

"Yeah, we should get out of this lake. Still a bunch of ingredients to collect and all." Neville scratched his head in chagrin. Climbing ashore first in his haste, he said, "By the way, are those flowers over there Gardenias?"

The question raised Hannah's chin from touching her ample chest, and with one look at where Neville was pointing, Hannah did not need help getting out the lake. The Herbology-transformation fully taking place, she almost dragged Neville back into the lake as she grabbed onto the tail of Neville's robes. "Didn't I spend five lessons in second year explaining to you what Gardenias look like? You even ate a bunch of them!"

"You forced me to! That's why I can never forget the smell of those things!" Neville whimpered, trying to hide from Hannah's finger, which was prodding haughtily on his ribs.

Hannah did not let up though, prodding with each syllable, "Gardenia is a stem of the hybrid plant for our project this year! At least learn what they look like!"

"We've already got one parent of that damn plant. We're half way there already!" Neville was literally backed into a tree, feeling the rough bark chipping onto his robes behind him.

Hannah deflated like a balloon, further infuriated by Neville's comment. "What am I going to do with you? Please at least change for a little better in Herbology."

"If I did, then who would you vent to as Herbology She-Hulk?" Neville said, finally halting her by taking hand in mid-prod. "Moreover, if you tell me what's worrying you, maybe the ex-Council President can help you out a little?"

"How did – of course you know." For the first time since Neville had noticed something was wrong with Hannah, maybe even since the start of the school year, Hannah let slip a wistful smile. Retracting her hand, and cradling it against her chest, she sighed. "As I'd said, you never change. You, somehow, just always know. When did you find out that I can't handle it?"

"I didn't find out anything. And what is possibly there that you can't handle? The Council had never been better this year!" Neville pointed his wand at a pile of autumn leaves as Hannah kept herself busy with a drying charm, probably just to delay the conversation she was apprehensive about sharing. The leaves arranged themselves into a sort of blanket, and charmed to feel like one. Sitting down by example, Neville patted the tea-coloured leaves side him. "Have a seat."

Hannah just nodded, and quietly kneed down to the side of him, gaze directed at the waterfall of the lake instead of Neville. Listening to the flowing water, and taking his turn to feel the warmth spreading through his robes under his drying charm, they sat like that for a while. He reminisced back to the time when they had just started working together in first year at the Council, which was when he adopted to patiently wait for her. He would be late alone at the Council office to sort out some paperwork, when he would notice the shadow of twin pigtails outside in the corridor, swaying uncertainly in the light of the torches. At the time, Neville had just understood the hesitation as the timid girl gathering her thoughts before speaking to him. He later wondered if she was just that considerate she did not want to disturb him with new tasks when he was still busy with previous ones. Anyway, he knew she would start talking when she was ready.

Eventually, Hannah sighed and entered the topic from a detour, "Su partnered you with me on purpose didn't she? She hardly speaks to Megan."

"Well spotted, but I was truly just dumped by Draco. Maybe as your vice, she was also worried about you and thought I can help. Su is a fast thinker when she wants to be." Neville went on, "As for me, remember when I ran into you instructing Dennis on something to do with the Fashion show? It was then. Your smile wasn't the usual one I was used to seeing when you worked in the Council."

The statement finally beckoned Hannah's stray eyes to return to him. "Just from that?"

Neville stared at the shimmering in the girl's eyes. He was starting to doubt his own memories, and was not sure if it was due to having just left the water, or she was nearing tears, or if her eyes had always held that glistening quality. He blinked away his confusion and tried to direct the conversation back to her problem, "I understand there are so many things to get done when running the Council, especially now with the liaison with the Prefects as well. But you had handled everything so well through the years before, and seem to know how to delegate much better than me – if our Herbology assignments were anything to go by."

Neville's feeble joke brought a natural smile to Hannah's lips, but only for too brief a moment. With her head lowered again, and Neville peering at her eyes under her hanging fringe, she murmured, "It is a problem that I have to face myself…"

"Okay, I retract my complement. You don't know how to delegate. No problem should be your own, that is what everyone in the Council is there for. And me as well. Tell me what it is and see if I can do anything about it?" Neville leaned in and put a hand on her shoulder for support.

Instead of the usual jump that Hannah would have done back when she was still timid around him, she raised her hazy eyes to meet his and revealed, "The Headmaster has asked me to represent the Student Council in a Ministry meeting. All the Purebloods, Ministry officials, and other important figures I've only ever seen in the Prophet will be there… and… and…"

Neville internally cursed Dumbledore for making Hannah go through such a rough time. The logical side of him however, knew it was part of the President's duty. It was an important task for establishing the Hogwarts Student Council image in society, and changing the age-old Pureblood perceptive.

_Hannah definitely have the abilities to handle the management of the Council, and standing firm against anyone in Hogwarts if needs be – I'm sure of it. Outside however – the likes of Lucius and Fudge…_

"How did you do it Neville? You even went on a trial before – not to mention socialising so well from your Hoglake business. I really can't… can't be as good as you were as a President…" Neville noticed her tears were still kept tightly in check by all her efforts despite the sobbing tone the young girl spoke in.

"Hannah, you've never given yourself enough credit." Neville stopped himself from smoothing the hair at the back of her head, thinking it might have patronised her. "Do you remember when Sprout paired you with me at our first Herbology lesson? You didn't say a word to me or even looked me in the eye. And now, you can't go by a minute in the class without reminding me what an oaf I am."

"Sorry…" Hannah lowered her head again, but Neville did not let her. Taking a firm hold of her other shoulder as well, he turned her surprisingly petite shoulders so her face was in front of his.

"Just like how you can call me an idiot, you can call Fudge an idiot. And it'll be even easier because Fudge is really a great big idiot, more idiotic than ten of me in Herbology. Everyone knows you're the shy Hufflepuff that stammers even asking for someone to pass the ketchup, but everyone also knows you're the person who won't give up a Great Hall you've booked."

Hannah muttered while looking sideways, "That seventh year Slytherin had it coming… We did book the Great Hall for practice weeks in advance, he can't just say his club needs it and kick everyone out…"

"See? Even seventh year Slytherins are scared of you." Neville smiled and encouraged her in the only way he knew how – just stating the facts. "You'd never thought you can stand up to a seventh years back when you were a first year right? Those craggy Purebloods out there will challenge you, but as long as you treat them like eighth year Slytherins, you will find yourself being able to challenge ninth year, tenth year, a hundredth year Slytherins in no time. Even if I don't like Dumbledore at the moment, I have to agree with him. No one else was a better Presidential candidate than you."

Hannah looked as if it took all her strength to stay upright and said to him, "T-thanks for trusting me Neville."

Neville realised he really did. Whether it from a trivial Herbology homework, or the plan to bring back Draco last year, this Gardenia smelling pigtail girl seemed to be able to tiptoe onto the top of his list of trustees.

He said with a deep breath, almost for himself, "I really do. You've really been doing a great job –"

He wondered if he would find himself thinking Gardenias were pigtail shaped at the next Herbology lesson as that was all he could see then while inhaling the flowery scent. Hannah had fallen onto him, her forehead against his chest. Neville began to panic as the only explanation for this must be that she had contracted a sort of flash fever from being soaked in the lake. He could even feel the feverish heat on his robes, and a dampness that he deduced as sweat.

He felt, literally, with his heart, Hannah's breath as she spoke, "You really are a true Gryffindor. Going out of your way to turn me from what I was into –"

Neville stuttered at the strange tone Hannah's voice had taken, albeit muffled in his dampening robes. "Hey! Is that sarcasm? This is all very out of character of you. Are you going to blame me for catching a fever? I'm sure Hermione will have a spell for it or something."

"…I am blaming you. It's your fault I have to be the President, isn't it?" The unheard of tone of conviction from Hannah really rendered Neville unable to argue. Before he let any drabble out of his mouth, Hannah just said, "It seems I got a bit more tired than I'd thought filling your place. So please just let me be for a while. Just a short break."

Neville had lost count of the amount of times Hannah had blushed in front of him. He was not sure if her face was that same old red tinge that he was used to seeing, but Neville could feel the heat in front of his chest steadily rising to his face at that moment.

0

0

0

A/N: Thanks for everyone and anyone who's still catching up with this story. It has been a while since I had apologised for a delay after setting the monthly update, but even that I had managed to destroy. As always, I'd hope to write more often, and real life commitments are in the way.

Saying that, I am shamelessly asking for a difficult favour. Since my last update till now, it seems like introduced a bookcover option. The story has somehow automatically associated my Frasier's Eddy avatar to the story, which is a bit of a mismatch. Anyone who knows of, or can create, a suitable anime bookcover please get in contact. As much as I agree that Matthew Lewis was one of the rare few in history that kicked puberty's ass, I'm still not a film-inclined sort of Potter-fan. Thanks very much!


	81. Book 4 Chapter 10

Previously on HPatNL: Snape's orchestrated field trip to best Sirius was at Harlan Forest, a magical reserve. The fourth years were all sent on potions ingredients hunt, and Neville's partner, Draco, had craftily ditched him for womanizing. Eventually partnering up with Hannah, Neville continued to fail on this abrupt and undesired Herbology lesson. After another plant-related explosion caused by Neville, he brought up the topic of Hannah's unusual behaviour. Having revealed the knot in her heart regarding being the Council President, Neville tried his best to reassure her of her abilities. It led to a scene that even the oblivious Neville felt was a little…

Chapter 80 – Pranks aren't very funny

"I'm still mad at you Draco," Neville grumbled as Draco approached the Boy-Who-Can't-Eat by the salad table. It was dinner time back at the clearing, and with the Hogwarts Express as a backdrop, small groups of students crowded around handfuls of small campfires, barbequing the chicken skewers. "If Harry didn't help us out, Hannah won't have gotten any dinner at all."

"You can't blame me for that. Even I heard that explosion you caused," Draco harrumphed. "Only Hannah can keep you alive in Herbology."

Neville followed his gaze to the campfire where Hannah was, who was blushing at some typical light teasing Megan was giving her. Absently touching his face, Neville murmured despite the confidence boost he had given Hannah earlier, "I'm a little worried about her."

"What? What's wrong with Hannah?" Draco snapped his head towards the Slytherins campfire and reached his hand into his cloak robes. "Did Parkinson do something?"

"No, what makes you think that?" Neville's brows locked and his gaze sharpened at pug-face. "Is she plotting something?"

"Not exactly… She'd thrown some sort of hissy fit when I was with some girl earlier, and it somehow got back to how I stood up for Hannah last year. I of course ridiculed her back – as if I would ever want to take that bitch back," Draco physically shuddered at the thought. "Anyway, she's unimportant. Is Hannah troubled about Council stuffs?"

"Yeah. Dumbledore invited Hannah to play some political game to further strength the public perception of the Council at the Ministry. As I've told her, she can cope with, and grow stronger from it. Personally speaking though, it's almost my fault that she doesn't have a choice but to accept the Presidency." Messing up his blonde hair by rubbing his head, Neville sighed, "This dirty business of mingling with Pureblooods aristocrats is never pleasant."

"It's not your fault." Draco let out an irritated sigh as well to the ground. The two ruffled around their respective minds for a solution, one of them staring at the scarlet clouds while the other at the waning grass; until Draco remembered why he came over, "By the way, here is your other red pepper skewer."

Neville's mood brightened a bit and cackled under his breath. "You dodged one curse Snape, but public opinion is a scary thing."

"If you keep this up, you're just going to be taken as the immature brat in this story," Draco shook his head.

"I'm just stating the facts. All the students helped me find these two red pepper skewers. I think what I'm doing is just satisfying the public opinion."

"Those stupid Gryffindors told all the students which skewers were spiked, who would be stupid enough to eat them after knowing that? They couldn't have done anything else but hand them into you. You should've just let me use them on Fox."

"I warned you Draco. Don't do it." Neville crossed his arms and leaned back onto the long salad table, his mouth watering with the smell of meat and s'mores in the air – and Fox's fault that he could not eat any of it.

Draco just flashed his playboy smirk and sauntered away, presumably to look for Fox. Neville sighed, but stood up straight again as he spotted the unexpected zombie advance of Vincent Crabbe. _Wasn't he just at the Slytherin campfire a moment ago when I looked over?_

Neville picked just the right moment to ask as Crabbe opened his mouth, "What do you want Crabbe?"

The idiot really choked as the breath was caught in his throat from Neville's small trick. He sighed and wondered if Voldmort ever knew one part of his soul got destroyed by this idiot – or if Voldemort would prefer never knowing. Crabbe recovered with a red face and glared, "Longbottom, I need your red pepper skewers. You can't eat them anyway, what'd you want them for?"

Neville's eyebrow rose, eyeing him up and down just long enough for him to feel uncomfortable under Neville's poker face. "I'd assume every student knows the red pepper skewers are spiked. You really that hungry Crabbe?"

"Of course I know they're spiked! Just hand them over Longbottom!" Crabbe reached out his grubby hands, which Neville sidestepped with a spin.

Slapping him in the face with Dracula's Cloak, Neville hummed, "Did it leak to Snape already and he sent you?"

"What are you talking about? I have use for it, now give it here!" Like a bullfighter, Neville swished his Cloak over Crabbe again. He spared a glance over at the campfire that Crabbe came from, and found Goyle chatting animatedly at a bored looking Pansy.

"Well well well. Don't tell me you need an Amortentia to get an edge over Goyle." Neville wondered if getting Pansy was some sort of power play to replace Draco's previous alpha male status. It was all too carnal for Neville's pleasure. _I just hope the Slytherin in him realise he needs to substitute the peppers or else no one would willingly take it._

"Don't say I didn't warn you! If you don't hand it over right this second, I'm going to kick your fat ass to a Mudblood's hole!" Crabbe growled his foul breath.

"Harry's already delivered one red skewer to Snape. If you don't mind kissing Snape however, go ahead and have this." Neville taunted with his skewer like a wand.

"You son of a –" Crabbe looked ready to jump kick him but Neville saw his eyes flicked behind him. "Professor Fox."

"What's going on here boys?" Fox's seductive wiggle and status as a professor quickly beat back the wide beast.

"N-nothing professor. I was just asking Longbottom something. I'll be going now." Crabbe gave a last snort at Neville and stalked back towards Pansy's campfire.

Neville looked after him, a smirk surfacing on his face as his Occlumency was not on. _This could be a useful piece of information._

"This could be a useful piece of information," Fox's imitation of Legilimency made Neville flare up his Occlumency shields. "Even without Legilimency I can tell what you were thinking from your face, devious little thing."

"Why are you here?" Neville asked without facing her.

"You are always so cold to me Neville, you really know how to mess with a woman's head." He rolled his eyes at the suggestive pose Fox was probably striking behind him as he watched the reaction of the boys who were looking their way. Fox always had eyes around her wherever she went in the castle. "I'd just wanted to ask if you need some special tuition this evening… for stargazing of course."

"Sinistra's going to patrol my part the campsite, so thanks but no thanks. And please stay well away from Draco's and my tent." Neville started to walk away with a throw of Dracula's Cloak behind him.

Fox called out like she was about to pull a trump card and win the game, which was probably the real reason she came over. "Where do you think you're going with that skewer Neville?"

"I guess one of the boys must have leaked about it to you." Neville finally faced Fox to see if he could read anything off the woman's face on her attitude towards Snape. _Was she really out to sabotage Snape and Sinistra?_

"Relax, Snapey and I were just a fling. I just like winding him up along with that innocent Astronomy teacher for a little amusement." Fox answered all of Neville's unspoken questions, "And it was actually the Weasley twins who told me about the skewers. Didn't want me to accidentally take one of them. Of course, I would all but comply if _you_ offered me one."

Neville just gave her a piercing glare that could have frozen Peeves, but Fox was completely immune. Turning to walk away again, Fox called out his name again.

"What is it now?" Neville irritably stopped again, forcing himself not to pull his wand.

"I don't know why you feel so hostile against me – it's not like we met before this year. I know you certainly didn't act like this towards any other Defence teachers." Fox leaned down as if she was excessively taller than Neville, but really just showing some cleavage. Like ants crawling round his ear, she whispered, "Though I do know you didn't trust them by a werewolf's hair either, having somehow faked a Boggart reaction."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Neville uttered, trying to keep the hairs on the back of his neck from standing up.

"If your worst fear is being fat, then my worst fear is never getting a man again." Fox stood back up again and stared down to him with a smile. "How about I give you a peace offering and end this bad air that's somehow put betwen us? That skewer you have there doesn't have Amortentia, neither did the other one with the red peppers."

Neville dubiously looked down at the skewer in his hand, "How do you know?"

"As I've said, the twins told me." Neville frowned back at the squinted fox eyes as she playfully sung, "If you don't believe me, look at parchment the twins gave you."

Neville drew out the parchment that had the questionnaire the twins had wanted him to record the effects of the Amortentia on, and letters were just starting to appear on the parchment:

_Neville, our most respected benefactor,_

_ The fact that you are reading this means you have already found us out – we knew Hermione'd get to you. As much as we'd love to see Snape embarrass himself, we would prefer to be there to see it when that happens – at another time. Due to your continual support of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes however, and as a gesture of goodwill, we can tell you that there were also only two skewers with yellow peppers. Remember to record our newest product's full effects for us!_

_ Fred and George, your ever humble pranksters._

"Damn it Fred and George!" Neville crumpled the parchment, incinerating it in the process.

"And as a further peace offering –" Neville cut off the gleeful Fox.

"No. This is a quick one-two. Knowing you, you casually revealed this information to lure me off guard and had set something up behind it… Who'd you tricked into eating the yellow skewers?"

"Already knowing me so well Neville," Fox looked up into the evening sky in both pity and frustrations. "Can you blame me for wanting to see that cute chubby face of yours all wrinkled in worry?"

Neville was pretty much out of earshot by the end of that sentence as he flew amongst the campfires, searching for any signs of yellow. He reached the Hufflepuff's campfire first. It was the closest. "Did anyone eat a skewer with yellow peppers?"

Hannah literally jumped to her feet at Neville's voice behind her and spun round stammering, "N-neville! N-no, I don't know what you mean about y-yellow peppers. I thought you were looking for red ones?"

"Yeah… Hannah… Um, the twins pulled a manoeuvre. It's actually the yellow ones that were spiked with Amortentia," Neville was about to ask Hannah to do some damage control –

"I'll tell everyone to spread this around so no one eats the yellow ones," Hannah, Student Council President, had already spotted her vice in the distance, "Su! We have a situation!"

"I'll tell the Slytherins," Draco, who Neville had not noticed until now, stood up patting the dirt off his robes.

"Um… Thanks." Neville allowed his Occlumency to drop, as this was too reminiscential of the old Council days, of the four of them putting out fires at major events. With a last glance of Hannah's back, he had a smile on this face as he jogged towards the Gryffindor campfires despite the situation.

Harry asked as he spotted Neville before the others, "So did you give Sinistra the red skewer yet?"

"No, the twins switched out the red peppers with yellows after they'd told me about the prank," Neville looked around the numerous straws around Ron's feet for any signs of yellow. "The two yellow pepper skewers are the real ones laced with Amortentia."

"What?" Ron jumped to his feet, his hands around his throat.

"Don't tell me…" Neville was going to slap his forehead like in any old sitcom, but his arm froze midway when a thought hit him. _Fox?_

"I-I don't know, I just ate a plate of about ten of them… I-I think one of them had yellow peppers." Ron looked at his finger, wondering if he should ram it down his throat to make himself vomit.

"Neville," Harry stepped swiftly between him and Ron instinctively. Harry had strangely sensed an aura from Neville and impulsively thought... "We may not have to stun Ron to contain the situation. The twins told me their Amortentia was an associative paired blend, meaning all we have to do is intercept the other skewer before it is eaten."

"Where's Hermione?" Neville demanded to Harry's confusion. Looking at Ron's white face against the flames upon hearing Neville however, Ron had probably also deduced that Neville was the true butt of this 'prank'. Both of them thought back to the commotion they caused last year when his Arcane Magic went ballistic after the Festival, which meant every student knew a serious argument had transpired between them. What Ron could not deduce, but Neville knew, was that Fox had somehow found out what that highly personal 'argument' was…

"Hey, what's wrong? Why does everyone seem so agitated?" Hermione entered the scene in dramatic timing. "Just so you guys know, I still don't approve it, but did Snape and Sinistra –"

"Oh Hermione! Did you eat that?" Harry exclaimed, pointing urgently at the skewer with one remaining yellow pepper in her hand.

"This? Yeah, Professor Fox gave it to me on my way back from the bathroom," Hermione confirmed Neville's worst case scenario.

"Oh this is going to be gold!" Dean and Seamus, the normal students, had already turned back to Ron, whose face had just turned from white to velvet.

"Ron ate one of the twin's skewers too." Speaking to smart people took considerably less effort. Neville knew she understood the situation with her suddenly purple face, and letting the skewer drop onto the ground.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Dean and Thomas had transformed into the background mob now and Harry just shook his head on dismay. Hermione continued to stare at Neville, biting her lips, probably using him as a distraction for her eyes instead of running the risk of making eye contact with Ron.

"L-like hell I would!" Ron belted out the denial. "Even Amortentia won't make me do something so…so… _unthinkable_!"

Neville felt at that moment he could understand why Ginny gave up on her brother. Ron can say all he wants about his feelings in front of Neville, but that was just because Neville was his 'rival'. Neville doubted that Ron had even mentioned his feelings for Hermione to Harry – let alone admit it in front of her in the next century or so. Even in the books, it was Hermione who was the first one to reveal her feelings first with that kiss.

Hermione, probably like how she felt in the books' events before the Yule Ball, was smouldered with a sense of humiliation. Screaming back as if she really had never poured her wish for Ron to sweep her off her feet to Neville back when they were in the Dragon Room, "Well I couldn't think of a worst _thing_ in the world to kiss than you. I'd even rather kiss a Dementor before kissing you!"

"Well at least kissing a Dementor will give me a quick death instead of my mouth getting chipped away bit by bit by those teeth of yours." Ron had clearly crossed a line with that personal insult, and he knew it, with how his face turned from red to white again.

Hermione let a trembling breath out slowly, but failed miserably at keeping back her tears, and fled the scene with her hands covering her face. Of course, every single girl gave the insensitive Ron the most hostile of frowns for the rest of the week.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief despite frowning at the idiotic red head, who was still pacing about wondering if he should chase after Hermione to apologise. "It is probably for the best to separate those two – even if the Amortentia didn't work."

"How do you know it didn't work?" Dean asked Harry.

Drawing again from Sirius's summer crash course, Harry explained, "Most Amortentias work instantaneously after consumption. The fact that this idiot and Hermione can stand there and have a screaming match means they are not under any effects from the potion at all. I guess the twins can't get every one of their prank products the right first time – I still remember the five hours long nose bleed from eating one of the first versions of the Skiving Snackbox."

_Did Sirius ever mention what happens if two people who were already in love takes an Amortentia? Would it also have no effects? _

Neville however did not voice the question. It will probably remain a mystery whether that Amortentia ever worked, and a part of him did not want to know.

"It's too late Ron," Neville finally showed a bit of mercy and told the still pacing Ron. "I'll go after Hermione. Remember to apologise to her, sincerely. She won't hold it against you for long."

As he threw his Dracula's Cloak behind him and went to search for the sensitive girl who had been giving him headaches since first year. _I guess I've never been good with pranks. Coupled with the Hermione factor, I guess it isn't all too surprising it comes back to bite me in the ass. I'm just glad they love each other so much that the Amortentia didn't drive them to do anything embarrassing in public – or else it'd be another Chocolate Misunderstanding. Maybe it really is fate. And with Ron's feelings for her having awakened earlier than the books, I'm sure they'll safely be together by the Yule Ball if Ron'd just confess._

Neville's internally mutterings were promptly halted at the sight of the malicious prankster in his path. Let alone what would have happened if Neville's worst fears really was being fat, considering how there could have been an even more detrimental effect on a close emotional level this time, no qualified teacher should toy with students using experimental Amortentia. _I knew Dumbledore was historically horrible at picking teachers._

"Well well Neville, what's with that face? Now that's just rude," Fox received a piercing glare that even Dumbledore would back a step away from, but again, the sinister woman was somehow immune again. "I know what you're going to say – it's about giving your friend the Amortentia, isn't it? Well as a professor, I know I shouldn't be a part of students' pranks – but the Weasley twins are really so ingenious. It would be against my duties as a teacher to shun their intellectual growth by letting their experiments go to waste."

"With this persona alone that you've built since the Welcoming Feast in the face of the school, I know no one will blame you for pulling this 'prank'. That's just because they're so damn short sighted – and it wasn't _personal_ for them." Neville's Dracula Cloak blew away behind him with a gist of magical pressure.

"Not using Occlumency to keep your feelings in check anymore?" A predatory smirk. "Youths are so hot-headed. You'd just told me where to push for it to hurt."

"Well allow me to tell you more Fox. If you dare to cause harm to Harry Potter or my friends, I'll make sure the 'prank' I pay you back with is going to hurt a hell of a lot more. I don't know your intentions, but don't escalate this thing between us any more Fox. I'm drawing a line." A circle of grass around Neville's feet had all frozen into a brittle blue with the last instinctive blast of escaped magical pressure. "I know you are trying to hide whatever true motive you have for coming to Hogwarts under this fake persona of yours, and I have played along with this teacher-student crap up to now. But I will stop at nothing to rip that disgusting mask off of you if you overstep this line."

"Oh Neville, always the scary look and bitter voice for your poor poor teacher." Fox pulled a frail weepy kitten look that every teenage boy would have fainted with. Neville however was acutely aware of how she then raised her hand over her mouth, "You must understand my dear, everyone has secrets. Me. And you."

0

0

0

"Neville! Stop tugging that corner already, the tent's gonna collapse!" Draco's voice brought him back from his ruminations and he halted his wand movements.

"Sorry, was just thinking." He knew he should not let Fox's words get to him, as it was not even a threat. It was not even a sideways jab. And there was no possible way of her finding out he was not the real Neville Longbottom when even Dumbledore was nowhere close. _Somehow though… this secret of mines… my true kryptonite… If…_

This time, a crash pulled him back to the world. He had really over-tugged one corner of the tent and it had completely collapsed. Draco slapped his forehead, growling at him, "You really have to get your act together Neville if you don't want to sleep on the grass tonight."

"Don't you mean 'we'?" He laughed good-naturedly, placing his own problems aside for the moment. "I have to say, I think I'll get used to sleeping on the grass a lot easier than a spoilt prince like you. Have you even been camping before?"

"I'll have you know, I actually do plan on getting a bit of grass in my hair tonight." That smirk on Draco's face made Neville's stomach feel liked lead.

"You are not spending a night in a foolish girl's tent – and certainly not forcing me to share one with the poor partner of said foolish girl!" Neville did not even have a chance to point his wand at him before Draco pulled out some purple glittering powder from within his robes.

"Don't speak too soon! Just wait and see who this partner is Neville, enjoy!" Draco slammed the powder into the grass below him and in a puff of explosion as if something had landed on a pillow, the purple dust consumed the air around where the boy had stood. _I really shouldn't have let Draco go through my stash of miscellaneous prank items! _

A high pitched cough came from the powdered cloud, with a choked complaint soon following, "Wh-what happened?"

Neville sighed, pointing his wand at the smoke. A tunnel of wind dispelled the smoke like a hair dryer, but the small figure that emerged from it compelled Neville's jaw to drop. "Hermione!"

"W-what happened Neville? Why are you at Lavender and my… I got transported didn't I? I knew there was something strange with the powder she spilt on me earlier!"

"Your partner was Lavender? Doesn't Draco remember what happened between them in second year? Was he going for Su's friend from Ravenclaw just this morning?" Neville lifted Hermione to her feet as she patted the dust off her robes. "Just wait a moment. What that idiot forgot is that we're not at Hogwarts anymore and I can Apparate. Where abouts was your tent?"

"I'm not quite sure where we are now, but we were somewhere south of the Hogwarts Express, the site next to Harry and Ron's tent. Are we really going to Apparate? You're going to side-along Apparate me as well aren't you?" At a chance of experiencing a magic she had only read about up until now, Hermione's eyes were brighter than the stars above that they were supposed to be mapping for tonight's Astronomy assignment.

"I'm just glad you're not too affected by what Ron said before." Neville did not manage to find Hermione after the skewers incident, and had thought she would be as upset as she was back in first and second year whenever Ron's simple-mindedness forgot how sensitive a girl could be. Instead of thrashing Ron's disadvantage to the ground, even Neville thought as he heard what was coming out of his mouth after that he was a sucky love rival, "Ron had just blurted it out of his mouth without thinking. You know how he doesn't really mean it. You shouldn't keep what he says to mind."

Hermione sighed and replied, "I know that by now after three years. Why can't he be more mature like you, and think about what he is saying before it comes out of his mouth?"

Neville just scratched his nose to cover his chagrin. The king of self-sabotage changed the subject, "Anyway, let's find the other idiot and get him back to the right tent. Remember to hold onto my arm, alright? –It'll spin quite a bit more than you can imagine."

Neville stopped breathing for a second after realising what he asked, and Hermione just had to break their eye contact to make this seem more ambiguous. _We're just friends, it's not like she hasn't held onto Harry or Ron's arm before when escaping under the Invisibility Cloak or something. _Hermione kept her head lowered as her small hands tightened around Neville's forearm.

A smell of paper and ink circled him, but Neville could not figure out if his dizziness was not from the warmth of Hermione's body leaning in closer by his side. He resisted the urged to touch her curly hair, even if he knew he could give an acceptable excuse, and focused in his mind her campsite south of the train. Inhaling sharply to distract himself from the notion, he Apparated with a pop.

He felt something strange in the middle of his Apparition, and when they landed on their feet again, he realised his hands had somehow wrapped themselves around Hermione's surprisingly thin waist. Hermione had also instinctively wrapped her arms around Neville's neck at the first experience of Apparition. The two of them had turned to each other simultaneously, not realising their nose were literally touching each other.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Ron's roar broke the two apart immediately. Neville even tripped over his feet and fell backwards onto his bottom, wondering if it had been his or her heartbeat that had been beating against his chest. _Damn it, why do I have to act like I've cheated on my best friend when they aren't even together yet? _

Harry poked his head out of the tent at the commotion, opportunistically interrupting the awkward situation. "Neville? Hermione? Why are you guys here?"

"We Apparated after something Draco pulled," Neville quickly answered Ron's accusing eyes in spite of himself. "It was just that something went wrong mid-Apparition and we somehow winded up here instead of Draco's tent – well Hermione's tent."

"Draco tricked us and he's now sharing a tent with Lavender, Harry." Hermione pointedly faced Harry, and Ron flinched, his earlier fume ebbing into embers. It was still fresh in all their memories how Ron had mucked up in the very recent past.

Therefore after Hermione's quick explanation, to Harry, Neville was completely stricken with surprise at Ron's proactive invite. "Hermione? …Can I please… talk to you for a moment? In private?"

"Huh? Er… okay…" Even Hermione looked completely taken aback by how polite Ron had pulled out that white flag. Apology, much less a sincere one like this, was once in a hundred blue moons for Ronald Weasley.

_I guess finding us entangled after the Apparition spurred him on… Maybe having me as a love rival – well me being in the equation at all – really is just speeding up the rate those two will get together…_

"Hey Neville, let me show you something we'd found earlier!" Harry's proposition only strummed the side of his thoughts, and before Neville realised, his quick steps had already extracted himself far away from the light of Ron's campfire.

Neville threw out a feeble joke to get a conversation going, "You just left Hermione with an alien by the way, cause that Ron-look-alike looked as if he was going to apologise candidly for being an idiot."

If Harry had read anything in Neville's tone, he made no mention of it. "People mature Neville. Ron can't always be that much of a prat… Well, I know he still says things he doesn't mean, but that's why me, and Hermione, is giving him a chance now to grow out of it. Not that I'm biased towards Ron or anything, but considering how Hermione had liked him for the past few years, the two of them stands a very good chance of getting together if he can finally be a bit less dense."

Neville, who did not want to hear something he knew already, half moaned to himself, "They do suit each other."

Harry's eyebrow raise could even be seen in the dark, but Neville ignored him, replying by casting a _lumos_ with his wand. Harry said sagely while shaking his head, "I'm just speaking out loud here, so just ignore me if you don't want to hear it. I know Ron is just a git and can't admit in front of people how much he likes Hermione, but there is really no chance for any girl to read what you think Neville without you telling them."

"It seems you really did have something to show me." Neville poked the lighted tip of his wand at the glittering and glowing rocks through the vines of a cliff face. "These are… Brair Crystals?"

Either caught by genuine surprise or by choice, Harry was led into the other topic of conversation. He asked incredulously, "For someone failing Herbology, you know what this is?"

"I don't plan on failing Herbology – I've got Hannah," Neville shrugged and turned back his attention to the cliff. Neville traced the glowing Brair Crystal vine up along the cracks amongst the cliff, wondering at this magical geology. "I guess this is one of the reasons why there is a magical reserve here huh?"

"Yeah," Harry cooed the nearby Babyploom growing from the cliff, shushing its sobs. "Ron and I figured there's probably a Brair mine somewhere inside this cliff, and the vine probably runs underground beneath this whole forest."

Neville tapped the cliff with his wand. "The soft glow of violet, the warm night breeze, the starry skies as well as the starry crystals – not to mention the sense of security with the tall cliffs behind them – There is no way Draco isn't using this sort of romantic and exotic scene to lure Lavender."

"Lavender? Let alone being a Slytherin, but didn't he fail miserably back in second year? If Malfoy can do that, even Ron may ask him for tips." Harry exaggerated jokingly.

Neville was reminded of what Terry Boot was doing earlier this trip, coupled with what Harry just said, and himself having deducted earlier in the year about Draco's seeming conquest of the female population at Hogwarts, he was starting to spot the silhouette of Draco's intentions after all.

_I guess I really have to just let him be tonight even if I'd thought about walking over to his tent next site along. Not that I would've enjoyed venturing on foot through this forest in the dark anyway... _

Neville and Harry both used their wands and harvested a bit of Brair Crystal as souvenirs – plus, who knew when they would need some quick growing agent for a failed Herbology project.

"Alright," Neville wiped the sweat off his wide forehead as he had been kneeling down to get at a surface Brair Crystal instead of blasting half the cliff apart. "I guess we should've left enough time for that git to have properly apologised already."

Harry mused half to himself on their return trip back. "I have to say, I'm still very surprised that Amortentia didn't have any effects at all. I would've expected them to be at least a bit dizzy over each other. Unless the twins deduced a false core ingredient for the potion of course."

At Harry's repeated show of expertise in this unexpected area, Neville finally could not help but voice his earlier question, "What if they are in love with each other already?"

Harry did not answer right away, but instead studied Neville's expression. After a while, he shook his head. "You're using Occlumency, aren't you?"

"Very good Harry," Neville's encouraging smile came easily at his skill level. He had switched it on before asking the question. "Remember, a good Auror also requires good detective skills."

"Aurors needs to be good at making people talk as well," Harry sighed. "I guess it's impossible with a stubborn guy like you though."

Neville was about to quip back but the two of them seemed to have mistimed their return trip just a little. They continued walking though because it was Ron's voice of relief they had heard, attempting to finish off his apology on a light note. "…Well at least I'm glad Fred and George messed up this time, who knew what that potion would've made me do. I'm just lucky Harry stopped Neville before he cursed me to the next millennia."

Hermione just came out with the question innocently, "Why would he curse you? "

The equally straight forward Ron replied, "To stop us from –"

By here though, the both of them realised what they were implying and the exchange halted. Both of them were staring at the ground adamantly, though Ron looked as if he was internally scolding at himself while Hermione's blush was burning brighter than the nearby campfire.

Spotting this opportune moment to interrupt, Neville even had his arm half raised to wave at the two, announcing Harry and his return without hearing anything significant. It was just half a second before the air can exhale past his throat to become the closing voice to this interlude, but Hermione managed to set Neville's heart as flat as the earth beneath his shoes.

"Neville and I are just friends." Neville's ear barely caught onto what she went on to say, "I'm not a naïve little girl anymore. After what happened, I can't just determine what someone's feelings for me –"

"Hey! Have you guys made up?" Harry was the one who managed to avert the storm that started to gather inside Neville.

Ron and Hermione of course jumped at the interruption, and just as Ron was making a joke at Harry to follow up in clearing the air, Hermione looked towards Neville trailing behind Harry back into the clearing.

Neville brought his gaze up onto the brunette and showered her with the most familiar smile his Occlumency skill could offer.

0

0

0

A/N: Not wanting to break my monthly update routine, I'd better update this while I can, especially since I'm going on holiday next month! I'd went back and changed this chapter a good few times, as the starting scene of the following chapter was hard to write – but I'm backing myself onto a cliff now, which sometimes is the best way to do things.

I've just got a random blonde bishie as the book cover – because Neville is blonde in this book. JK had said so herself in some interview or other (ref Harry Potter Lexicon). I really don't want to associate with the movies too much. Still, any good bookcover ideas are still welcomed from here on, and thanks for those who've helped so far.


	82. Book 4 Chapter 11

Previously on HPatNL: The twins have remotely pulled one over Neville, as their prank involving experimental Amortentia went out of his control. Fox ran with it, spiking Ron and Hermione, but 'luckily' the Amortentia did not have any seeming effect on the pair though. Neville was convinced that Fox had targeted them because of him, as she had revealed that she knew Neville's Boggart form was misinterpreted by the school, and the vendetta between the two continued to build up with Neville drawing the line.

That night, Draco had once again escaped being Neville's partner – but replaced with Hermione. Giving chase with Apparition however landed Neville and Hermione outside Ron and Harry's tent, where Ron's sudden burst of maturity, and Hermione's candid words heaved a heavy strain on Neville's Occlumency shields…

Chapter 81 – Confusion at Harlan Forest

"Remember to brush your teeth before tucking in now." Sinistra still sounded as if she was actually amongst the stars above her head, riding away on the back of her Archaeopteryx. She had just been on her rounds to check upon the students at each individual camp site, collecting in the Astronomy assignments.

Watching the distracted woman and bird padding off back into the forest, Neville sighed, "Snape Snape Snape – such a hassle to everyone."

Hermione gave a stretch beside him, "I'm just glad we managed to hand in that Astronomy assignment in time."

Hermione had soon noticed that they had wasted most of their assignment time at Ron and Harry's, which meant she had practically dragged Neville's arm off to Apparate back to Neville's empty camp to finish the assignment. He had said they could have just drawn the same ones as Harry and Ron's, at their site, but she went into a lecture on how they were camped at different sites for a reason as constellations looked different… Neville stopped listening about here and Apparated.

"Alright, well remember to brush your teeth." Neville waved and was about to Apparate when Hermione hung her head to one side in confusion.

"Where are you planning to go? I thought Draco somehow blocked people from Apparating to my old camp site."

"Harry and Ron's. You can have this tent to yourself. I know it's like a twin-bed hotel room inside, but I can crash on the floor at theirs." Neville was again stopped from disappearing when Hermione's hand imprisoned him by his robe sleeve.

"I-it's alright. I just… don't think I'll feel good knowing you have to sleep on the floor because of me… It's not like we're sharing the same bed or anything." Hermione managed to piece together a sentence while staring at the swaying branches of a random fir tree over Neville's shoulder.

"Of course…" Neville was also staring over her shoulder, at the distant cliff of violet glow, with a tinge of green against the bright starlight tonight. "I'm not Ron, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"W-what're you –" Hermione fumbled something with her chin tucked against her chest in a blush.

Abbreviating her fumble, and marching past her to hide his restrained frown from her, he was already half way inside the tent when he uttered, "Let's go. Instead of gazing romantically at the stars, I'd rather go to sleep. I'm pooped from running around so much this morning in this state."

Dropping the tent flap down without waiting to her reply, Neville whisked the air like beating eggs with his wand and was changed and inside his covers before Hermione got in. Whether the little girl sensed his bad mood or just through awkwardness of sharing room with a boy, Hermione used magic to change into her sleeping robes and crawled into her bed wordlessly, a mere metre away from his body. She called the incantation to turn off the lights to the tent, and the darkness safely hid any expression changes on his face from her.

"Neville?" Like the pleasant wind chimes on a summer night in a holiday villa, Hermione called to him.

Neville was not sure if it was guilt at throwing the tiny tantrum just there or not, but he replied instead of pretending to be asleep, "Yeah?"

"You haven't come to see Norbert for a while."

"No, you haven't come to see Norbert for a while. I go to check up on my dragon at least once a week." _When you are not there. _Neville was then reminded this was the only time they had been alone together ever since their Diagon Alley trip – he had always managed to catch her only with either Harry or Ron around.

Hearing the heavy puff like a dragon's breath, she protested cutely, "I _have_ been to see him all the time! I'd taught him even more tricks from the books I'd brought in Diagon Alley."

"When did you get any dragon training books?"

"When your cousin and you went away after lunch."

"Oh… Yeah… sorry about that, again." Neville could hear a syncopation of heart beats and quickly flung a topic of conversation out there, " Haha, Ginny even said I was the worst date ever to have left you like that."

Like an ignorant puppy, latching onto the out-of-date treat Neville had stupidly fed in, Hermione weakly chewed out, "Ah... yeah, if it was a date, you would've been the dumbest guy ever doing something like that… Even I was a bit put out when you left – even if it wasn't a date… "

"Y-yeah… Of course it wasn't a date… Just Ginny, that immature brat, thought that."

A silence clung around him like a jeering crowd and Neville could only pretend the silhouette of the vague tent roof above was more of a distraction. Hermione's perfect annunciation regularly reminded him how English her speech was, but the way her question drifted to him now sounds particularly lofty, "I'd heard Ginny and you have been seeing each other quite often during summer."

"Yeah, we hung out in Luna's room with Ron whenever they come over." Neville was still quite hung up on his earlier blunder, trying to find an inspiration from the cricket croaks outside their tent for another topic of speech.

Hermione thought up another topic right away though, "So did you see any posters of those Crumple-Horned Snorkacks she raves on about in her room?"

Neville was very aware of the rustling of sheets, and the familiar smell of parchment smelling stronger towards him – though as if the pages were charred.

"I know you don't like Luna because she went out with Ron –"

"Why do you keep bringing up Ron tonight?" Neville could visualise the black crispy paper now, with a glowering red lining.

His nose even doubted if he actually smelt a bit of smoke, "But you like talking about Ron."

"No I don't! You just keep mentioning him!" With a harrumph, her sheets were flung so hard they fell over Neville's head. By the time he fought his way out, a flash of the night from outside signalled she had left the tent thought the flap.

Neville sighed, scratching his head at what he had said wrong this time. Throwing on Dracula's Cloak, he instinctively got up and following her outside. He spotted the small back of the young girl standing at the edge of the plateau their campsite was on, overlooking most of the forest below. Her long brunette hair spiralled down behind her slender back, and biting his lower lip, he forced himself to stand beside her shoulder instead.

"I'm sorry Hermione." Neville glimpsed to his right.

Hermione's crossed arms were holding her waist, her shoulders slight slouched. She sighed, shyly peeking back at him below her fringe, "Don't be. Lately, I'd just been feeling… confused."

"Wow. The legendary Hermione Jean Granger confused?" Neville at least received a playful slap on the arm for that.

"You're the last person who can make that joke, considering how many times you've stumped me."

Neville looked away from the teenage girl's rosy cheeks as it was starting to make his eyes a little drunk. Diverting it onto a random owl taking flight not far away, focusing on its rhythmic beat of the wings instead, he asked, "So what is it that's got you this agitated and confused? Why Ron's suddenly turned mature enough to apologise?"

"Here you go again with Ron," Hermione shook her head, just with a wry smile this time. "Can you blame me for being surprised with him?"

"Not at all." Neville's gaze followed the owl as best as he could as it distanced itself into the far side of the forest. "All the better for you he's maturing right? Even without a snippet into the future, I can tell Ron's maturity is the main obstacle between the two of you getting together."

Neville expected a blush, or some stuttering, or even a giggle, but all he got was silence. Willing himself to turn his head, Hermione's brown watery eyes met his behind a lock of brown wisp down the side of her soft cheek. Unlike Dumbledore's waves of attack, or Snape's hammering of assaults, this girl nullified his attempts to even put up an Occlumency shield with just a look. He just could not possibly fake a reaction to her right now.

"You've said it at the Hospital Wing last year… You really think Ron and I will get together?"

"I said I think you two were compatible." Neville took a deep breath, a mix between wood, and paper. He concentrated on the smell of the trees and listed it out, both for himself and Hermione, "Ron is a lot smarter than he looks and acts. He will stand in front of you and save you from anyone and anything, without even thinking. He can make you laugh in almost any situations. He's insensitive at times, but he's like that to girls in general, but really knows your qualities and frailties –"

"You do too."

Neville's eyes flashed opened, only to immediate snap them away from Hermione's beseeching face. Hermione diverted her gaze away as well at Neville's reactions.

"I'm not sure… If I like Ron, that way, anymore." Hermione sighed, "It just feels like there had already been too much that happened between us.

_Like the Chocolate Misunderstanding – between us._

"But to say I don't like him, I can't. Because when I see him talking to another girl, in the Hoglake Club or something, my heart feels… very heavy. I guess I still get jealous easily."

_Like when I watch you and Ron together._

"Still, despite that, I no longer have the urge to confess my feelings to him – even though he knew I did fancy him before. I just feel the way between us at the moment is 'for the best'. I really like having him as a friend in my life."

_Like how we can just hang out, and talk to each other. It may be a bit awkward now at certain times, but from the trend things are going, it'd only get smoothed out. _

"Then there are times, like when he's playing chess with someone, I just want to sit beside him… and maybe rest my head on his shoulder a bit. And then when I think that, I don't know what to do, and flee to the library just to stop my heart from beating like a troll with a drum set."

_Yes, I feel that as well… When there is that awkwardness between us, I just start searching frantically for a harmless topic to ramble on about. Or compose an excuse to busy myself with anything else but to stay in a quiet common room with you. _

"It's like you see her in a corridor, you instinctively want to rush over just to ask how her day is going, but always finds an excuse in the following second to turn down another corridor before she spots you."

Neville's mouth remained hung open when realised he had opened his mouth to finish off her thoughts.

"Exactly!" Hermione grabbed hold of his lower arm at his precise incision into the muddled puddle of feelings. "They all conflict against each other. For example, the skewers incident just there. I really was very mad when he said he would resent it so much if we did kiss or something – as if I would want to be embarrassed like that with him as well. But when he apologised on his own, I felt like all the birds in this forest will take flight into the sky. But then after he apologised, and the atmosphere got a bit ambiguous, all I can think about is when you would come back – you and Harry, I mean."

"I… kind of understand what you mean." Neville tore his gaze away from his arm, which Hermione had also released by now. _Especially the running away part – like now. _"There are times when you just don't know what to do around him, and you think it's better if you let the dice fall… Much less dream about getting together with her any further."

"Yes," Hermione took a step back, looking at Neville with her head slightly titled aside. Studying Neville's face as if it was the somehow a mirror, she said, "That is the exact feeling."

"What can I say? I'm just a smart arse." Neville opened his arms and gestured to the moon above, a spotlight for his dramatic acting.

Hermione tittered, "You have to stop being such a good sounding board Neville Longbottom."

"I thought I was your friend – but a sounding board?" Neville played along with it, as any character he could escape into seemed more comfortable than his own shoes at the moment. "Dost thou compare me to a brick wall madam?"

The girl's smile faded in contrast to the joke though, just as the trait with his Longbottom pranks, unlike Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. As if gathering up a heavy courage inside her, Hermione choked out with a wistful smile, "This confirms it though, doesn't it? If what you said in the Hospital Wing last year, and your constant wish of Ron and I getting together, and our trip to Diagon Alley, haven't spelled it out already. If like what Ron had suggested, you wanting to curse him after he ate the skewers because you like me, there is no possible way you can just stand there and talk with me about my feelings for Ron as if… you do not."

_And this feeling now. As you said, this feeling of my heart contorting itself into a lead pellet, and my heels are screaming for me to run away. This feeling is stopping me from affirming that I don't like you, and go along with the way Fate had planned. But then, what is it that is stopping me from reaching out, and tucking that stray strand of hair behind your ear right now?_

Succumbing finally to his Occlumency as a pitiful escapee's prison, his exiled feelings no longer possessed him like a specter. Neville had at last looked down from the moon, staring into those brown watery eyes, and smiled as a friend would.

"It's alright to be confused about feelings, Hermione. I'm here to be a sounding board whenever you need."

He should have expected the move from the emotional girl, as Hermione fell onto him, her forehead against his chest. The warmth of her face on his robes, the supple back he had instinctively placed his hand on, and a drop of heat on his chest he wondered if it was from staying outside in the night air too long.

He felt, in front of where his heart was, Hermione's breath as she said, "If only every girl had a friend like you."

Neville retracted his hand and put both of them on her shoulders. Pulling her back upright, making a moue, "The next line is 'who needs enemies', isn't it? What'd I do to deserve that?"

Hermione caught him off-guard when she answered his joke by ripping off a plaster, "For not telling me you were the one who gave me those chocolates in first year."

Neville was struck so proficiently his Occlumency shields trembled against his inner ears. "Hermione I…"

"Thank you. A long overdue thank you that I should've told you when I found out it was you." Hermione grinned at the nervous Neville, unable to salvage his uncovered feelings despite Occlumency. Not against her. "For giving a lonely girl the first birthday present from a friend. Really, thank you."

"No… I…" Like a lost Roman Legion, no matter how tall and fortified his Occlumency shield was, the grip on his only defence loosened. He could practically feel the last safeguard against his emotions materialising into a scutum, dropping from his desperate grasp towards the grass between the young girl and himself. "Hermione, I –"

His mental shield hit the ground – and exploded.

Hermione's sudden gasp made him realised that the explosion was very much real. A massive cloud of dust and the tumbling of trees crashing onto the ground erupted from the South of the forest. A few frightened screams could be heard in the distance, and Neville's eyes sought out the ruckus of activity from his camp's high view point.

"Ron!" Hermione's figured out where the lashing of green vines was even before Neville. "That's Ron and Harry's camp site! Is that… No, that can't be a normal plant overgrowth."

"Magical plant overgrowth. For a plant to suddenly grow that big though…" Neville shook his head, pulling Dracula Cloak round his shoulders as if he was donning his armour. "Anyway, I'm heading over!"

"I'm going with you!" Hermione started running back into the tent to get her wand.

"I don't think Apparating is a good idea with Draco's disturbance device. I'm flying over – you stay here."

"That's not fair!" Ignoring her scream, Neville ran a few steps and rocketed off the edge of the plateau, rocks kicked loose and sent down the cliff behind him. He accelerated through squinted eyes through the night wind, gritting his teeth against the cold as he flew his heavy body towards his friends' campsite. He could periodically see a long lash of darkish-green, thorn-covered, hundreds feet long, vine cutting through the forest trees.

Neville thought back to his open words of war earlier, which might well have driven Fox to ambushing Harry and Ron. He had believed there must be something restraining the woman from openly harming them – but maybe he had miscalculated Fox's professionalism as a teacher. Whoever fixed this up, he knew he had to reach them before that plant causes any more damage. "Damn this stupid body – I should be able to fly at least five times faster than this!"

Feeling as if he had arrived a decade late, he touched down at the campsite he was at just a few hours ago and almost tripped over the earthquake that rumbled under his feet. The campfire was nothing but black ashes, and several trees had toppled and crushed the tent, the same reason probably why another quake shook the ground again. The air around him trembled through the dust as the noise vibrated all around him, with the source of the rampaging somewhere to the West.

Neville would have thought the Brair Crystals were the cause, and was not sure why the catastrophe did not seem to be nearer to the cliff. Also being unsure of how effective those crystals were, or how far the ore mine was underground, Neville for the first time wished he was better at Herbology. Covering his nose with is Cloak, he suppressed a cough at the flying dust and leaped over a tree trunk towards the cliff direction. Only a few steps towards the North though, his question was answered by two figures darting from his left in the distance.

"Ron!" Neville could easily recognise the signature Weasley red hair, but cough exasperatedly at opening his mouth. Harry and Ron did not seem to have heard him, with reasonable excuse, as they were apparently being attacked by giant green vines.

Feeling a disjointed rumbling beneath his feet that was different from before, by instinct, Neville took off back into the sky. Just in time for a vine, the diameter of a sewage drain pipe, to rip up the earth that he had just stood on.

_Seems like those two brought the party back to me._

Neville twisted in the air to avoid the second, then the third, vine that spiralled out of the thick of the forest to his left. Deciding to regroup with this pair of friends before a counter strategy, Neville kicked off against the side of one of the attacking vines, avoiding the thrones running along the green slimy plant, and flew off after the pair towards the cliff.

Ascending above the forest canopy, he could see two figures not far in front of him – well one. Ron was probably using a physical enhancement spell, with Harry on his back, jumping from tree branch to tree branch. Neville was quelled from worry as he spotted two wands shooting of Blasting Curses around them to fend of the grotesque vines as they advanced. The unstoppable pair was moving at an even faster pace than Neville, straying just high enough to escape the length of the ground-bounded vines.

Neville's could only guess, but he had thought he heard Ron's voice. "There it is! The centre!"

Neville looked up and his eyes widened at the once beautiful crystalline cliff face, now overrun by a sickly green coat of slimy vines. A spot near the bottom of the cliff looked particular rampant, but it seemed like Ron's plan was a few steps ahead of him this time.

"That should be the plant's roots! Harry, don't send your wands over yet – it'll definitely be heavily protected. We need to cut down some of its arms first – not to mention we don't know if there are any other tricks with the root. But I guess we just have to risk it!"

Harry's figure leapt free and landed on top of the top branch of a tall tree, in which Neville had no idea how the Qudditch player managed to keep balance. Neville could not pick up what Harry was saying, but he saw his arm pointing at Ron. One of the two wands shot towards Ron's open arm, as his mouth moved. Neville gritted his teeth and sped up, wanting to at least hear what plan of attack the reckless two was coming up with.

"_Energcio! Fortissmo! Da Capo_!" Neville heard Ron shouting the final key incantations he practiced during their training together. Having pondered how to take his physical fortification spells to the next level, Ron and Neville had discussed this during summer. Through experiments that caused days of muscle pain, Ron managed to link his physical fortification spells up, as well as layering on them, making the spell effect denser and stronger. His limbs would take on some strain, but considered only at the same level as intense exercise.

"Harry, behind you!" Ron flung his wand up towards the tree, but had to dodge himself as the monster plant had no intension of stopping its attacks on the hostile pair too close to its root.

Neville can only watch, still out of distance, as Harry fell off the branch he was on to evade the arms of the plant. Ron's wand however halted abruptly in air, repositioned its tip towards the falling Harry, and shot off a blue string of light. The back of Harry robes tugged up and levitated him towards the closest branch. The vines agilely looped around tree trucks and resumed in pursuits of their prey, with three vines looming up behind Harry's landing spot. With just a half turn, Harry had his own wand back in his grips and slashed in midair – and as if it was an actual sword, the wordless Severing Charm cut the trio of vines at their mid-section, green sap splatting on Harry's robes.

Ron on the other hand was running around the forest trees as agilely as the vines had been, looping them around the trunks and each other, even causing some of the vines to tie a knot around themselves. Neville was not sure if he would be able to do the same, manipulating the plant's arms against themselves and the environment, all the while advancing towards the cliff.

"I've got you now!" Ron roared, leaping off the leverage of one of the gigantic vines that carried him off the ground. "Chasse Bas!"

Having learnt the Savate kick from practicing Bartitsu, Ron's leg was reel up to his chest, readying to bring down his heel into the brown circular root of the plant on the cliff face.

In a curtain of dust, a wall of thorns screamed up through the ground and clamped around Ron. Halted in the air, where Ron had been was just a ball of thorny green vines.

"Ron!" Harry was distracted by Ron's capture, one of his levitating wands lowering just too much for a vine to shoot past the dual wand guards, licking Harry on the arm. With a grunt of pain, his footing slipped from the branch he had jumped onto, falling through the air.

Even without eyes, the rampant plant sensed his victim's defeat and five tentacle-like arms grew from the ground right beneath the falling Harry. Like a Venus fly trap, the five arms snapped shut around the Boy-Who-Lived before he impacted with the ground.

Before Neville could feel despair or rage, three silver claws stabbed through the copy of Venus flytrap. Though he knew the rampage was still throughout the forest around him, somehow the moment seemed to have been silenced by the crisp shredding of the plant prison as the long claws torn through the verdant skin of the plant. Bursting out from the green prison, Harry welded his partially transfigured claws to rip the reaming limbs off the monster plant about him.

_Sirius? Did that dog actually taught Harry something instead of drinking and fraternizing with women this summer?_

Neville took the reins of his mental horse, steering it from how close it came to the cliff of depression, and sped up towards where Ron was still captured inside the other pod.

After slashing down the eminent dangers around him, Harry pointed a claw at Ron's pod. One of the circling wands shot past Harry's head and overtook Neville, "Neville?"

Before Neville could answer back to Harry, his eyes were dragged away from the boy with claws for hands at the wand spearing through the vine-wall trapping Ron.

"_Obbligato_! _Ostinato_!" From within his prison, Ron shouted the incantation. Neville could see the rumbling over the surface of the flytrap for a moment, and needed to barrel-roll out of the way as it exploded with a sick green sap.

Spitting out some sap in his mouth, Ron performed half a backflip to land on the ground. Albeit covered in scratches and shredded- robes, he casted a quick spell for himself to see again through the sap. Refocusing his eyes on the root of the plant on the cliff face, Ron stomped on the ground in front of him, causing a crater of cracks on the forest floor.

With a feral cry, Ron launched himself onto the nearest vine, running up the length of it towards the cliff face. "Harry! Cane!"

In a classic case of trust between the two best friends, Ron leapt into the sky with his arm held back behind his head. Knowing Ron's fighting style, Harry immediately transfigured a branch into a Bartisu cane and summoned it over to the cliff face.

The semi-conscientious plant knew the cane was a threat and immediately commanded five vines over to bat it away.

"_Coda_!" Ron layered another incantation on top of his physical fortifications, and kicking against a vine that was sent to attack him, causing the organic tentacle to explode in his wake, Ron backward summersaulted into the path of the cane before the vines.

Changing targets, the monster plant aimed its prior five vines with its thorns directed at Ron's head. Reading the plant's movements, in a textbook high parry, Ron whipped out the cane at two vines simultaneously. His instinctive counter-strike fell on the third vine, mashing it in two by the magically enhanced strength, and torpedoed through the air by the reaction force to evade the rest of the attack.

Hurtled towards the root of the plant, Ron let out a feral roar, this time putting all this momentum into the swing of the cane.

"_Crrraaaacckkk_!" The cane snapped as a layer of hardened brown bark closed upon the core of the monster plant.

Just as Neville mentally chanted the Latin incantation to send an icicle at the wooden shield, the voice he least expected purred. "Sorry for the late entrance boys!"

"Fox!" Neville had half a mind to direct his wand point to the busty vixen.

"It seems like our field trip is quite unlucky indeed to meet such an overgrowth incident." Fox still had time to act cute, putting her finger on her lip. The monster plant was of course not going to fall for her charms, and commanded a vine her way. "Bad Plant!"

Simply lifting her finger, Fox thrown out a glass flask at the approaching vine. The glass shattered spectacularly a few meters before Fox, the potion inside spilling onto the vines, and began sizzling at a rate and volume that Neville had thought the monster plant was screaming.

The monster plant, probably in a last desperation, commanded ten spires of rigid thorns to shoot out of the ground below Fox's feet. Neville was not sure if he could have dodged it even with his own combat experience, but Fox looked as if she had anticipated it all along, jumping onto a nearby tree trunk next to Neville with a throaty laugh, hair lushing behind her like some shampoo advert.

"Oh Neville, there is no need to stare at me like that!" Fox flirted as per usual, completely heedless of the dying plant thrashing the forest about her.

For the first time, Neville did not retract his stare, openly trying to catch a glimpse of what was possibly Fox's weakness under her locks.

0

0

0

A/N: I'm closing the poll! So everyone wants more Romance scenes? Well you got it here this chapter \(^ . ^)/ I feel like I'm finally doing my sub-genre justice for the first time – despite it having been such a hard scene to write… (~_–.)

The runner-up is fight scenes! Which we have here as well! I have to say though, I don't plan getting Neville involved _that_ much, as he stole the spotlight for the past three years. I'll see…

For the new poll, I've had this problem since the dawn of HP fanfic time. What should Harry's Animagus form be? The usual suspects I've put on the list, please PM/review if you have other justifiable ideas!

Also, I don't know how many people saw the teaser for this chapter in my profile. Is it a good idea, or bad idea? It was just off a whim I put an extract there before, but think it may not be that good now.

I can't believe I got this out. This is my completely un-beta'ed version by the way. I'm sending this just one hour before I go for my flight! Anyway, see you in Oct!


	83. Book 4 Chapter 12

Previously on HPatNL: At sharing the same camp site together, Hermione confessed she had been feeling confused regarding her feelings, and was no longer sure about if she liked Ron. Before Neville's Occlumency shields broke down, a plant overgrowth exploded around Harry and Ron's campsite. Rushing to the scene, Neville found the two more than capable of fighting the out-of-control plant. Blocking what was a finishing blow, Neville was about to join the fry when the least expected saviour, Fox, appeared and defeated the plant to save the boys. In a last exchange of blows however, Neville might have spotted Fox's weakness…

Chapter 82 – Arrival of the other schools

"First a mature apology, and now reading a book in the library?" Harry actually took off his glasses to wipe them clean for another look at the redhead. "What the heck happened to the Ron Weasley we knew?"

"Something… bugs me about that plant attack." Ron hummed, not looking up at the parchment he was scribbling on.

Neville saw Harry come in and joined them, lifting the tome Ron was referring to, "Book on Herbology? Are you trying to find out what plant it was that mutated?"

"It didn't mutate per say," Ron pulled out a few Brair Crystals from the pouch, the purple crystal rolling onto the big library desk like dice.

"Well Professor Fox's potion really is something else, getting rid of that plant even over the effects of these crystals," Harry nodded. "I'm sure even my aunt would've tolerated its magical-ness to kill the weeds in her garden."

"I asked Madam Pomfrey about these Brair Crystals earlier," Ron explained. "The effect of them doubles when they come into contact with a water source, which answers more than just two of my queries."

Harry picked up one of them, pointing at the map Ron had drawn on his parchment. "So that is why the infestation spread to our campsite – because the plant was growing towards the river under the influence of the crystals."

Neville identified the crescent-shaped river to the West on Ron's map. The plant had grown from the cliff face to the North, just missing their camp that was to the East of the river, and exploded when it reached the water.

"And these crystals are in the form that they have been exposed to heavy forms of water," Ron pointed to the crystals he had on the table. "The crux of the mystery is I'd picked up these crystals near the cliff – not the river."

"Could the vines have carried it with them when it was chasing us back to the cliff?" Harry posed.

"Possible," Ron continued to flesh out his map by tracing the river downstream.

Neville picked up Ron's tone though, as it was what he had suspected from the start, "Are you suggesting someone doused the Brair Crystals at the cliff face, planted the core, and purposely let it explode?"

"And there lies the intertwined problem my dear Watson," Ron patted the tome beside him, "I've been looking at this book, and the plant that went crazy was called 'Shadow Sneak'."

"It made a damn big ruckus for its name," Harry grumbled.

"That's the strange thing mate," Ron pointed back to his map. "Look at this: because of the Brair Crystals' influence, the plant will have to grow from its core to the direction of the closest water source, to our camp's South West. If we draw a straight line from the core to where Harry and I met the plant, and extending the line…"

"It goes to Terry Boot's campsite on the other side of the river?" Harry pointed out.

"Fox rescued Terry Boot before appearing in front of us," Neville murmured thoughtfully.

"Fast response from Professor Fox to have spotted that really," Harry interjected, considering things from a saviour's prospective of rescuing the people at most danger.

"From what I read from this book, Shadow Sneak is a plant that would have grown silently and crept along the forest grounds even under the influence of Brair Crystals – as it did when it grew right round and past our campsite. Only by meeting such an excessive quantity of flowing water, like the river, did it go out of control." Ron looked up at Neville, "That means, the murderer made a mistake."

"Ron. This is not a murder mystery." Harry stared at Ron flatly.

"Haha, sorry, was caught in the moment." Ron meekly took off his deerstalker cap. _That boy really read too much detective novels during summer…_

"No, you're making a very good point." Neville browsed the tome Ron had opened. "It is highly probable Shadow Sneak was chosen by 'the murderer' because of its stealthy advantage – the plant would've strangled anything silently and drained their blood with its thorns before anyone found them in the morning. However, if the target really was Terry, 'the murderer' would definitely know upon touching the river the plant will explode into chaos. There is a high chance this overgrowth was not meant to happen."

"But then who was it supposed to target?" Having found someone who played along, Ron went on, "I mean just look at the growth path: the vine missed Harry and my camp by a relatively far distance – we only woke up to the ruckus and rushed to the river to see what the noise was."

Neville stopped tapping the table and asked in a staggered tone, "I could be wrong with my direction that afternoon, but did you miss out the big pond to the South East?"

"Er… Yeah, I think there was a pond there? I think we passed it when gathering potions ingredients earlier that day too? Still, from where the core was planted, it would still have grown West because the river is a closer water source." Ron rubbed his chin, "Maybe I should get a proper map of the Harlan Forest…"

Neville prodded at where he thought the pond would be on the parchment, "I feel like we're still missing a last detail to solve this murder."

"No one is murdered here guys!" Harry exclaimed. "Professor Snape is already under a lot of pressure from the Board about this trip."

It seemed like Ron actually picked up Harry's overly dramatic cover before Neville, "Or it really could be just an accidental overgrowth as they said in the Prophet."

"Yeah, just wrong place wrong time." Neville took the hint quickly. After all, though Harry had not mentioned it too much, they both knew his scar still woke him up at random nights at the dorm. Voldemort was under the full care of Barty Crouch in this timeline after all, and the young genius was bound to be better at taking care of someone than Wormtail. It was least of Neville's wish for Harry to start blaming himself for dragging anyone down for an alleged murder attempt on him by the Dark Lord.

"What about you Neville, were you helping out Ron with this?" Harry asked. He was just back from Quidditch training – expressed by the hateful frown Madam Prince was directing at his muddy Quidditch robes.

"I've actually been looking at other books." Neville held up his own tome – Vampires, Veelas, and Ventriloquists.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry searched around, "I'd thought she would jump at the chance to be here with you two out of anywhere else in Hogwarts."

"She was grabbed by Lavender – along with the rest of the Gryffindor girls – to hear her Malfoy woes." Ron rolled his eyes.

"Don't look at me Ron," Neville put his hands up. "Draco is his own person – and so is Lavender, to be dumb enough to fall for his tricks."

"I'll never believe Malfoy saved her life – the plant grew the opposite way as their camp!" Ron grumbled. "And she was harking on all through the train journey back about how he grabbed her in his arms, mounted his shiny broom, and batted down trees and twigs to carry her up towards the moonlight – yuck. Now I think she deserves to be dumped by Draco."

"It would be – if this was just a one pass thing. I don't think he's exactly done with her," Neville sighed. "I think this is the sort of play where he lets them go in order for them to crawl right back – I'm not that sure."

"Oh yeah, I get it." The boys slowly turn their heads to Harry as he went on, "Straying from hot to cold to keep her interested, like a guy's version of playing hard to get. From what happened to Malfoy during second year, for Lavender to get him too easily would make him look too cheap, in a way."

"If only Sirius would've concentrating on teaching you more on becoming an Animagus," Neville shook his head, starting to slowly accept the fact that his friends have fully matured to that sort of phase now.

"Harry, please don't turn into Sirius – or worst, Malfoy. I think I saw that git flirting with Professor Fox just before I came in, I mean, really." Ron shook his head.

The Golden Gryffindors, as Colin Creevey again reminded them before they got kicked out of the library as an excuse to Harry's muddy Quidditch robes, were just talking about the impending arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, when they stumbled upon the end of a scene in the corridor.

"…Just stay away from my Draco!" Pansy Parkinson's voice screeched and the pug's shadow stormed off round the corner in the opposite direction.

"Yeesh, kids these days." Neville's eyes narrowed as Fox's curvy shadow rounded the corner towards them, revealing her form covered in a slick dark dress. Spotting the three as well, her eyes lit up, "Well well – if it isn't my ferocious Gryffindors."

"Go on ahead Harry, Ron. I've got something to discuss with her." Neville said to the surprised of all present.

After the two boys left, whispering between themselves like gossiping girls, Fox chuckled throatily, "Finally managed to notice my charms Neville? Or are you planning to repay your debt of me saving you and your friends' lives at the forest? Much better to do that in the privacy of my office no doubt..."

"Fox, I've found out your identity." Neville flicked his hand, swishing his wand with his fingertips in one smooth motion. A gust of wind by Arcane Magic blew through the corridor, shifting Fox's unnaturally long hair under Neville's gaze.

"Neville! It's very ungentlemanly to lift up a lady's skirt with magic!" Fox's hands went up to pat down her hair instead of her dress hem, "Though I know now why you've been staring so burningly at me for the past days."

"You're some sort of Non-Wizard Part-Human, aren't you?" Neville actually failed at finding what creature they belonged to, but the horns he had a glimpse of at Harlan Forest had clearly been hidden under Fox's long hair all this time. "Or rather, you have the heritage of one, as you are able to use a wand."

"The reason for why I must use an alias and for the staff to swear never to reveal my identity." Fox sang in a carefree tone, putting on the act.

"You'll be dismissed from the school like Lupin was in third year if those prejudiced parents found out. Who knows if you can even legally own a wand, let alone teach magic – people are just quick to judge these days." Neville went on harshly, "I'm not sure which dark creature you descend from, but just remember before you go making any more 'pranks' that I also have a chip in my hand now."

"Hohoho, Neville Neville. A nice boy like you just can't play the role of a heartbreaker." Fox held up her delicate white hand to hide her laughing mouth. "You've never done hardball threats like these before in your Hoglake Business – or your newspaper? Let me teach you, my dear boy. To threaten your opponent when your opponent already has you tail, you have to grab them at the neck instead of their finger. Which do you think is more significant? This job of mines that I've held for just two months – or your years of relationship with those innocent friends?"

"Depends how much this job means to you, naturally." Swishing Dracula's Cloak, a blast of chilled air freezing a half circle around him, Neville walked off. "Or rather, your motive for getting this job in the first place."

"So Round Two is a draw?" Fox licked her lips, watching Neville's back as he walked away.

0

0

0

The results of Round One wore off finally on the Friday, just the morning before the arrival of the other schools, much to Neville's elation.

"We get it Neville! God! Shut up!" Ginny moaned, gnawing at her spoon during lunch. "I much preferred you fat and ugly."

"I was never ugly!" The ecstatic Neville jumped up and pointed at a second year strolling by, startling him to almost dropping his plate. "Yes – you, scrawny second year! You said before I was gay for turning down Fox? I'll show you later how I use my manly charms to woo the top beauties of Beauxbatons!"

"Stop harassing kids Neville, I've got proper business with talk to you about," Draco dragged Neville away from the Gryffindor table, with Neville still raving his arms about at the whimpering second year.

"What is it Draco? Just because I've reverted back to my former dashing self, I'm still not going on any double dates you've set up." Neville straightened his robes as Draco high-fived a passing Hufflepuff – a guy of course. "Another one of your clients?"

"Draco Malfoy's Relationship Consultancy Limited for the Everyman! How does that sound?" Draco flicked one of his curly long blonde hairs back dramatically.

"I know why you've been building up your Casanova reputation, but taking the guys' money for advice. You're not that poor – you deal in antiques!"

"Every little helps," Draco shrugged. "Not to mention a bit of profit exchange lets their guards down easier."

"Doesn't make you look less smug."

"I'm working on that."

"Then don't make Lavender snog you in front of a courtyard of people then dumping her right afterwards."

"I still get the highest rate of high fives for that act – she's broke her share of hearts here at Hogwarts."

"Okay, whatever, so now that you've revoked the school's impression of your second year humiliation, are you planning to use your official Hogwarts' top playboy status for good instead of evil?" Neville casted a Muffliato around them in an empty classroom near the dungeons, as they had Potions next. "I assume that is the proper business you mentioned before?"

"So you think you've seen right through what I'm doing?" Draco raised a cocky eyebrows with his arms crossed, sitting cross-legged on a desk.

"You want to get back on the Council." Neville knew he slammed a homer out the park even if Draco managed his expressions very well – advantage of Occlumency to notice tiny facial features. "Even if you convince Dumbledore or the Council members to let you back in, it would be an empty position if the whole school is still against you for what happened last year. As the proverb goes, not only can water float a boat, it can sink it also. That is why from the start of the year, you've been cutting your way back into the school's social scene by first wooing the females, then siding with the males."

"Sometimes you're no fun at all smart arse," Draco huffed. "Frankly, I've already spoken to Hannah, and the Council Advisor seat is pretty much as good as mines. If you come back too, it'd be the whole original cast again."

Neville's smile lessened face as he sighed, "I have no intention of doing so. You know as much as I do things are different."

"I do."

Neville regarded his young friend, "Isn't it a bit too early Draco? It's just been a few months –"

"I have to face my father sooner or later Neville." Draco's gaze hardened, looking at the damp dark wall behind Neville back. "I have it easy if we can confront each other in such a controlled setting as a consultation between the Council and the Board of Governors."

"It won't be just this once, because Dumbledore may well use the Council as a more advanced attack platform in the future to weaken the pureblood ideals. Not just your father, but also pitting the other powerful purebloods from the Board against you; and you know more than anyone they are all as sly as a fox."

"As sly as a fox? Even my father gets duped regularly in businesses against some of them. But hey – if that's not the case, where's the challenge?" Draco's harrumphed with a smirk, "And unlike you, though having probably been burnt off the family tree by now, I have been raised as a pureblood in their circles – I know how they think. Regarding the headmaster, I'm under a different light from you again because I do see that pureblood are superior – but not by using bribes or gradually emptying the coffers of our ancestors. We can prove we are better by our abilities, and not just because of a good track record."

_So that is why Dumbledore is agreeing to let you back in so easily._ Neville sighed, knowing the 'puppet master' had put a line on Draco's back without him realising it. _Divide and conquer. By breaking down the pureblood faction so that some of them side with the young charismatic Draco's neo-elitism instead of the traditional eat-from-your-heritage herd, Dumbledore's equal-for-all party will still be in for a win-win as the third party. Heck, even if Draco knows he's getting used, he may not even care if he managed to win some influences and getting a few purebloods on his thinking. _

"I know you've given a lot of thought to this already, just remember not to get too hot-headed." Neville still remembered Draco's failed first year scheme of trying to get Harry expelled for transferring Norbert.

Draco burst out a guffaw, "It can't be worse than Hannah going against those old geezers alone."

"Don't underestimate Hannah, she can surprise you." Neville said, though he was really glad Draco could look out for her against those pack of wolves.

"It's always good to have a partner in crime," Draco nodded, completely forgetting he was just the advisor and Hannah was the actual Council President. "The Council office would seem strange not having you around though."

Neville dispelled the charm he placed on the classroom and headed for the door, as it was almost time for Potions. "And it would be a refreshing change for me too to not have to see your playboy antics."

"What're you talking about? That's of course going to continue! How else am I going to have fun being stuck in a castle for most of the year?"

Neville pointed out the Triwizard Tournament that was the highlight of the book's fourth year but to no avail in changing Draco's intentions.

0

0

0

"Why are you standing here with us Ravenclaws Neville?" Cho asked, "Actually, why are you not even with your year?"

"To hide from McGonagall – she's forcing me to wear that stupid witch's hat." Neville had no intention of letting Fleur's first impression of him be tarnished by that mop-bucket on his head. "Being in the fashion club, you should see what a fashion faux pas that dreaded thing is."

"This is an official occasion and we all need to wear non-modified school robes. It's in the list of requirements in the Hogwarts letter sent to you before school started, along with the requirement for dress robes." A Ravenclaw prefect, seeing the chance to take a step closer to Cho, lectured as if he was Percy.

Completely ignoring the guy who was futilely trying to get on Cho's radar, she was distracted by the sound of rumbling and splashing from the direction of the Lake. "What was that?"

"Finally! We've been waiting here the whole night!" Neville and the reception party were stood at the top of the lawns, where they had a good view of the Lake. A whirlpool swirled from the centre of it, probably disturbing the merpeople to no end down at the seabed, and the expected cruise from Bulgaria arrived at its destination.

"Is that Beauxbatons or Durmstrang?" Cho asked, in which one of her admirers excitedly supplied the information.

"Durmstrang! I've asked a cousin there and they said the ship was like their Hogwarts Express." Though in the books, it seemed as if Harry was completely ignorant of everything related to the foreign schools and the Triwizard tournament, he was practically a Muggleborn after all. These older students no doubt knew a bit about the wider wizarding worlds. Neville just did not know the reason for the adults to keep the Triwizard Tournament and the Yule Ball such a secret – apart from JK using it as a writing trick.

"I've heard the tuition at Durmstrang was supposed to be higher than Hogwarts, why could they not have afforded a nicer boat? And for a submarine, it doesn't look particularly air-tight – can you imagine if they ran into a real submarine underwater. If they sailed on top of the waterline, then my heart goes out for whatever yacht that's seen it on the way – they must've thought it was the Flying Dutchman or something."

Cho laughed and shook her head at Neville's murmurings, waiting expectantly for the exotic Durmstrang students to make their way towards the Entrance Hall. Another one of the boys behind them chatted away, catering to Cho's interests in Quidditch, "I expect Viktor Krum will be with them? I heard he should still be in his last year of school there."

"Really?" Cho's eyes lit up, turning to Neville, "Do you think the Council can organise a game between Hogwarts and the other schools?"

"I'm not in the Council anymore Cho," Neville put up his hands, taking the chance at this approach to do a once over on the ex-Death Eater Karkaroff.

Neville observed the polite cordial pleasantries and fake jolly smile, showing his yellow-stained teeth in exchange for Dumbledore's welcome, and wondered what would become of him. Frankly, Neville had completely forgotten this minor character was killed by Voldemort in book six for going into hiding after fleeing at the end of the tournament.

Neville did however randomly remember that Beauxbatons should have arrived before Durmstrang. Not knowing what could he have done to have caused this change in events, as the schools were both abroad and had never been in contact with him, his brows lightly furrowed as he watched Krum and his school mates enter the castle.

"So what is this I've heard about you vowing to get some girls from Beauxbatons Neville?" Cho asked, hands behind her back and looking up at the sky, now dotted with stars.

Neville smirked, putting his worries aside for the moment, "Ah yes, just you wait Cho, I'll show everyone here I'm not putting off Fox's advances because I've still to hit puberty."

"The jealous guys really have been saying a lot of things about you, haven't they?" Cho giggled, but quickly cleared her throat in a mock lecturing tone. "But as your school mate, is it really appropriate for you to fraternise with the enemy? We will be competing with each other at the tournament you know."

"Hey, I won't be the one competing – plus, this whole thing is to improve inter-school and international relations. I am doing exactly what should be done."

"So are you saying the girls of Hogwarts are not pretty enough you?" Cho narrowed her eyes in kitten-like fashion, taking a step into Neville's personal zone. Her delicate pale finger lit a spark on his chest as he felt her soft breath on his chin.

"Of course they are! Too pretty in fact! "Fleeing the sweet scent of pears, Neville stuttered as he quickly back stepped. "H-hey! I think Professor Snape called out for me there!"

Cho harrumphed with a triumphant smile and allowed Neville's feeble escape in her good mood. The head of Slytherin, apparently having heard the whole exchange not far away, snorted in haughty derision when Neville reached his side. "Behaving in this sort of antic in the face of a little girl, I guess it's too much to ask of you to not embarrass yourself in front of the other schools."

"You're one to talk," Neville tried to regain a bit of dignity by acting as if he needed to brush some dust off his Dracula's Cloak. "Where is Sinistra I wonder? Or should I say – _Aurora_?"

According to Harry, Snape had been beating himself up for not being there to protect Harry from the plant attack at Harlan Forest, and Sinistra managed to somehow get him out of that rut. Whatever the process was, Neville was still happy for Snape that the two made up and Sinistra managed to grab such an opportunistic moment.

"Shut it Longbottom!" Snape looked as if he was about to hit him with a Silencing Charm again when the reception party all gasped and pointed up at the sky.

"At last!" Neville rolled his eyes, dropping his Occlumency shields fully. He had retained them for the Quidditch World Cup as not to embarrass himself in front of Hermione as Ron did, but with only a quarter of the legendary Veela dosage this time, he was confident he could keep his composure in front of Fleur.

The carriage drawn by a dozen massive Abraxans struck the ground from the skies like a bolt of thunder, and the pale blue carriage bounced along behind it with hopefully the world's best suspension. A boy in Beauxton uniform came off the carriage first, wearing a sort of elongated French suit. _I'm glad the Beauxbatons guys won't be wearing that god forsaken uniform in the films – let's just hope the girls' uniform is an upgrade as well…_

Neville was not disappointed when he peeked around the enormous frame of Madam Maxime. The Durmstrang uniform had been a crimson shade, mostly covered by brown shaggy fur, which was quite similar to the movies. Beauxbatons' uniform, though still sporting the French hat for the girls, was a lot more attractive in Neville's opinion – especially on the first girl who stepped off from the carriage.

She sported a thin silk cape, milk blue in colour like the carriage, with gold trimmings, falling down her long slender arms. The cape partially covered the similarly coloured pencil skirt and white stockings, which started to sway as the tall girl followed behind her headmistress. Her head was held high like her high cheek bones and her white lacy blouse. The blouse was accentuated by a thick, white, ribbon bow appended in front of her chest. The girl's blue eyes strayed for a moment and met Neville's, and her gaze shot out the back of his head like a bullet.

"I am overwhelmed! Completely _overwhelmed_!" The next moment, before he knew it, Neville had swiftly cut through the crowd and mugged Fleur's hand in his grasps. Plonking down on one knee, kissed her hand, and shouted at the top of his voice, "Mademoiselle! No adjectives have been created yet to describe your beauty! I hereby vow to make you mines before this year is over – I vow it on the honour of Hogwarts!"

Of course Neville was only met with flabbergasted silence. Even the proud quarter-Veela had her mouth slightly parted at the crazy Hogwarts student (though Neville thought she was just shocked at his brave proclamation). The next moment, everyone from Hogwarts ignored Neville and collectively lowered their heads in shame or chagrin. Dumbledore was profusely apologising to Madam Maxime, and even Ron, the most likely person to laugh rolling on the ground, was too embarrassed for his friend. Some guys quick on the uptake even managed to jeer that he had already lost the school's honour.

Neville was about get the attention of his goddess again when the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Before his eyeballs could even move, he felt the force of an attack on his cheek.

0

0

0

A/N: Should've released this in November (October even :P) but was getting in a bit of a writer's block. Will release one for December when Christmas rolls round (hopefully without delay).

A good few people have said the story is getting a bit anime/manga-ish. Frankly, I'm half an otaku, but I haven't consciously steered the story towards that direction. Maybe it's just because recently the fight scenes, the increasing battle powers of the characters, and the teenage romance have a mix of formulas that anime/mangas have always used. Especially compared to the politics or characterisation style before. I don't plan on this turning into an anime/manga, but as said before, this year (like the books) will be starting to get a lot more actions instead of saving it all till the end of the year. I have detoured into many comedy moments as well, but depending on the reception of this latest one, maybe it's time to cut the cord if it's unpopular. The planned theme of this book is simply going to be comedy, romance, and action; almost in that order.

For the results of the poll, I'm glad the consensus for Harry's Animagus form is actually the easiest and really my preferred one to write. Now for the next poll… and one that I've been tempted to put on for a while now… Who should Neville be with? I have actually been swayed into maybe getting him together with someone by the end of this school year (I had initially planned on him having no one, until possibly at the very end of the story). I'm not saying I'll go with the vote's results, but I would like to know how I'm faring so far with Neville's interactions with the female leads. So until next time!


	84. Book 4 Chapter 13

Previously on HPatNL: The battle between Fox and Neville seemed to have reached a bit of a stalemate after Neville discovered the inhuman horns hidden under Fox's locks. Ron had been investigating into the suspicious circumstances involved in the plant outbreak at Harlan Forest, but was unlikely to reach any final conclusions soon. Draco had officially reached the Playboy Peak at Hogwarts, using his now prominent social position in the school to re-enter the Council to assist Hannah with Dumbledore's scheme against the pureblood ideals. Compared to the other two, having turned off his Occlumency, Neville was engulfed by the full force of the Veela charms and made a complete fool of himself right when the foreign schools arrived. Just when everyone was feeling embarrassed for his sake, an assault from the shadows hurtled towards him –

Chapter 83 – Example of Murphy's Law 

Tumbling quite a ways from where he was struck, Neville pushed himself back up with one hand and the other on his swelling cheeks. "Hey! Why are you here Elena?"

"Why can't I be here? I'm a possible candidate for the Triwizard Tournament!" Elena's flaming eyes bore through his skull, her chest puffing up and down under her signature princess curls.

"Oh yeah, forgot that…" Neville dusted himself and remembered it was one of his suggestions with Dumbledore for the Triwizard Tournament this year to waive the book's age limit. Honestly, if the Goblet of Fire was there to select the best candidate as Champion, then it's clear it would not choose someone too young and incompetent to do it. _Personally, I know seventh years that are as useless as the first year they've started at this place. _

"Hey! Don't ignore me! Be happy I came all the way out here damn it!" Elena lifted her leg in an attempt to stomp on Neville.

"Why should I be happy? You didn't even tell me you're entering the tournament during summer!" Neville pushed her knee down before her skirt was shown to the general Hogwarts drooling males. "And you're here for the tournament anyway, what have I got to do with it?"

"Stupid knuckle-headed idiot!" Elena reached under her cape, presumably to pull out a wand.

"Neville Longbottom! Come with me and your detention will be decided! For bringing utter disgrace to the school and defiling its honour!" Snape roughly grabbed Neville by the scruff of his collar – though Neville would never think Snape did so to save him from being cursed by the hot-tempered Elena.

"Put that idiot down and let me hex him Severus!" At Elena's outburst, Neville turned his head and looked strangely at Snape.

"This ze so uncharacteristic of you Elena," Neville's ears could melt at Fleur's song-like voice as the tall blonde floated over on a heavenly cloud. "I must zay, I am _tres_ disappointed at this Neville Longbottom zou had raved about."

"Yes, yes – Neville Longbottom, at your service my lady!" Neville once again feasted on her Veela-charms. "I regret we could not meet under more romantic circumstances, but I am sure you will warm to me if I don't have a bat attached to my collar."

Elena's indignant blush fuelled her arm to raise her wand at Neville for embarrassing her in front of her school mates – he could see it in her eyes. She growled again at Snape, "Severus, listen to your aunt and let me hex him into the ground to save your school from needing to look at this idiot!"

Neville momentarily turned his attention from Fleur as his mind gleefully made the amusing deduction. "Wait. So Snape, you know Elena because she's… your aunt?"

"Just come along Longbottom!" Snape roared and manhandled Neville with both hands back into the castle, while Elena was barely restrained by Madame Maxime, who was still exchanging forced apologies with Dumbledore in chagrin for their students.

"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised really Snape," Neville rambled as he waved goodbye to Fleur, who blatantly turned her chin from him, as Snape dragged him along the ground into the dungeons. "With your swollen skin and bat-like walk, I should've guessed there is some vampire blood in you. In that case, I guess your… grandfather's side should be vampire right? It also explains how you can just sail off the top of Hogwarts tower after you –"

"When did I sail off the Hogwarts tower in front of you?" Snape growled and threw Neville through the doorway of his office.

_Oops, shouldn't have let that slip… But I guess this also explains that Snape's pseudo flight ability is from Floating Magic. Regarding Voldemort's ability to fly as well in the last book, it's possible that he just saw Snape's Floating Magic and asked for it without Snape explaining it was vampire magic? After all, flight is an extremely valuable and convenient ability. _

"Details Snape, details. And shouldn't you call me uncle as I'm Elena's sorta cousin?" Neville ducked as Snape had just thrown a heavy tome over his head.

"Just because the Drakuls and I shared Dracula's heritage a couple of generations up, I refuse to have the likes of you as a relative Longbottom! The old wizarding names are practically all inter-related, but I'll make sure that Snape and Longbottom will never be compared with each other!" Snape irritably sat down behind his desk, which was now covered with a table cloth of stars and moons.

"And as Dracula was immortal, or close to immortal, he must have had quite a few children spanning centuries. No wonder you're a generation under me."

"Just shut up Longbottom, I'm bored with that topic already. I pulled you here to talk about Fox."

Neville's face sobered up, even if he knew full well it was just Snape's diversion, and sat back at his chair, "Fine. Alright, what've you got for me?"

"I had initially considered your suspicions of Fox so far to be completely unfounded. But with greater thought after arriving back from the Harlan Forest trip –"

"You mean after Sinistra pulled you out of your stupor," Neville could not help but give the old bat a dig.

Visibly seeing Snape counting to ten in his head, he continued through gritted teeth, "I had considered that Fox does seem suspicious. At Harlan Forest, apart from the students, only myself, Professor Sinistra, and Fox are capable enough to pull something like that plant overgrowth incident off. Though the plant attack was directed at Harry, I assume there had been some… complications during that night."

"Actually, Ron had been trying to figure something out…" Neville patiently explained their conversation at the library before about their hypothesis.

"I guess that Weasley isn't just good for Hoglake and snarky remarks after all," Snape frowned. " As I'd said before, the list of suspects for that night is too small for me not to keep an eye out on Fox. However, I simply cannot deduce her motives. During the last war, Fox was not even on the Dark Lord's side."

"She couldn't have been in the Order of the Phoenix," Neville asked.

"No, of course not. But…" Snape blinked, and his words dried up. "Hm… I guess the enchantment that came along with her employment contract is kicking in. I'm prevented from saying any more than this, but either way, I think it best to keep watch on her."

"Indeed," Neville stood up from his chair, a bit glad that Snape respected his worries for a change.

"And where do you think you are going? I haven't even prescribed you detention yet!"

"Whoa! You're kidding right? I thought you'd pulled me out just to speak to me and avoid everyone knowing Elena's your aunt!"

"Of course not! You've embarrassed the entirety of Hogwarts to no ends with you little display of obsession earlier! Even though your Occlumency is down, how weak is your mind to succumb to a quarter-Veela who was not even directly trying to seduce you?"

"Well I've never been exposed to the Veela charm before and it does give quite a fun buzz."

"You numbskull! Just get yourself to the library and collate some Occlumency materials! Draco's came to me asking to master Occlumency and your ample free time is better doing that than embarrassing us in front of the other schools."

"Hey!" Neville protested, "It's not surprising for Draco to ask you for lessons, but how come I never had any notes or the likes?"

"Slytherin privileges," Snape just sneered to Neville's disgruntlement.

0

0

0

"I know I'd said not to hold back, but don't think it's not my hand you're hammering just because I have these gloves on!" Neville took off the kitchen mitts that had been charmed to withstand the boxing jabs Ron had been practicing with him.

It was Saturday and Harry was at Quidditch practice, which left Ron and him for their regular morning training session by the Lake. Neville had woken up in more than a fine mood today as his last worry this year, Fox, was now being scrutinized by Snape. He could now completely enjoy spectating the Tri-wizard tournament for the rest of the school year without needing to watch out for enemies in the shadows, or ploys from the purebloods, or any life-threatening danger to himself.

Of course, everyday student life had its own issues as well. "What you did last night Neville, what was that all about?"

"What do you mean Ron?" Neville swished his wand to tidy up their things. He had charmed one of the trees by the Lake into a storage cupboard of sorts for them.

Ron also picked up the quarterstaff he had been practicing with beforehand and placed it in the enlarged cavity inside the tree. "With that Beauxbatons girl of course! She's pretty and all, and some people said she had Veela blood, but you didn't even wink at actual Veelas at the World Cup! Why the allergic overreaction now?"

Thinking back to the night at Harlan Forest and the conversation with Hermione, Neville plastered on a smile. "I'd just let dropped my Occlumency shields this time and let the natural Veela charms take its course. I know what you're worried about. But if it's rivalry you're wary of, look that way."

"You're not getting what I meant at all – Merlin! This is frustrating as hell!" Ron scoffed, but was still distracted from where Neville was pointing, "And what rival? That's bloody Viktor Krum you're pointing at!"

Even on his first morning here, he had already got a gaggling of girls giggling behind him as he went out for his morning jog. Ron waved at his idol as the Quidditch star breezed past, but the two Hogwarts boys were ignored utterly.

"Damn big nose," Neville harrumphed involuntarily. "I didn't see him being on the cover of TERM magazine like I was."

"I think you're the one with rivalry problems mate," Ron casually shrugged. "Krum is a superstar! He won't even notice a girl like Hermione."

_The boy is just completely unaware of the biggest competition he has to deal with doesn't he? _

Neville had no mental baggage for not reminding him though, and making himself start frustrating conversations as Ron had previously attempted. Neville deftly packed away the last of their equipment and started back towards the castle for breakfast. Ron and he were just talking about the newest Hoglake board before they spotted Ginny and Su walking towards the same direction.

"Good morning. Council business this early in the morning already?" Neville asked in a jolly tone.

"Not everyone's as free as you are," Su murmured a complaint.

"I've got Occlumency info to collect that'll keep me busy for days – sort of," Neville said with a grin. "Snape's detention you see."

"Speaking about that, you didn't have to embarrass the whole school last night just to make my friends give up on you," Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about." Neville's obliviousness did not seem to weaver Ginny being convinced.

"Well you don't have to worry about any more little admirers asking you to take them to Hogsmeade next month from that horrible Romeo act last night."

"Was I not both polite and charming at the same time?" Neville flashed his long-missed George Clooney smile.

"As charming as a walrus mate," Ron shook his head.

They arrived at the Entrance Hall and spotted Harry being egged on to put his name in the Goblet of Fire by some Gryffindors. Ron went over to join in on the chorus, with Ginny hurrying after with stutters of agreement.

_Boy, have this scene changed from the books or what…_

As Su strode up and greeted what was probably the reason Harry was standing there in the first place, Neville followed her and greeted Cho with a smile. He was going to ask her if he saw Old Al at the feast last night (as the ministry official had been here to explain the tournament rules and light up the Goblet of Fire) but she only greeted him with a pout.

"Okay, I know the whole school isn't happy with me 'supposedly' embarrassing them, but it's not like I lost you house points," Neville took a seat next to Cho on the nearby staircase. Quite a few students were milling about the Goblet as everyone was of course all curious about who would put their names forward. The Weasley twins had expanded their betting business and even charmed up a wall-sized betting table on one side of the entrance hall.

Cho blatantly ignored Neville, telling Su, "You know that Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff? He'd put his name in just a while ago – now there is a man we won't mind being chosen as Hogwarts Champion. Not like some people who everyone would vote for as the Hogwarts Clown at the moment."

"Okay, I know what this is about. As I've said last night, Hogwarts girls are just as attractive as Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, girls. In fact, I've heard Sally-Anne Perks harping on about being hit on by a Durmstrang guy already last night."

"You're not saving this one that easily," Cho butted her face far too close to Neville for comfort, especially with the even closer distance from her pouting lips. "How can you be so completely smitten by that Fleur Delacour considering you were completely immune to a tour of Veelas last Christmas at the Hoglake Shop when you were there?"

"Cho Chang! W-w-what do you think you're doing right the first thing in the morning?" Elena's voice, in as high an octave as it was last night, blared at the back of Neville's ear. "A-and Neville! I wasn't finished with you! How dare you do such shameful things while wearing the cloak my father gave you?"

"I don't know what you see, but I don't see what's disgraceful about talking to people." Neville rubbed his ear from the decibels from the vampire girl.

Giving a stuttered harrumph, Elena turned her sneer towards Cho. "So. We meet again Cho Chang. Still following Neville around I see."

"Actually he chose to sit here himself," Cho first defended, but the competitive Seeker in her can't stop herself from being provoked, "Though I'm at least glad you tried to curse Neville last night instead of me."

"I only did that the first time because I'd thought you were that Millicent Bullstrode!" Elena tried her best to repress her voice and embarrassment, and again tried to change the subject, turning her flame-hued eyes back on Neville. "Well? Where is she then? This most gorgeous and beautiful, Hogwart's most popular cheerleader, who's been supposedly sending you Valentines?"

_I can't believe she stills remembers that fib from first year! Damn it!_

As Murphy's Law would have it, Neville was paralysed by a shrill screech behind him at that.

"_Nevi_! I can't believe you would say that about me to your friend! Even if I'm not in the cheerleading club, it makes me so happy!" Neville had finally failed to avoid Millicent at such an inconvenient time. He had been getting the hang of it through the years, but still slipped up some times. _My best run was six weeks._

"Please let go of my arm Millicent." Neville stated flatly, as he was scaring himself at how much he had gotten used to the giant of a girl since first year. _She was a good kid at heart – much better than what I can say for some Slytherins. She's just… not my cup of tea._

"What do you mean 'friend' you stupid girl, don't you know I am– wait." Elena's twitching lips managed to ask, "_You_ are Millicent Bullstrode?"

"Yep, the only girl to have sent my Nevi a Valentines every year!" Millicent even leaned in to try and rubbed her cheek on him to take advantage of the scene, but Neville deftly twisted his neck to get away.

Clearly trembling and badly hiding her lips with her hand, Elena managed to gasp, "R-right… Of course…"

Mistaking Elena's tone as disbelief, Millicent squeezed the helpless Neville tighter in her hold, with arms that was as wide as some guy's legs. "I did! Ask anyone and they'll tell you how much I'm in love with Nevi! Ever since first year!"

Neville tried to mouth 'help' to Cho, who was still sitting on the staircase, turning her head the other way. Su was sniggering as she played the sounding board to Cho's ignoring act, and Neville figured the tom-boy was no help either.

"Ginny!" Neville gasped at one of the closer friends he had in the area.

Ginny turned around from her admiration of Harry's indecisive pacing in front of the Goblet, and met eye to eye with Elena. Both of their foreheads creased for a light moment, then as if a static shock sparked between the two girls, both of them simultaneously jumped back and pointed at each other.

"You're that rude and mean girl from Bulgaria!" Ginny yelled at the same time as Elena.

Though Elena yelled something different, "You're the shameless girl who expo – Whoa!"

Ginny's light-speed Bat-Bogey Hex narrowly missed Elena and impacted on Neville's shoulder. _At least the impact freed me from Millicent's grasps – and Dracula's Cloak luckily caught most of it. _Completely forgetting about the dangerous strayed hex, the two hotheads went head to head with each other, completely unconcerned about his wellbeing.

Ginny growled, "Oi! Don't start screaming anything unnecessary! You know full well there were… circumstances under what happened that summer! We were almost killed by a dragon!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you've showed your –"

"Merlin! Stop it now or I'll throw another hex at you!"

"Oh? Bring it on little girl! You don't even know what a wand is when I started duelling!"

With an entry that should be accompanied with a puff of smoke, the Twins butted in on teasing their little sister. "What's this I hear Fred?"

"I hear the start of a juicy gossip about our dear little sister George."

"Are you two big men going to defend your sister against a little girl like me?" Elena stood up taller even at the prospects of duelling two older students at the same time.

"On the contrary little miss!" Fred or George started.

"We just want to confirm a little scandal –"

"That our dear Charlie slipped to us one year –"

"Regarding the 'first time' our little sister was seen by –"

"I swear Fred and George, I'm going to tell mum about your experiments with the family ghoul if you two say another word!" Ginny's threat had its edge taken off by her mouse-like glance towards Harry's direction nervously.

"Wait…" Cho continued to demonstrate Murphy's Law for Ginny by talking to herself too loudly at that moment. "During Christmas one year, didn't Elena mention something…um… like this?"

Ginny sucked in a short breath and glared out of the closing circle around her for the culprit. Neville had taken the chance to lift Ginny's hex non-verbally and was half-way up the stairs in his silent crawl at that moment, but the little redhead targeted him like a bird of prey.

"Neville Longbottom! You get back here and explain this!" Ginny stomped her foot on the ground, metaphorically quaking the earth to make Neville jump.

"Why do I have to deal with this? Which part of this is my fault?" Neville almost cried, and it felt like dark clouds were looming over him.

Actually it was just a shadow, casted by Hannah and Hermione. The two girls looked puzzled at Neville, who was lying practically as if he had been shot while he was climbing the stairs.

"Neville, are you alright?" Hannah quickly leaned down to try and help him up.

Hermione shook her head with sigh, "What am I going to do with you next year if I become a prefect? Causing such a ruckus so early in the morning."

"It's the arrogant girl and that waitress!" Elena made it up the steps to where they were in two steps using Floating Magic, and was about to be brashly rude again, but halted as a realisation hit her. With her mouth still opened, she turned back around and silently counted something or other from her position on the stairs.

Neville knew better than to stay until Elena finished counting, fled on instincts. Sliding through the gap between the staircase railings as if he was in Mission Impossible, Neville sailed across the Entrance Hall with Floating Magic to escape from the farside doorway.

"Oh! Just in time Mr President!" Luna Murphy – or rather, Lovegood – was unfortunately just coming through the doorway. Fanning the fire burning hotter than the Goblet of Fire, Luna asked with no comprehension of the air around her surroundings as per usual, "I heard there was going to be Yule Ball at Christmas from my housemates. Do you think I can go dressed as a Wumble Worm like I did when we went to that Halloween Ball?"

Feeling the penetrative icy glare on the back of his neck, Neville put both of his hands behind his head in surrender. "Okay, I give. Really, this is it. That's it. No more."

"Well well well. This sure seems like a lively morning." Fox's seductive English accent descended upon Neville. "Good morning Neville, my little heart-stealer. I bet whatever Snape made you do for detention last night couldn't be half as enjoyable as the one we shared."

Harry Potter stood on his tip-toes and put his name in the Goblet, because his instincts told him whatever challenges the Triwizard Tournament had for him, it could not be nearly as tricky as what Neville had to deal with this year.

0

0

0

A/N: Busy month with unexpected trips out of the office. Not to mention I've finally built up enough determination to go on a diet. Not likely I'll release another chapter this month, but I'm still keeping tabs I'm late a chapter.


	85. Book 4 Chapter 14

Previously on HPatNL: As the age limit for the tournament was lifted, it seemed like Beauxbaton's entourage included one Elena Drakul, who was her usual boisterous self. After Snape dragged Neville away to stop him from embarrassing Hogwarts any further, Snape confessed Fox did seem suspicious and had agreed to take over his guard duties for Harry's sake. Thinking he was completely free of almost all responsibilities, Elena's run-in with almost every girl he knew at Hogwarts made him think that he actually may not be so worry-free after all this year.

Chapter 84 – Triwizard Champions, I choose you!

"Argh! Shouldn't it be common sense that no matter how much water you put in the pot, leaving it in direct sunlight for the whole day will dry it up? Not to mention you've left it right on top of a fireplace! You had one job Neville! One job!"

Normally Neville would have thought this dialogue and tone alone would identify the howler to be Elena's. In actual fact, he was in the Council office doing his joint Herbology project with Hannah. The green She-Hulk transformation seemed to have advanced this time however, as another paper aeroplane flew in from the window and stabbed her in the head.

"And these damn paper aeroplanes are your fault too! I don't care if the Ministry is using them! Don't teach them to my Council members! One almost poked my eye out this afternoon!" Hannah mashed the charmed memo in her hand after a quick glance at it, immediately scribbling something down and charming the parchment into the same memo aeroplane she had been complaining as a reply.

Neville meekly apologised, "Alright alright. What's done is done about the plant though, and I'm sure I can owl-order a few potions to fix it. About the planes, I can't perform a corporal Patronus myself, but I can always try and teach it to you guys instead–"

"Don't you know how difficult it is to conjure a Patronus?" Hannah gave him a look as if he was an idiot, which she was fully justified to do whenever Herbology was involved, which should not be now. She paltered on anyway, "Most adult wizards can't perform the charm, let alone Alan!"

"I know, but I'm sure at least you or Draco can do it." Neville tried to pacify her with a compliment, but it went right over her head.

"As if I don't have enough Charms homework late already to go learn another spell!" Hannah poked and prodded the dried-up plant in front of them with her wand, "Not to mention the fiascos you cook up with this project! How are we ever going to hand this in if you come up with new ways of killing our plant every week?"

"I'm sorry, but you know how I am with plants ever since first year."

"That's not an excuse!" Hannah yelled, just as another paper aeroplane flew through the door and into her mouth.

"_Accio_!" Neville immediately performed a charm to summon the plane back out of her throat before it choked her.

"S-see w-what you did with those planes?" Hannah coughed and screamed at Neville at the same time.

"By the way, this is from Su," Neville tried his best to make out the wet and blotched ink on the ruined paper plane – especially in Su's sloppy handwriting. "It mentions something about date, Hogsmeade, and Draco."

Hannah's face immediately flushed and charged at Neville like a bull, "It's not what you think!"

"Watch out!" Neville clearly saw her tripping over her feet, but was too late to do anything about the blonde girl who brought him to the ground with her. Feeling a small bump on the back of his head from the rough contact with the stone floor, Neville whimpered, "I don't mind you shouting at me, but don't pick up Elena' s habit of hurting me while doing it."

Hannah, with an '_eep_' jumped from Neville chest and quickly shuffled away, almost knocking over two chairs in the process. She stuttered, "W-well I won't have to shout at you if you're not so bad at Herbology."

"Admit it," Neville grinned, patting his robes of dust. "You would hate it if I was good at Herbology. Who else could you shout at to vent out some of this stress from getting bothered with Council work all the time?"

"I-I'm not taking things out on you! I swear!" In her panic, Hannah once again rushed forward with a red face.

Neville was prepared this time though and had both hands on her surprisingly small shoulders when she tripped over a chair leg this time. Neville shook his head good-humouredly, "I want you to. I know exactly what it's like in your shoes right now being the President. I have my share of spell-damaged dummies last year to prove what I did after a stressful day dealing with arguments between the wizarding photography club and the Muggle movies society."

Hannah's body marginally softened under his hold, and her Gardenia-scented locks almost landed on Neville's shoulder before she pushed away and mumbled, "I-I really am just trying to get you to pass Herbology you know."

"I know, but I still think you're flogging a dead horse," Neville shrugged. "There is one thing I'm curious about though… Why is your hair like that today?"

"Eh?" Hannah's Herbology-rampage seemed to have completely vaporised after the little interlude and she could not raise her eyes from the floor. Her hand involuntarily grabbed hold the ends of her unexpectedly long blonde hair, today straightened flat. She self-consciously squeaked, "I-I'd just thought it may be a good change."

"Guess girls do that," Neville said as he tidied up the mess they made of the office. "I know Lavender can't go two days without changing her hairstyle into something completely different. I swear some first years thought she was a Medusa."

Hannah was still fiddling with the ends of her hair after Neville tidied up their Herbology project and the office, but he had seen her fidgeting on the spot for a while. She was probably in her inner thoughts again, as she was completely ignorant of the several charmed paper aeroplanes now pecking at her head. As if eventually deciding to choose the big TV as the final prize, Hannah belted out, "What do you think of my hair today?"

Without batting an eyelash, Neville told her his opinion, which he had wanted to convey to begin with. "Personally I think it's a bit strange."

"Oh… Of course it is… Ha…" Hannah's shoulder slumped and waved her wands to deactivate the charmed planes that had lined up in formation to blitz her face. On her knees, Hannah continued to look at the ground as she picked up the fallen memos. "It doesn't suit me at all."

"I guess you can say that. I'll probably never get used to seeing you without pigtails," Neville sighed, mimicking the gesture of wiping a tear from his eye. "But as they say, girls grow up way too fast. I can't expect you to wear braided pigtails forever."

Hannah lifted her head with a withheld smile, "Stop talking like you're some old man."

"Talking about old men, that time at Richmond's you had your hair down as well." Neville paid the girl a compliment that she should remember more often, for her self-confidence if nothing else, "I have to say, if you dressed up as you did then and have your hair down for the Yule Ball, that poor Ernie McMillian in your house is going to get his soul dragged out of him."

The flustered girl stammered, "Ernie and I are just friends who trade Chocolate Frog Cards!"

Neville slapped his hand in front of his mouth, "Don't tell me it's playboy Draco!"

"Of course not!" Hannah's watery eyes shot opened and picked up on explaining the misread note earlier. "Su's note was about Draco and me going out of the school to represent the Council at the Ministry. It just so happens to land on the first Hogsmeade visit this year."

"I see," Neville tone lowered a little. "Have you ever been to the Ministry HQ? I'm free when you need to ask me anything beforehand."

"Thank you Neville," Hannah said as the two of them mutually stepped out of the office, as it was almost time for Halloween Feast at the Great Hall. "We are with Professor Dumbledore, and he said he'll help us as far as he could."

"I'd trust Draco more than that old fox," Neville tapped a portrait and held it opened for Hannah to get through; it was a well-known shortcut. "Draco is going to pick up Occlumency very quickly from the small session we had with Snape earlier."

"That's because he has both you and Professor Snape," Hannah said.

"Well practice really is the only way that will improve a wizard's Occlumency level, so we'll probably be able to finish teaching the knowledge and theory he requires by that time." Neville explained, "The rest is down to his knack for the art and diligent practicing on his own."

Having arrived at the Great Hall relatively quickly from their shortcut, Hannah spotted a silver-haired beauty before Neville did. She cleared her throat purposely, "Talking about Occlumency… I think it may be best to use it whenever you are around –"

"Fleur! My beautiful Fleur!" Neville leaped towards the Ravenclaw table, much to everyone's distress. Literally everyone, and not just the apprehensive Beauxbatons students.

"Oh no! Longbottom is going to lose it again!" A Ravencalw sixth-year shot up to his feet.

"Hold him down before he embarrasses us again!"

"Hit him with a Leg-Locker Curse so he can't get any closer!"

"Get him back to our table! Come on! Before McGonagall decides to take away our house points!"

"You two are his friends; please watch that he doesn't make a fool out of us again." The four burly seventh-year Gryffindors roughly dumped Neville between Harry and Hermione.

"Come on guys," Neville whined. "Everyone's just overreacting."

"Sorry… We will watch him," Harry told the seventh-years ruefully. Hermione apparently agreed as she shuffled in, pressing her shoulder against Neville's.

Ron on the other side of the table said, "We're coming up with you even if the Goblet chooses your name."

"Well at least you worry-warts don't have to mind that," Neville returned Hermione frown as he pulled several plates of food in front of him. If he was not going to get the girl at least he was going to get some food. "I didn't put my name in the Goblet."

"You forgot to put your name in?" Harry exclaimed.

"Technically you still have time to, you know." Ron said as he rummaged around his pockets to see if he had scrap parchment for Neville.

"Na, just not interested." Neville said as he inhaled the spaghetti bolognaise. "You've got another think coming if you want me to risk my life on minimum wage."

"Don't talk with your mouth full Neville!" Hermione's usual scold signalled the second feast in two days would still be relatively common business. The Trio was still fascinated by Hagrid's fascination of Madame Maxime, and Neville spotted Old Al at the table with the other teachers as a Ministry representative for this international event, considering he was now well settled as the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. There was another random delegate as well from the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

After Neville's 'prophecy', the original plot of Barty Crouch Jr was foiled. Although he was not captured, Mad-Eye Moody confirmed the ex-Death Eater's identity and the truth that he had not died in Azkaban as per records. This of course led to a follow-up investigation by the Ministry, which Neville ensured the Quibbler diddled in, and Barty Crouch Sr's scheme came to light. His wife dead, replaced for his still-at-large ex-Death Eater son, and his reputation irrevocably tarnished, the Aurors never got a chance to arrest him as Crouch Sr personally administer the highest form of punishment possible to himself as his last act of law enforcement.

The Department of International Magical Co-operation, in another strategic move from the Longbottom Faction, is now temporarily headed by Amelia Bones. Neville had heard, and casually implied in the gossip column of the Quibbler, that Old Al really envied going on paid-for business trips to faraway lands to visit old buddies instead of solving another weekend argument on the Hoglake board with friends he saw way too often as of late. Neville of course knew this was just another strategy of the Longbottom Faction, as Amelia Bones was probably better placed in the Magical Law Enforcement Department, even not as the Head. She was only tasked to snatch the post in the first place due to her and Scrimgeour's significant fame, which led to the two of them becoming Department Heads without much opposition. The Magical Law Enforcement Department was the most influential department after all, and it might be more beneficial to have both Bones and Scrimgeour there, while Old Al builds his case up to legitimately take over the Department of International Magical Co-operation.

As Head Department of International Magical Co-operation, Old Al would be able to rally international support to pressure the British political scene, as well as reminding his old friends and enemies in of his formal re-entrance to the political scene instead of the simple Hoglake-loving old fossil. Old Al had not been kidding when he said to leave things to the grown-ups, as the clashes between the Longbottom Faction and the Fudge Administration was making daily news nowadays.

"Neville, why did you stop eating sudden?" Ron asked.

"I told you not to eat too fast," Hermione tutted and went to pass him a goblet. "Here, give me that Butterbeer. Have some water and stop a while."

"Thank you," Neville murmured.

Dumbledore stood up from the table and announced the Goblet would select the names imminently. He instructed that any Champions called out should enter the side-chamber of the Great Hall that Neville had used as a changing room for the play in second year. As the candle lights around the Great Hall was extinguished in anticipation of the Goblet's first flare, Neville felt a tug on his sleeve.

"So who do you think is going to get drawn out of the Goblet first then?" Hermione whispered, just as many of the other students.

Although the Great Hall was in semi-darkness from the nightsky above, Neville could still make out Hermione bright and intelligent eyes at his side. He asked, "Didn't the smartest witch in our year put her name in the Goblet?"

Hermione took the jab. "Of course not! I won't do something as dangerous as that! My parents are dentists!"

"Actually I meant Morag McDougal from Ravenclaw." Neville received a quick slap on the arm for that.

"You know, Ron and Harry had both put their names forward."

"Yeah I know," Neville prodded Harry on the back, which made the boy jump in his bench. "Don't feel too nervous now Harry."

"Damn you…" Harry's complaint and Ron's laugh was cut short as the Goblet's magical flames roared up in front of Dumbledore, illuminating the hall in seven shades of red, blue and green.

From a plume of grey smoke, three charred piece of parchment danced with the shadows and spitting sparks, landing on Dumbledore's opened and wrinkled palm. Reading the parchments against the once-again settled blue and white flames of the Goblet, Dumbledore opened his mouth to the student's gasps.

"The Champions for Drumstrang will be," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "Viktor Krum, Tolga Poliakoff, and Mira Ianevski."

"Bravo Viktor! I knew you would be the leader of our Champions!" Nobody knew if the order the names came out at was really significant, but it seemed Kakarof felt that way. Biased towards Krum aside, Neville's ears shot up as Kakarof turned beside him and said, "Didn't I tell you Aurora? I told you Viktor would get chosen."

"Woah!" Neville put his palms up, halted in joining the others' applause as the Drumstrang Champions left the hall. Turning to Harry he asked, "Forget Hagird and Madame Maxime – what was that all about?"

"What was what?" Harry looked dumbfounded.

"Kakarof called Sinistra 'Aurora'! Just look at Snape's face!" Neville completely understood Snape's frustrations, considering it had taken him this many years to only recently come into terms of being on first name basis with Sinistra.

"Now that you mention it, the Drumstrang headmaster did spend an awful long time talking to Professor Sinistra last night at the feast when you two weren't here." Harry looked quite unsure as well as Snape's sneer was turning increasingly sour at the guy who managed to call Sinistra by name after just one night.

_Poor Slytherins and their never-peaceful love lives… _

"Forget about Snape, here comes the next parchments! Is it Hogwarts?" Ron grabbed the boys' attentions back to the red flames of the Goblet.

Dumbledore snatched hold of the three parachuting parchments that made Harry wonder if he had been a Gryffindor Seeker in his day. "The Champions for Beauxbatons are Fleur Delacour, Elena Drakul, and Celine Petit."

Elena smirked as she sauntered up the Ravenclaw table, glancing over at Neville for just one second before flicking her princess curls away in the other direction. There was no possible way even for Fleur to match that arrogance.

"By gods! Stop him!"

"You almost lost him there Potter! Keep a look out will you?"

"I swore he was going to do use his flying magic to get to Fleur Delacour!"

"Damn you seventh years! I wasn't going to move at all!" Neville struggled out of the panicky seventh-years' grips.

Hermione pushed the senior boys away, shushing them with, "Can't you all pipe down? It's finally our turn!"

A tongue of flames licked the ceiling, brighter than the schools before, and three fateful parchments floated like a feather onto Dumbledore's waiting hands. "And finally, for Hogwarts. The final Champions for this year's Triwizard tournament are Cedric Diggory –"

Dumbledore was forced to stop his announcement because although the Hogwarts students had politely clapped before, when it came to their own school's Champion now, their thunderous cheers of course swamped that of the previous Champions. _Home ground advantage. _

"No!" The Twins exclaimed simultaneously.

Neville laughed maniacally, rubbing his hands together, "Fred and George, I'll be looking forward to my share of the pay-outs."

"I told you not to accept his high stakes bets!" Fred clubbed his counterpart on the head.

"At least I damaged controlled by convincing others not to bet the same as him because he was an idiot!" George returned the clubbing of course.

"And for that comment guys, I have no remorse when our next champion is…"

Just as Neville had suspected, Dumbledore casted a Sonorous Charm and announced, "The second Hogwarts Champion is Harry Potter."

"Nooooo!" The Twins was too preoccupied by their tearful embrace at another loss to Neville from their little betting ring.

"Thanks Harry, I'll get you something good for Christmas," Neville patted the young Champion on the back, but it seemed Harry was frozen in surprise.

"What're you doing Harry! Get up there!" Hermione gave him a nudge, which hardly woke the guy up.

"I-I can't believe it. I r-really got chosen…" Harry sleep-walked to the side-chamber under the applause of the whole student population.

_Mission Accomplished. Harry is willingly the Champion, and isn't outcasted! _

Content with his good-doing for the night, Neville sat back and watched as Dumbledore dutifully dragged out the entertaining suspense of revealing the last Champion. The whole Hall had gradually quietened back down to an excited silence again before he finally cleared his throat.

"And the final Hogwarts Champion is…" Dumbledore's dramatic pause drove Dennis Creevy so far out the edge of his seat that he actually fell over. "Ronald Weasley."

After only a brief moment of astonished silence, a roar of applause shook the lamps above. The twins were actually dragged out of their depression over losing to Neville for the previous two bets, and threw Ron two feet into the air. Everyone from Gryffindor huddled around Ron as well and Neville wondered if the 'Weasly is our King' album would be released ahead of schedule.

"I-I can't believe it… Ron? H-how can he be our Champion?" Hermione seemed to be more shocked than anyone else at the table. With a red face, with a slight shake of the head, "B-but that means he's a stronger wizard than every other student in this hall!"

Neville patted Hermione on the head, "You understand more about Ron than the others, but you still underestimate him at times. Neither of us has ever won a fair game of chess against the guy – not to mention he can beat me at arm wrestling now as well."

"But this is the Triwizard Tournament Neville!" Hermione wringed the napkin she had been holding. "Did you know what happened in the previous tournaments? They had to fight dragons, and go through volcanoes and –"

"And they won't be doing it alone this year," Neville simply told her this additional fail-safe he had convinced Dumbledore to add. "The tasks are going to be aligned to teamwork as well as the magical competency as previously. Not to mention the tournament had been banned in the first place for being too dangerous, and I had convinced Old Al and Dumbledore to try and dumb the challenges down a little… though I really hope wizards had the same standard of 'reasonable' as I'd think…"

"What are you saying Neville? Of course I think Ron will become a great wizard!" Just like her reaction in the books about Ron making prefect, Hermione unconsciously 'figured out' an explanation. "I think because the tasks will be about working together, Harry and Ron _combined_ will definitely be more than one plus one!"

"I guess there is that as well," Neville just agreed, as no one really knew how the Goblet chose his Champions. "But I guess that just leaves you and me Hermione."

"Huh?" Looking into her bright and clear eyes, Neville felt a little more than glad he did not put his name in the Goblet, whether he got chosen or not.

"This means you and I get to watch the whole tournament together, in the safety of the spectator stands." Neville's lips carved out a wide smile.

"Oh… Yeah, you hardly bothered with the Quidditch matches," Hermione murmured. "Urm… Yeah… I'll bring the snacks then?"

"What're you implying?" Neville messed up her hair, much to her protest.

"Hey Neville!" A pat on the shoulder made him turn around. Old Al had apparently came over first before entering the side room, probably ditching his duties to see Neville. "Am I glad you didn't put your name into that Goblet! Your grandmother would have sent you a Howler for doing something so dangerous – on purpose. Mind, I probably would have too."

"Old Al," Neville patted the man's arm in return. His eyes strayed across his great-uncle's new wrinkles and said, "Hey, are you still thinking about changing to the International Cooperation Department? Don't you find being the Head of Magical Games and Sports more fun? Like being involved in this sort of thing and Hoglake?"

"Don't worry Neville, I can still come and cheer Hogwarts on and see you even if I move departments," He chuckled, the old man waving off the masses of burdens he would have to worry about over Hoglake. Neville had heard him talk before about how Diagon Alley would shake with just one of his stomps 'back in the day', but his great uncle had always been the goof to him. To have the current political rebels named after Old Al was something Neville was not sure how to feel about – especially because Old Al was doing all this for Neville's whim. Old Al grinned as he always did, as if he was offering Neville a cinnamon-pumpkin, "Saying that, remember I'll have to cheer on Elena too when she participates."

"Actually Old Al!" Neville took a deep breath, "How did you neglect to mention she was coming to my school during the whole of summer?"

"Well… you know…"Old Al once again forged innocence and side-stepped the question. "It's a surprise! Weren't you surprised?"

"Unpleasantly so."

"I don't believe we have officially been introduced?" Hermione stood up from the bench, as lady-like as she could it seemed, because she actually bothered to pat her robes down. "We've seen each other on our way to the World Cup Mr Longbottom. I am Hermione Granger, Neville's classmate."

"Why Miss Granger, Neville talks of you all the time." Old Al shook Hermione's hand, turning to Neville to say, "Such a polite, well-mannered girl."

"Unlike Elena, that's for sure." Neville rolled his eyes.

"Is Miss Granger more your type Neville? Are you two going out?" And with that, the deer was chased off mumbling something or other.

Looking at the back of the fleeing Hermione, Neville sighed. He would not blush that easily when he had Occlumency on. He turned back to Old Al and enquired, "Has it got to do with Fudge? Or is the running of the Quibbler really starting to cause ripples in the Ministry?"

"What makes you think that?" Old Al furrowed his brows, "And don't you go thinking that fledgling newspaper of yours is big enough to battle head-to-head with the Prophet yet."

"Okay, then why did you keenly divert Hermione away from the practically empty Great Hall?" Apart from the officials and Champions in the side room, the rest of the school had been ushered back to their dorms. "You must have something serious to discuss that can't be owled."

"Actually, I just want get to the bottom of why you weren't at the feast last night."

Neville had half a mind to Kata Guruma him. Gritting his teeth he said, "Because I was at detention Old Al."

"Everyone's saying you were head over heels over that quarter Veela girl," Old Al patted the short boy on his two shoulders.

"As you know, her inherited charms have a very intoxicating effect." Neville shrugged.

"You are going to be fifteen next year." Old Al hesitated, contemplating if he should go on now that he had gone so far already.

Neville cleared his throat, "I know, I know. I should go for someone my own age et cetra. God knows that Draco won't stop saying I have a big sister complex." Actually, Neville had done the sums, and considering his age as Ness, he was actually as old as Bill Weasley – Fleur's future husband. _Coincidence? I think not!_

"It's not that, you can chase after whoever you want – well… Let's just say I don't want you to miss any chances…" Old Al stammered on and Neville gave an exasperated sigh.

Deciding to turn Old Al around one-eighty, he shoved him along saying, "It can't be this serious if you're taking that long to say it. You've slacked off long enough now go and do your job briefing the Champions. Go, go, go!"

Yelping as Neville gave him a kick on the butt and running away out of the Hall, Old Al yelled, "We've agreed it's this year Neville!"

0

0

0

A/N: This chapter was relatively easy to write compared to the others before – maybe finally advancing the plot along the books have been a good nitro boost. Interesting poll results so far.

A few people mentioned Neville doesn't have enough of a backbone, and I could go on explaining and picking out old points from prior chapters to contradict this. Had started to do so actually, but seeing the waste of space that this A/N would get, I'm just going to say the things he finds important are on the lines of reviving Voldemort. What's an important thing to some can be trivial to another, i.e. a waiter accidentally spilling a drink on your pants, or a driver cutting you off. Each person/character to their own.


End file.
